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Originally Posted by Tobyboom
Did anyone notice what one of the people posted?
"Drag racing fans are being fed a lie by the NHRA. This lie is that the length of the race is being shortened from a quarter mile to 1000 feet because of safety issues. The fact of the matter is that the race is being shortened for monetary reasons. Nitro methane, the fuel used by the Top fuel and Funny Car classes is in short supply and very hard to get of late. The Schumacher team thought ahead and purchased great quantities of this fuel which they have been selling to other teams over the course of the season. This fuel is very expensive and is produced sparingly by oil companies. By shortening the races to 1000 feet the top fuel and Funny car teams are saving a great amount of money. This is a fan rip off. I am very disappointed in NHRA and if they continue this I think many die hard fans like me will abandon the NHRA for their rival the IHRA"
I tried to dig into this, but couldnt find any facts to support it. Anyone else care to look?
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The nitromethane fuel is or can be made synthetically, while it may be more expensive than traditional refining processing, it will always be available if someone is willing to purchase it. So for the racing teams it is just a matter of if they got the cash to play the game.
Nitromethane engines measure the fuel necessary per second in gallons per second (g/s). source:
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/question642.htm
If they can do the 1/4 mile in ~ 4.5 seconds, by changing from 1320 to 1000ft, they shave off 24% of the length. It is approximately $900/55gal of nitromethane. Fuel cost is approximately (4.5sec * 1gal/sec * $900/55gal = $74/pass).
This is a very minimal estimate, so it is most likely more expensive. But consider our cars get 20mpg or better, it costs $4/gal * 1 gallon/20 miles * 1/4 mile = 5 cents per pass.