...and they call it ENTRY LEVEL???

[Randy]

Hi Randy. Do these look familiar? Great memories there.

Heck yea! I even recognize the handwriting. I need to get a scanner and post some.

Some of my favorite races were in the fog. LOL.

 

[Mike]

I had to race Edmond Richardson first round at the Phoenix "Super Bowl" division race in '89, and electronics (timers) were not being used yet. First time I saw them were at the '91 Winters.

Bill, when Dan DiVita won the Grace Cup in 83, he had one of the 1st Dendenbar Delay box's in the car. Dang, I had a Meziere box in my camaro in 87.


Randy, OCIR had reaction times when it 1st open. There was a string of lites hanging behind the starting line and the worst light you could get was a .019. Back then at OCIR if you didnt have a lie in the double 00 something you probably werent going to win.


Servicing girls in the tower!!!!!!!!!!! Who could have done that? Carl, are you out there(LOL)


By the way, the OCIR reunion last weekend was great. WE are planning to do round 2 next year and she would like to see some old face's.

 

[Randy]

Randy, OCIR had reaction times when it 1st open. There was a string of lites hanging behind the starting line and the worst light you could get was a .019. Back then at OCIR if you didnt have a lie in the double 00 something you probably werent going to win.


Servicing girls in the tower!!!!!!!!!!! Who could have done that? Carl, are you out there(LOL)


By the way, the OCIR reunion last weekend was great. WE are planning to do round 2 next year and she would like to see some old face's.

Mike:

I know they had the string of lights. It was a little hard to see them since they were over the guard rails in each lane on the same cable that the tree hung from. By the way, just exactly when did they ever work??? I have a one word answer for that one.

Carl Smith died of a heart attack a while back. I bought his black Chaparral trailer from him when he got out of jail in 1986 and never saw him again. It was parked next to Ken Cox shop. Ken hooked me up with him.

One of the girls (who shall remain nameless as she is still a good friend) confirmed my story. I raced Carl Smith in 1981 when we both had our altereds. He dialed in an 8.98 and I dailed in an 8.33. When I drove past the tree the bottom amber was still on, that's how good of a light (I thought) I caught.

At the finish line I ran an 8.24 to his 9.04. I broke out by almost a tenth and he was good by .06. He was 50 feet in front of me at the stripe. Things that make you go Hmmmm. Later I got the story about what it takes to be a champion and that started my drive to run a heads up class so it would never happen again.

I heard about the reunion after the fact. I wish I would have known about it sooner. Breaks my heart to know the really good guys like Randy Marcum will never be able to attend.

BTW, I still have my unmolested "TEAM OCIR 1981" bumper sticker that we were supposed to put on our race cars. When I'm 65 I'll put it on eBay and live a nice retirement off the proceeds.

Randy

 

[none]

Speaking of OCIR....who was the guy that had the sportscat that looked like an MG but was ( I believe) a Singer. He was heavy set and the car was brown with a big block Chevy. That car looked like it was going to twist in half on the launch !!.........memories...........

 

[Mike]

John, that was my long time friend, Larry "the Leg" Legowski.


Now for extra credit, do any of you remember the name of the car after he painted white?


It was white when Larry had it, sold it to Big Mike Beckwith and Jim Klimko, who painted it brown.

 

[Tim5636sc]

I had to race Edmond Richardson first round at the Phoenix "Super Bowl" division race in '89, and electronics (timers) were not being used yet. First time I saw them were at the '91 Winters.

Hi Bill...I hate to dissagree with you, but at that same race the SUPERBOWL OF DRAG RACING 89' at Firebird, we (the Alcohol Abuse Car) had just installed our new THROTTLE STOP, which was big Silver box that was attached to an Electronic Sylnoid and a plate was under the carb that controlled the fuel flow. Our Car was running 8.60's at the time, and we had the throttle stop engaged @ 60'. It came off right before 2nd gear shift. We raced Al Padron in Round 1 and forgot to TURN THE DAMM BOX ON....and We rolled thru the lights when the trans brake didn't engage!!! We did not have a DELAY BOX on the trans brake though...No need for one! The best lights we cut were .410/.420 range. That was with 4.56 gears, an 1981 BOB MEYER CHASSIS! (hi bob!) and a 454 big block on carb gas! I remember seeing both of those SLICK 50 Cars there and saying..."OH NO....THE BOYZ ARE HERE!"

 

[You!]

You guys are right, although Mike you're confusing a delay box with a timer which controls the throttle stop. I guess what I was getting at was that it wasn't until the early 90's that guys starting activating the stop earlier in the run and then have it come off to chase the other car down.

Thinking back when I still ran a carb, I had one of those four hole stops that Dedenbear made (between the carb and intake) but I set it up to activate when I put the car in high gear, not the other way around like everyone does now. Only ran it for a year because I hated the whole concept and went nostagia racing on fuel and would never go back!

 

[none]

Now for extra credit, do any of you remember the name of the car after he painted white?

Now that you mention I do rememember it being white for awhile....but no name comes to mind.
Whatever happened to Phil Cameron,every car he had had a For Sale sign on it the first time at the track ! And he had a bunch of them !!! And had "OVERSEER" Hedders.....his own..........

 

[Toejam]

Really? So when the fuel cars pull out ignition lead (retard the spark) they are not slowing down? In fact they are slowing there rate of acceleration, the same thing a super car is doing when on the stop.

