Building A Top Fuel Dragster Part 2

[BaldyLochs]

Hey this is really neat! Question - is the Sonic Tester also used during frame inspections following mishaps such as a wall smack, maybe a hard landing after a big wheel stand and situations where the chassis was possibly tweaked and needs to be inspected before deciding to send it down the racetrack again?

Once I watched the painstaking process of giving a TF car the once-over between rounds after something like that happened and it was a very intricate process. They were using NDT, die penetrant, Eddie Current and all kinds of stuff looking for stress and damage. Right there in the pits in the middle of the day.

 

[65 Goatboy]

Me too, Brian. And to think I lived 3 minutes from Eddie Hill for nearly 20 years....

One of my first live events in Memphis I walked up to his pit, Eddie and Ercie were so nice. They talked to me and let me see the car closeup. He was my favorite TF driver until he retired.

 

[stitcherbob]

 

[twostep]

One of my first live events in Memphis I walked up to his pit, Eddie and Ercie were so nice. They talked to me and let me see the car closeup. He was my favorite TF driver until he retired.

He's still around, looking good, turns 90 in March. Last I heard he was raising championship bulls, flying RC aircraft and occasionally bombing around a road course in his Ariel Atom. His local Honda motorcycle dealership is still open for business (since 1966) where one of his TF 'nuclear bananas' and his record-holding TF Hydro are mounted on the wall.

Eddie, Ercie and his personal Ford GT:

 

[Nunz]

He's still around, looking good, turns 90 in March. Last I heard he was raising championship bulls, flying RC aircraft and occasionally bombing around a road course in his Ariel Atom. His local Honda motorcycle dealership is still open for business (since 1966) where one of his TF 'nuclear bananas' and his record-holding TF Hydro are mounted on the wall.

Eddie, Ercie and his personal Ford GT:

View attachment 15360

Wow what a great pic! Eddie & Ercie look great, and the GT is badass.

 

[stitcherbob]

Congrats Rob! Great performance down at Bradenton!

 

[none]

Evidently Rob built one hell of a hot rod.

 

[65 Goatboy]

That was cool to see. Shawn and Rob seem just like regular guys.

 

[stitcherbob]

Fresh from Rob

 

[stitcherbob]

Part 7 from Rob

 

[J. S.]

I'm really surprised they chose to remove the mud flaps for the Final, when they had never run the car that way before. I get they were having some tire issues, but wouldn't you want to try running the car sans mud flaps in testing a few times to see what the car does? As it turned out, it didn't seem to make much difference. Everyone runs mud flaps because, well, "Everyone runs them," but I wonder now if they really do much of anything since the air is pretty much disturbed by the front tires and front wing anyway.

Was that Courtney Enders interviewing Shawn Reed in the "winners circle"?