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Cheating... and I don't mean on your spouse (1 Viewer)

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Registered member said:
Randy i saw many a different forms of cheating over the years.From what I hear tech for next year is going to be on the honor system,WHAT______ cost of licenses double this year, bad payouts NHRA No Help Racing Anytime.
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Sounds like I moved on just in time. If you are ever caught cheating all your racing accomplishments from day one wear an asterisk * . One of my former crew members tells me visits to your pit by the tech department are far and few between any more. The team he's helping isn't setting the world on fire so that may be the reason, who knows.
 
Registered member said:
Sounds like I moved on just in time. If you are ever caught cheating all your racing accomplishments from day one wear an asterisk * . One of my former crew members tells me visits to your pit by the tech department are far and few between any more. The team he's helping isn't setting the world on fire so that may be the reason, who knows.
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This is somewhat true other than Chicago or Indy. Two races you can pretty much count on a head coming off or at minimum tech'd harder than normal when you get your card filled out. I think tech has slowed down a bit because almost everyone these days is really hauling the mail. It was a little different when there were one or two cars running a tenth better than everyone else, but the rest of the field has really closed the gap. I don't think people are talking out the side of their mouths to the tech guys as much anymore either. Remember everyone swore up and down Manzo must be cheating because no one could make their car run like his. That has always been the problem, just because you can't figure out how they do it must mean they are cheating. Having Frank's ass in the seat should have been considered cheating at some point. Most of the teardowns and visits from tech used to happen because a little birdie would try to tattle on someone for suspected use of something, and they would grab that car along with 3-4 other top runners so it didn't look so blatantly like a witch hunt towards one person. Funny story about that, I remember a points meet in Denver where a certain championship winning BAD crew chief was driving by on a golf cart with a new set of tires for the dragster and the tires had 103 written on them. As he drives by I said, "So you're the dickhead that got those tires, I wanted em. Need all the help I can get up here...." He says back loud as hell with a big ass grin on his face, "You don't want these, they are really only 99's, the way you run that car you'll just smoke em every lap!" Well, I guess the wrong person overheard our joking because before we even ran Q1, tech came by with their rope and checked just our tires and the BAD's. Ahhhhh the good ole days. You don't see stuff like the good ole blower impounding at the Finals that happened around 6 or 7 years ago when certain people were accused of case modifications, so they impounded the blowers of everyone in the top half of the field in TAD/TAFC and then PSI magically introduced the "blueprinting" the following winter/spring. You know, where they made the best blower they have even better for a nominal fee.. A consequence of really having your combination figured out and running fast is that the bigger the gap you put on the field, the more often you get called into the barn for a cavity search.

You know, one of the biggest advantages those ridiculously fast guys have always had is that their competition spends more time worried about what they're doing and trying to figure it out rather than focusing on their own combos and making them faster. Pretty rare occasion where a single special part they have that you don't makes the difference, they've just figured out how to use what they have more efficiently than you or in a way you haven't thought of(or more likely, are convinced will never work). Kind of like the Camaro body craze these days. If that body was half as good as everyone seems to think, they'd be running 280mph consistently. Before people figured out they could pull a 36" tire in TAFC, some cars would run a 4.11 gear instead of the 4.29 in the rear. Some people figured out how to run massive amounts of counterweight on the old Crower 10.7's and really pull on the back half before Leanders introduced their clutch that doesn't seem to give up despite your tune up. Pair all that with the current power available through the latest and greatest from NRE, AJPE, BAE and others, and you've got a very hateful TAFC field that can really rip off some numbers when they start getting a hold of the tune-up. To this day, I think the most successful cars are the ones that run like Frank did. Put a fearless, crazy tune-up in the car every lap and the driver has the ability to fix from the seat with a short shift or quick pedal slap(see: Jonnie Lindberg). Basically send a wheelspeed/engine bomb every lap that hopefully doesn't smoke em at the hit. Most cars aren't using everything they got until well past the 330 these days anyway. Timing changes so much early in the run they sound like they've got 3 different throttle stops on the motor or a 5 speed trans. A lot of teams these days are subscribing to very similar formulas, so I think that's why we don't see the same level of tech involvement as we have in the past.
 
I can attest to at least one time when we were outrunning everyone that a "dime" got dropped on us. And we knew who did it because the unnamed tech official told us. My saying to the tech people was "Let us know when you're done so we can go to dinner." Then we would grab a lounge chair. We had nothing to hide. In fact, Mert Littlefield and his entire crew came over to help us do an engine change after the semi finals at the Winternational's all the way back in 2004 when Marc White was driving for me. Marc was stunning everyone by ripping off mid 5.50's and the run it blew up it was on a 5.53 because it was .02 quicker to the 1,000 than our 5.55 the round before. And 5.53 was the national record back then held by Frank Manzo in 1,000' better air. Mert and crew got a good look at everything we were doing including the clutch. He looked at me and said, "Randy, there's no magic here, is there." Nope. Just a great driver getting every ounce out of the car. That's why I say, there are a hundreds of people who go for funny car rides, but there are few who can actually drive one. Marc White was one of the best.
 