Joe

Ok, when we see a Fuel car shut off at 60' for 2 secs then Blast out a 6.90 at 295 I'll believe your analogy.

 

[Mike]

Saw Phil at the OCIR reunion and he is doing great. Was racing a mazda power dragster at the sports compact races but I for got to ask him if he still is.



Anyone on the name????????????????????



And for real extra credit, who owned it before Larry and sold it to Larry to run nitro funny car.

 

[topdigger]

I'd be very suprised that Scotty ever drove a super class car without electronics. I think they started a little before his time but I'd bet a ice cold ber=er that Scotty could go 0's anytime on a pro tree.

What Mike said

 

[Mike]

[QUOTalthough Mike you're confusing a delay box with a timer which controls the throttle stop.[/QUOTE]





They were there then but the cars werent running 180mph back then so the stop didnt show like it does today.

 

[stanman]

Tim, how tight would they be without all those Electronics?? Be a whole new ballgame!

Ignorance is bliss!

The quality of engines, torque converters, tires, other parts, and chassis design are the biggest factors in the consistency of today's cars.

Otherwise, how do you explain that the cars of today are far more consistent than they were just 7-8 years ago when the "electronics" haven't changed.

 

[stanman]

Speaking of Scotty Richardson, back in the 80's before NHRA allowed all the computers his best light was a .467!

That is just a moronic statement!

Joe, you need to just lay off subjects you know absolutely nothing about!!

Delay boxes DO NOT give you better reactions! Look up the definition of delay!!

The drop and consistency in reactions has everything to do with tire, torque converter, and chassis design. And absolutely nothing to do with delay boxes.

 

[Toejam]

That is just a moronic statement!

Joe, you need to just lay off subjects you know absolutely nothing about!!

Delay boxes DO NOT give you better reactions! Look up the definition of delay!!

The drop and consistency in reactions has everything to do with tire, torque converter, and chassis design. And absolutely nothing to do with delay boxes.

I saw that IN AN ARTICLE in ND! Don't believe me Tough shit!

 

[stanman]

... Let these guys run Top comp, then lets see how many cars within .002 you see! HUM..........

Another brilliant remark from someone that doesn't know dick!

September 22nd and 23rd we had our last two NorCal Top Comp races at Bakersfield...

I won Saturday's race and runnered up on Sunday... in every round of eliminations I would have run within a .010 on every pass. My buddy Dean's car ran five, count 'em 5, 8.07's in a row on Sunday and beat me in the final when I took a .013 stripe and broke out by .003.

 

[stanman]

I saw that IN AN ARTICLE in ND! Don't believe me Tough shit!

I'm going to give whomever wrote the article the benefit of the doubt that they mis-typed what the meant... although with the level of quality info coming from ND regarding sportsman racing it wouldn't surprise that the writer knows even less than you do about how delay boxes and throttle stops work.

 

[stanman]

...Otherwise, how do you explain that the cars of today are far more consistent than they were just 7-8 years ago when the "electronics" haven't changed.

Joe,

Care to address this fact?

 

[Mike]

Joe, delay, a delay box would slow his reaction times down not make them better.

 

[Tim5636sc]

Delay box....uhhh!

Ok, think about this for a second...A Delay Box Takes away a lot of the "TIMING" it takes to cut a good light....ON ANY TREE!

With a Delay Box, it gives you...(The Driver) the ability to Let the button go AS SOON AS YOU SEE A FLASH OF YELLOW. You can Set your DELAY to insure that your "TOTAL REACTION TIME" is close to a perfect light. Let me give you an example.....

Three weeks ago, I was driving my friends Super Comp Dragster. It's a 235 WB Undercover Chassis 4 link dragster. It has a 3.90 rear gear, and powered by a 565 CI Big Block Chevy. The car Reacts very quickly, as do I. I let go of the transbrake, when I see a FLASH OF YELLOW LIGHT. The Reaction time would have been a -.030, (without any Delay). I put .035 worth of delay in the box for a total reaction time of .005! We then took the throttle stop off and tested the car under ADVANCED ET/TOP DRAGSTER TRIM. I was testing my Reaction Times for COMP Eliminator, and put no delay in the box. I let go once I saw a flash of yellow...and went -.134 red! I ran a 2nd time, this time I tried to Delay My own reaction times, and it worked...I cut a .078 Reaction time. Doing some math here....

Timmah's 1st pass on a .400 Pro Tree (set at a .400 Reaction time) with .035 Delay = .005 Reaction time. I saw the light...let go of the button and THE DELAY BOX helped give me a Great light.

Timmah's 2nd Pass on a .500 (3) amber tree (which is .100 slower tree than the pro tree) and NO DELAY = -.134 Red. Doing the math that means that The DRIVER, (ME) had two reaction times within .001 of a second. But, Without the box...THEY WOULD HAVE BOTH BEEN RED! So, the moral of the story is.....

WITH A DELAY BOX, It takes away the "SKILL" and Timing of trying to cut a good light. You adjust your delay box to either your or your cars tendencies. It is very difficult for the human eye to see the light exactly the same way each time, and very difficult to let go of the button EXACTLY THE SAME WAY, but if a driver is consistant, IN THEIR STAGING...and in their Ergonomics of letting go of the button the same way at the same time, and the car reacts consistantly the same way, Then using a delay box WILL make a driver very competitive.

WHEW..>!