Nitromater
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alBalooshi
- Thread starter jap tin
- Start date
indidad- The Guy- Uncle Steve
Nitro Member
Neither did Chad or Jason. But don't worry, people say alBalooshi will come around.....sooner or later......when he's comfortable in a T/F car.......
Hell, even Paul Page said alBalooshi has problems leaving the line. THAT made me laugh!
Student of the sport
Nitro Member
Linkage issue in the can.
Had nothing to do with the driver.
Had nothing to do with the driver.
Just Paul
Nitro Member
Must be some awful luck then. From where he stopped after backing up, he was able to move all they way up to pre-stage with no problem.
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indidad- The Guy- Uncle Steve
Nitro Member
I didn't watch the whole show, but did someone from ESPN ask alBalooshi what happened?
Several weeks ago, there was no hesitation to ask Courtney what went wrong with her car. I remember her answer being criticized here.
Several weeks ago, there was no hesitation to ask Courtney what went wrong with her car. I remember her answer being criticized here.
HEMI6point1
Nitro Member
AJ needs to send Albalooshi back to Pro Mod and either hire Larry back or put someone else in there.
I can't buy the "broken whatever" crap as the car was able to move up to prestage before not moving again.
I can't buy the "broken whatever" crap as the car was able to move up to prestage before not moving again.
Joker
Nitro Member
AJ needs to send Albalooshi back to Pro Mod and either hire Larry back or put someone else in there.
I can't buy the "broken whatever" crap as the car was able to move up to prestage before not moving again.
Khalid has won a WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP in EVERY single drag racing or sand racing class he's ever driven in. He can drive. Is he doing his best right now? No. He will get it figured out.
As for LD, that aint happening. Trust me.
You know what Sam, how about a friendly little wager since everyone is so concerned about sending KA back to desert. He may not have won a round this year yet, but I got $100 that says he wins a race before the year is done. Bet?
Fast16Racer
Nitro Member
Admittedly don't know much about fuel cars, but don't they let the clutch out to stage, basically slipping the clutch? Then the RPM at launch causes the clutch to engage?
If the linkage was broken, I can see that not letting it go into reverse, but wouldn't he be able to launch normally once he was moving forward into the beams?
Or, could it have been jammed up so that the car would move forward but he could feel it not pulling against the brake as hard as normal? Maybe he thought it would just free rev and zing to the moon and spew shrapnel at the starting line. Racing 101 says even if you are broken, stage and hope the other guy red lights or crosses the centerline.
Hard to say from watching on TV what was going on mechanically. I know from experience that mechanical gremlins can make you look pretty silly up on the starting line.
I don't know much about alBalooshi, but he has had success outside of Top Fuel. You don't succeed like that without a competitive fire inside. Whatever happened, I imagine he wishes he could have made the run....
If the linkage was broken, I can see that not letting it go into reverse, but wouldn't he be able to launch normally once he was moving forward into the beams?
Or, could it have been jammed up so that the car would move forward but he could feel it not pulling against the brake as hard as normal? Maybe he thought it would just free rev and zing to the moon and spew shrapnel at the starting line. Racing 101 says even if you are broken, stage and hope the other guy red lights or crosses the centerline.
Hard to say from watching on TV what was going on mechanically. I know from experience that mechanical gremlins can make you look pretty silly up on the starting line.
I don't know much about alBalooshi, but he has had success outside of Top Fuel. You don't succeed like that without a competitive fire inside. Whatever happened, I imagine he wishes he could have made the run....
Sounds like the right answer to me because I really do not believe he just didn't stage and just sat there getting timed out. I still give him benefit of the doubt this season with all the tree issues and all, but everyone knows this certainly does not help his reputation as a TF driver.
You do make a point tho, something tells me this would be the only type of setting Bazemore would come back too. I leave Scelzi out because I don't think he would ever drive a dragster again, last time I spoke to him at least. Even Herbert would be an excellent choice. I am done giving him the benefit of the doubt after 6 races, either he wins a round this weekend in Atlanta or I am jumping the fence and wondering why they keep him.
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Fast16Racer
Nitro Member
Maybe AJ was disgusted with the fact that they failed to make the run, which in the end is a human error. I doubt AJ ever accepts a failure without taking steps to ensure it doesn't happen again.
BTW, I learned in engineering school (long ago
), there is no such thing as "parts failures"--all failures are human in origin. Parts that fail are either designed incorrectly, manufactured incorrectly, installed incorrectly, maintained incorrectly, or used beyond their service life. Now in racing we push these parameters to gain an edge, but when something fails, someone made a mistake.Guess I'm saying we still don't know what role the driver had in the non-run.
MM
Nitro Member
The clutch linkage on the car broke, meaning he could engage the clutch pedal, which is why the car would not go into reverse. When he got the car back to the line it would still roll forward. Watch the video again. He rolls forward into the pre-stage beams while Jason is still trying to make his final adjustments. When Jason was done, he looked and saw that Khalid was already pre-staged and knew he needed to get away from the car. By rule, once the car is pre-staged, the crew are no longer allowed to touch the car. Jason never gave Khalid the okay sign to go in, as is customery for the crew chief to give to the driver. That is why Khalid sat there and never staged. Veteran of the sport as he is, he should have known that once Vangergriff staged he had 7 seconds to go in or he would be timed out. In all truth, it probably didn't matter much because since the clutch pedal was inopperable, the clutch itself would have had way too much heat in it. It most likely would have grabbed as soon as he hit the throttle and blown the tires off, but we will never know.
Mike That would make sense because watching the video, AJ talks to Jason immediately afterward and flashes the OK sign as if to ask him if he gave to the driver. Just a fubar situation that probably had the least expensive outcome.
