and then there is the salt flats, you wanna see some tech rules????????? I build em to fit nhra x2 for the scta........ How fast ya wanna go? how much ya got? . that is the jest of it. on the be for real side of this rant, I had a very good long time buddy die in okla at the dragstrip a couple of months ago in a high 11 second chassis car, he rolled it about 100 mph , because a wheel adapter broke on the front. I know never use em either, but he had on a legal open face helment, it came off, he got killed. 5o yrs old with a family ... think about it we can all use some rules....... just sayin..
call it anything you want, run in it anything you want. if you are racing it currently, follow those rules but...if you want to call it a traditional gasser, run gas. then you can quote times accurately. how traditional is you traditional? [for you super traditional guys i am willing to give you a five gallon pail of early sixties varnish i mean gasoline to keep it period correct]
I am sorry about your friend, truly. I'm gonna say this even though I have a great dislike for NHRA . We are talking about YOUR LIFE. I will comply with the SFI deals. There is of course two sides to this argument. (Did I spell that right?) oh well, If any of you have had something happen at well over a hundred mph, it happens quick and you don't have time to cinch your belts or adjust your helmet. And buddy it's too late to think about that tubing or those fasteners or whether those belts are up to snuff. You guys saw the mooneyes vid. (Just using as an example). This was a fully competent driver. Bam, he's on his head. I buy $1,000 fire suits and $200 gloves and $750 helmets. If I leave this world in that race car, it won't be because I scrimped on safety gear or the car was inferior safety wise. What is your life worth? Go ask your son, daughter, wife ect...yes it is expensive. I didn't mean to rant and I don't like spending the money either but.....sorry, I'm anal about safety. That AW it'll be ok thinking will make your wife a widow. Lippy
And this is the aftermath of a totally legal car hitting the guardrail going 150 mph at Thompson a few weeks ago. The guardrail came through the car, ripping out the funny car portion of the cage, killing the driver.
Yea me too, granted my wages for the year in '85 was right @4K. It amazes me how much has changed in so little time.
Get the facts right, that car that crashed at Thompson DID NOT have a FC cage, nor did it have even X bars in it. There were a lot of circumstances in that crash that the poor guy lost his life but the bottom line is, it wasnt built to go as quick as it was going.
Okay, I was misinformed by others about the FC cage which, at 150 mph, the car should have had. After checking older pics of the car I stand corrected. Thanks for pointing this out. However, the guardrail did come into the car killing the driver. B.T.W.: The track isn't designed to handle cars going that fast either. Needs Jersey Barriers not guardrails.
Truley sorry that you have lost a friend. As one who is running out of long time friends I can say that I do know how that feels. I can say this to lippy and everyone else regardless of fuel and ETs the saftey equip is there for a reason. I think we all at some point think that it is ignorance gone to seed, but when it keeps you on this side of the grass that all changes even if just for a split second. I rode a door slammer up on the rail in the '70s and lippy is right at about any speed it all happens too fast. I guess I hadn't made sure I was tied in well enough. One minute I'm racin' the next thing I knew I was sitting on the floor with a saftey guy lookin' at me and saying, "G#$ D&*^% son." Before you light one, even a 12 second car, make damned sure that everything is up to par, after the fact is too damned late.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-HbUFa7l3DM I haven't figured out how to link one but just to lighten things up a bit. Let's try and get back to our roots just a bit. Wadayacare thanks, hey can you link this right so no one has to leave the thread to see it? I just can't seem to figure it out.
One of these day I am going to figure that out. Sometimes I think it is damned shamefull, I could probably make a lawn mower scary fast but I can't properly link a freakin' video.
Trust me Beaner I'm no techno geek, I can just get by! To think... about a 1/2 dozen years ago or so I couldn't stand these damn computers. Hell I couldn't even turn one on, had to get the wife to do it! Now I can't live without one for the info it provides.
Did anyone notice the 57 chevy with the checkerboard on the side of Wally Bell's at Pocono? Cool as hell. Wally is a great guy. Lippy
Found it by accident following links from the footage of the death race. There is just something cool about good old fashioned door to door racing. Some of the cars in the footage were not impressivly fast but there were some that were just scary fast. One thing that I would be willing to make book on, all those guys even the ones that we don't consider to be fast were havin' as much fun as they could have on this side of the bars.
Theres a fine line between being safe, and helping your sponsors milk every cent they can out of the poor bastards that your sanctioning body used to, a very long time ago, represent. Requiring that belts be replaced every two years is way, way across that line.
Please understand that I wasn't trying to buck the system when I brought up about the belts/harness. I'll be the first NOT to race a guy that I feel isn't taking his safety as well as mine into account, and vis-versa. The last thing I want is some dip-shit crossing into my lane for some stupid reason. I just feel that some things, like the belts/harness, on the slower cars could go more than 2 years. I'm not saying indefinitely, just more than 2. I think 4 years would be fine unless the vehicle was involved in a crash, then they should be considered expired immediately.
X2. Of course if the car has been crashed hard, belts should be replaced, just the same as you wouldn't re-use a helmet that has seen an impact.
You know that's an interesting thought though. NASCAR splats cars in to the wall all the time, they fix em and send them back on track, without changing out the belts!
It is IMPORTANT TO NOTE HERE, THE GASSER CLASSES LISTED ARE ALL INDEX CLASSES!! A is 7.60, B is 8.60, one second each. They do not care what fuel you choose, what size the engine or blower is, and after race tech is eliminated. 7.60 is one click off of the 7.50 cutoff for mild steel chassis. The original NHRA, AHRA, and other sanctioning bodies' gasser classes were HEADS-UP!! AND ON GASOLINE, with a fuel check!! I truly believe what we long for AND WHAT IS TRADITIONAL, is heads-up drag racing. NOTE: Heads-Up Racing: Green lights come on for all lanes at the SAME TIME, first one to the finish line WINS (You can not go TOO Quick and loose)
I dunno about recently but I remember the roundy round guys hereabouts that had belts sooo old they were filthy! I'm thinkin they used'em harder than I do in my dragcar!
The Jalopy Journal
