$ difference between TD and TAD? (14 Viewers)

There are drivers who continue their partnerships long after their driving careers have ended. Jackie Stewart has been with Ford Motor company and Rolex since his days at Ken Tyrrell Formula 1. Nikki Lauda had Parmalat for 25 years and Novomatic was his personal sponsor.

Almost like they were/are a type of contract employee. Works well for both parties.
 
I know a couple comp racers who never made the step to TAD/TAFC because it was way too much work and too dangerous depending on the divisional tracks they would have to race on.
Comp can be really expensive depending on the class. Bet you could spend $250,000 on a turn key race car only.
 
Something I've wondered about. Would a Comp Eliminator dragster be legal in TD (or door car legal in TS)?

For example, Robert Bailey could probably run the number to qualify for every TD field except Indy. If he wanted to enter his car n TD instead of Comp, would he be allowed to using the same setup he runs in Comp?
 
Something I've wondered about. Would a Comp Eliminator dragster be legal in TD (or door car legal in TS)?

For example, Robert Bailey could probably run the number to qualify for every TD field except Indy. If he wanted to enter his car n TD instead of Comp, would he be allowed to using the same setup he runs in Comp?

The answer is yes. You can run another eliminator. (Anyone remember Rickie Smith running COMP in Charlotte?) But it would be like running a Pro Stock Car in TS. You would dial it back because there's no reason to run it full tilt, if you don't have to.

Much like the guys who have TAD engines in the class. You don't run them on kill.

Alan
 
Oh yeah.....Maybe Red Bull owns other things we don't know about. I think they are a Thai company aren't they?

Must be a lotta cash in those little cans.
Red Bull is Austrian, but supposedly was based on a drink Dietrich Mateschitz had while in Thailand. And yes, they seem to have almost unlimited money. They basically invented the category and are popular worldwide (unlike most of the other common energy drinks we see in the US). They also charge about the highest price for the smallest amount of product.
 
Fun fact. A friend asked me to calculate this the other day. How long is a million seconds? It's just over 11 days. Now calculate a billion seconds? It's around 30 years. 😲
 
Fun fact. A friend asked me to calculate this the other day. How long is a million seconds? It's just over 11 days. Now calculate a billion seconds? It's around 30 years. 😲
Another one is how a stack of a million dollars in hundreds would reach about to your waist, while a stack of a billion dollars in hundreds would be about twice the height of the tallest building in the US (One World Trade Center). And Elon's trillion dollars in hundreds would be about twice as high as the altitude at which the Starlink satellites orbit.
 
The answer is yes. You can run another eliminator. (Anyone remember Rickie Smith running COMP in Charlotte?) But it would be like running a Pro Stock Car in TS. You would dial it back because there's no reason to run it full tilt, if you don't have to.

Much like the guys who have TAD engines in the class. You don't run them on kill.

Alan
I do remember that AR - it was awesome to see.
 
I ran these, 9 years apart, 2012 vs 2021. TA/FC then Top Sportsman. I know it's not TAD versus Top Dragster, but it is still comparable.

TA/FC, Brad Anderson engine combination, 14 years ago, 5.50's which was very competitive at the time.

Top Sportsman, Rick Jones Camaro with a new Sonny Leonard (almost 800 cubic inch) Hemi. 6.60's to 6.70's every run in decent air. All you had to do was cool it between runs and put more fuel in it.

TA/FC required between four and five crewmembers to keep up, all the time. We went through a ton of parts and maintained it like a funny car. I had three engines, and I would cycle parts rather than waiting for them to cycle themselves.

Top Sportsman, my wife and I and another couple friend of ours would run it for the whole weekend, even on the double divisionals. Our biggest expense was what was for dinner.

Best way to describe the difference in expense between the two would be to just add another zero or two to the Top Sportsman budget to get to the funny car $$ total. And we were by far, not the biggest spenders out there. The last race we ran my TA/FC at was the 2012 Pomona Winternationals, and we won it. NHRA paid us $5,000. Then contingency sponsors with every decal on the car was less than $3,200. In the semifinals against Tony Bartone, we dropped number two intake valve, but managed to win the round. The damage from that one run alone cost us more than the winning the entire event.

I always felt like this. Some people's budget for fun is riding a bike down a river trail. For other people, it's 100 of your favorite friends taking a cruise in your 60' yaught off the coast of Newport. For most of us, it's somewhere in between. Decide what you can do, go do it, and have fun.
 

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