Big Daddy Speaks of the Future of Nitro

[stitcherbob]

 

[megadeth]

Big Daddy is responsible for advancing the sport of drag racing but he is wrong on this one!
If Nitro goes so does the sport nobody wants to basically spend money to watch 1 to1 scale slot cars go down the track!
He is correct that the government could end nitro racing with one swipe of the pen but that been a fact since 9/11!

 

[vegasnitro]

Big Daddy is responsible for advancing the sport of drag racing but he is wrong on this one!
If Nitro goes so does the sport nobody wants to basically spend money to watch 1 to1 scale slot cars go down the track!
He is correct that the government could end nitro racing with one swipe of the pen but that been a fact since 9/11!

It has been a fact since Tim McVeigh bombed OKC in 1995. He used 3 drums of nitro as the oxidizer in the blast.

Big show NHRA drag racing would go away without nitro, but there will always be drag racing. It will just revert from a spectator sport to a participatory sport with some big events sprinkled in here and there. For instance, South Georgia Motorsports Park will be packed for the next 5 days for their small tire/radial tire event. There won't be a drop of nitro on the property.

Formula E is chugging along pretty well, so I think there potentially could be an audience for the electric dragsters, but they will not be ready to be feature players for a while.

 

[Jimbo]

Just my opinion but I think Don Garlits is right when he says we better at-least being thinking of what the NHRA would do it the EPA or any other government or state body steps in and says no more nitro.

Always good to have a plan B just in case something does happen.

I guess the alcohol would still be able to run with no problems.

Jim Hill
www.nostalgicracingdecals.com

 

[megadeth]

It was ammonia nitrate and diesel fuel.
Which was a fertilizer. Get the facts right.

 

[flapjack]

It was ammonia nitrate and diesel fuel.
Which was a fertilizer. Get the facts right.

It was a combination of nitromethane and ammonia nitrate. From wikipedia:

Of the 13 filled barrels, nine contained ammonium nitrate and nitromethane, and four contained a mixture of the fertilizer and about 4 U.S. gallons (3.3 imp gal; 15 L) of diesel fuel.

 

[MHayes]

It was ammonia nitrate and diesel fuel.
Which was a fertilizer. Get the facts right.

Details of the bomb....

"Nine of the 13 plastic barrels were filled with ammonium nitrate and nitro-methane that sources said were purchased from Tim Chambers, a fuel salesman at a racetrack outside of Dallas, Texas, in the fall of 1994. The other four were mixed with the fertilizer and about four gallons of diesel fuel, because McVeigh, according to Cash (investigative journalist from the McCurtain Daily Gazette), said that there had not been enough nitro-methane to mix all 13 barrels."

You can find more info about it on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_City_bombing)

 

[MHayes]

It was a combination of nitromethane and ammonia nitrate. From wikipedia:

Of the 13 filled barrels, nine contained ammonium nitrate and nitromethane, and four contained a mixture of the fertilizer and about 4 U.S. gallons (3.3 imp gal; 15 L) of diesel fuel.

You tree'd me Tom!

 

[vegasnitro]

It was ammonia nitrate and diesel fuel.
Which was a fertilizer. Get the facts right.

I had the facts straight Bob. There was more nitro than diesel used. He only used diesel because he ran out of nitro and couldn't afford to buy more.

 

[Nick Name]

Nitro racing is dying because it can only be found at Big show races and some nostalgia events. "back in the day" ( here we go) you couldn't attend a drag race, at least on the west coast, that didn't have nitro running. We grew up on it. I believe the future is the kind of events like what they are running at sgmp.
And this from a committed nitro junkie.

 

[DrRocket]

They use it at Bonneville, don't they?

 

[Nick Name]

They use it at Bonneville, don't they?

But you are a mile away. Not the Same

 

[DG]

It's all a conspiracy by DSR!

[Don owns Schumacher Electric! <g>]

 

[Nunz]

I'm a lifelong "Big" fan, and even rooting for him to break 200 in his electric dragster. Having said that, there is NO WAY electric dragsters will ever be a viable alternative to fuel cars. As somebody mentioned, we have alky cars. And to me, they put a fantastic show on.

 

[stitcherbob]

Here's how the NHRA will address Nitro racing in the future...short strings attached to the kill switches and the starting line

the up side is they can go back to the quarter mile....and they won't have to blow them up to do this

 

[yoda]

Well, I imagine Big isn't worried about a felt pen much anymore.... The only thing that seems to be getting struck down are things like the EPA...

 

[Cliff]

Just out of curiousity, what would happen if nitro was outlawed? What kind of combination would take it's place? Assume T/AD and TA/FC would become the new Pro classes, but would they stay the same? Could an alky combination run a clutch management system like the nitro cars? Bigger engines? Nitrous? Just thinking out loud I guess.

 

[mgty3whlr]

I would imagine with all the chemicals that the chemists come up with, There would be an alternative that the could blend with methanol or just a stand alone fuel that would probably be safer when the engine lets go.