Almost like they were/are a type of contract employee. Works well for both parties.
$ difference between TD and TAD?
- Thread starter Mike
- Start date
Almost like they were/are a type of contract employee. Works well for both parties.
Comp can be really expensive depending on the class. Bet you could spend $250,000 on a turn key race car only.
- Thread starter
- #44
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?
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?
none
Nitro Member
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
Under_Pressure
Nitro Member
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.
Under_Pressure
Nitro Member
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.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.
sfw1960
Nitro Member
I do remember that AR - it was awesome to see.
Randy
Nitro Member
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 $$ total. And we were by far, not the biggest spenders out there. The last race we ran my TA/FC at was the 2012 Pomona Winternationals, and we won it. NHRA paid us $5,000. Then contingency sponsors with every decal on the car was less than $3,200. In the semifinals against Tony Bartone, we dropped number two intake valve, but managed to win the round. The damage from that one run alone cost us more than the winning the entire event.
I always felt like this. Some people's budget for fun is riding a bike down a river trail. For other people, it's 100 of your favorite friends taking a cruise in your 60' yaught off the coast of Newport. For most of us, it's somewhere in between. Decide what you can do, go do it, and have fun.
TA/FC, Brad Anderson engine combination, 14 years ago, 5.50's which was very competitive at the time.
Top Sportsman, Rick Jones Camaro with a new Sonny Leonard (almost 800 cubic inch) Hemi. 6.60's to 6.70's every run in decent air. All you had to do was cool it between runs and put more fuel in it.
TA/FC required between four and five crewmembers to keep up, all the time. We went through a ton of parts and maintained it like a funny car. I had three engines, and I would cycle parts rather than waiting for them to cycle themselves.
Top Sportsman, my wife and I and another couple friend of ours would run it for the whole weekend, even on the double divisionals. Our biggest expense was what was for dinner.
Best way to describe the difference in expense between the two would be to just add another zero or two to the Top Sportsman budget to get to the funny car $$ 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.
Randy - thank you (after 3 pages of the usual thread drift) for being the first person to actually answer the original question. This is the kind of information that I wish there was more of on this site.
I continue to be amazed at the number of hours (and the expense) required in the Fuel classes and Top Alcohol classes before and during each race, compared to the amount of time spent actually making each run down the track. Seems like way, way too much work, and way, way too much expense. Whereas - as you note - with a class like Top Sportsman and Top Dragster, you get to go real fast and real quick, but with hardly any of the pain-in-the-ass (and pain-in-the-wallet) between rounds maintenance. A team can actually go to a race and have FUN, make some laps with their hot rod, and not have to work their ass off all weekend.
Decide what you can do and have fun. I love drag racing, never had the $ to race, so settled for spectating. Best $ I ever spent. Cannot tell you how many times I get to the gate when it opens, last one to leave. Costs me $ for gas, eats, souvineers. Plus the best car show in town wondering thru the pits.
sfw1960
Nitro Member
Agreed Cliff.
I LOVE drag racing too. ALL kinds.
When we were much younger = I absolutely LOVED standing at the tree recording the action, had cranks yakked out at my feet - hats blown off (YOU GOTTA do it at least once to live!), nitrous explosions (I still can't find Musi / Popeye nuking his glass windshield out), close calls when things get outta shape, the heat off the jets, the cackle you CANNOT can or tame, getting pelted with rubber, people asking WHY I wore sunglasses at night (eye protection!), getting stressed trying to get good computer clips & edits, having to spend time UN-gooing the cameras and soooo many things you just can't get ANYWHERE else but at the drag strip!
Working 55-65 hrs/wk only fueled the passion for the weekends IMO.
I'd surely be amiss if I didn't say that standing behind John Force & Tony Pedregon on launch was pretty much a soul touching experience I will carry with me to the last day. (some of you saw the clip I uploaded here)
I will forever be grateful for the drag races and the experiences it has brought to bear witness; hell or high water ~ whatever may come, God stood by me during all those times with grace and made me appreciate life more than ever.
RAS
Litefoot
Nitro Member
I have to agree with you on what Drag Racing has ment to me too, it will always be the best memories to remember on and off the trackAgreed Cliff.
I LOVE drag racing too. ALL kinds.
When we were much younger = I absolutely LOVED standing at the tree recording the action, had cranks yakked out at my feet - hats blown off (YOU GOTTA do it at least once to live!), nitrous explosions (I still can't find Musi / Popeye nuking his glass windshield out), close calls when things get outta shape, the heat off the jets, the cackle you CANNOT can or tame, getting pelted with rubber, people asking WHY I wore sunglasses at night (eye protection!), getting stressed trying to get good computer clips & edits, having to spend time UN-gooing the cameras and soooo many things you just can't get ANYWHERE else but at the drag strip!
Working 55-65 hrs/wk only fueled the passion for the weekends IMO.
I'd surely be amiss if I didn't say that standing behind John Force & Tony Pedregon on launch was pretty much a soul touching experience I will carry with me to the last day. (some of you saw the clip I uploaded here)
I will forever be grateful for the drag races and the experiences it has brought to bear witness; hell or high water ~ whatever may come, God stood by me during all those times with grace and made me appreciate life more than ever.
RAS
Litefoot
Nitro Member
Robert, do you go to Dallas race
sfw1960
Nitro Member
@Mark Jones
No Sir,
Quite the homebody nowadays - I haven't been to Texas since my whippersnapper days.
When I lived at home, the annual visits to see my Grandmother in Tampico, Mexico - about 300 miles South of the border, with a station wagon of siblings, I ended up not caring much for travel in general!
What makes you ask?
RAS
Litefoot
Nitro Member
Moved to east Texas and going to try to make the race this year, thought if you were going would like to meet up and do a little bench racing@Mark Jones
No Sir,
Quite the homebody nowadays - I haven't been to Texas since my whippersnapper days.
When I lived at home, the annual visits to see my Grandmother in Tampico, Mexico - about 300 miles South of the border, with a station wagon of siblings, I ended up not caring much for travel in general!
What makes you ask?
RAS
Litefoot
Nitro Member