Registered member said:
I can attest to at least one time when we were outrunning everyone that a "dime" got dropped on us. And we knew who did it because the unnamed tech official told us. My saying to the tech people was "Let us know when you're done so we can go to dinner." Then we would grab a lounge chair. We had nothing to hide. In fact, Mert Littlefield and his entire crew came over to help us do an engine change after the semi finals at the Winternational's all the way back in 2004 when Marc White was driving for me. Marc was stunning everyone by ripping off mid 5.50's and the run it blew up it was on a 5.53 because it was .02 quicker to the 1,000 than our 5.55 the round before. And 5.53 was the national record back then held by Frank Manzo in 1,000' better air. Mert and crew got a good look at everything we were doing including the clutch. He looked at me and said, "Randy, there's no magic here, is there." Nope. Just a great driver getting every ounce out of the car. That's why I say, there are a hundreds of people who go for funny car rides, but there are few who can actually drive one. Marc White was one of the best.
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Dont you mean is one of the best?
 
I've learned a lot from Marc just talking to him and watching the way he operates both in and around the car. He's one of the best drivers I know.
 
Registered member said:
Whew. Sounded like I was dead there for a second....Thanks Mike LOL
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Man, I throw out a compliment and you guys get all over me for it. I tried to sneak it in before Christmas, too, hoping Marc would return the favor by sending me something nice for Christmas.

I remember one afternoon when Marc had just jumped out of my car after doing a warm up and setting the clutch. I noticed a big crowd still behind the car. A lot of them cheered and clapped when Marc shut it off. Lee Littlefield came over and grabbed me by the arm and said in kind of a whisper "I just watched Marc warm up the car....Aren't you afraid he's going to break it?" I looked behind her at the people still leaving and I said "Heck no, I stood back there and watched myself." LOL
 
Registered member said:
That's why I say, there are a hundreds of people who go for funny car rides, but there are few who can actually drive one.
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This is definitely the truth. I caught up with Manzo at the fall Charlotte race this year, you should hear him go on about the modern Pro Mods. "They don't drive, they go for rides! Two-steps, gettin' to leave with their right foot all the way down and letting go of a button, auto shifters, timing controllers, freakin' outlaw cars got traction controllers! I think Leahy is coming out with an automatic ball scratcher for seats I can put on a timer too!"
 
A lot of these posts are very entertaining and informative. The problem is that a lot of what happened took place in days of yore with racers that aren't exactly spring chickens anymore. So if we set the "way back machine" ahead to 2017 - are there still enough NHRA officials with the time and/or expertise to check things? It seems like every year the NHRA staff at the track gets smaller, as the work load increases. As I said at the start, I am not accusing anyone of anything, but who is there to keep all the honest racers from going astray?
 
Registered member said:
Man, I throw out a compliment and you guys get all over me for it. I tried to sneak it in before Christmas, too, hoping Marc would return the favor by sending me something nice for Christmas.

I remember one afternoon when Marc had just jumped out of my car after doing a warm up and setting the clutch. I noticed a big crowd still behind the car. A lot of them cheered and clapped when Marc shut it off. Lee Littlefield came over and grabbed me by the arm and said in kind of a whisper "I just watched Marc warm up the car....Aren't you afraid he's going to break it?" I looked behind her at the people still leaving and I said "Heck no, I stood back there and watched myself." LOL
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Shoot the warmups are half the fun. All kidding a side Randy's car was a beast and a whole lot of fun to drive. It's a shame we couldn't have kept going a while longer but I had a blast while I was there. And the proudest part was it was 100% legal every time it went to the line. I never wanted to think about doing anything illegal. Would tarnish what was accomplished. Well there was the time I had to turn the fire bottle upside down so they couldn't see the empty guage once. Not really cheating just stupidity. Had to do it we didn't have a spare. Young and dumb
 
Registered member said:
I remember one afternoon when Marc had just jumped out of my car after doing a warm up and setting the clutch. I noticed a big crowd still behind the car. A lot of them cheered and clapped when Marc shut it off. Lee Littlefield came over and grabbed me by the arm and said in kind of a whisper "I just watched Marc warm up the car....Aren't you afraid he's going to break it?" I looked behind her at the people still leaving and I said "Heck no, I stood back there and watched myself." LOL
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here's someone else who almost "broke the car"......


:D
 
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