Fireworks for Erbacher at Houston (2 Viewers)
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yoda
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Great minds think alike Darr... Ya only treed me by a couple of minutes 
Greggo
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None that I know of. We were in the last section and didn't get hit by any but it seemed like debris was raining down for quite a while.
The explosion was quite similar to Tony Pedregon's at the 2008 Winternationals.
The explosion was quite similar to Tony Pedregon's at the 2008 Winternationals.
Randy
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About 10 years ago Cruz had a boomer at Pomona. A chunk of windshield hit the seat next to us in the stands at 1,100 feet.
Toejam
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I was sitting where I always sit at around 100', and it looked exactly like Tony's Boomer! He's lucky that chassis didn't snap, whoever built that car knew what they were doing!
BigTuna
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Forgive me if I am wrong, but look at the picture from the side, Isn't It a huge no no to have the drivers head have the ability to come forward out of halo/cages protection?
Surfer Ed
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I am not an expert on this, but I think the head travelling forward of the roll cage is inevatable given the rapid decelleration. Check this photo of the Greeks head during decelleration due to the blower belt coming off.
I would Imagine the deceleration in Urs case was much more dramatic and Urs is a much taller guy than the Greek, thus the further head movement.
The Swegian
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It appeared chunks of tire and engine shrapnel landed in RV area off to the right of the track. Dang, that was a big bang and the heat/smell from the fire was quite palpable from where Greg and I were sitting. That was certainly a huge relief to see Urs keep that car as straight as possible. I would imagine it took some serious strength to manhandle it the way he did.
Kelly
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So you and Greg were all by yourselve's, Mark? LOL
Seriously....we all felt the heat and concussion from where we were sitting and we were pretty high up in the stands, but it pretty much happened right in front of us. The first thing Paul turned and asked me was...Did you feel that heat? That was one major fireball! It made me a little nervous that he took so long to get out of the car!
Seriously....we all felt the heat and concussion from where we were sitting and we were pretty high up in the stands, but it pretty much happened right in front of us. The first thing Paul turned and asked me was...Did you feel that heat? That was one major fireball! It made me a little nervous that he took so long to get out of the car!
"Chuck"
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Thats pretty much what happens when you break a valve at 7800 RPM with 17,000 lbs of cylinder pressure. Im glad Urs is okay though, you can always fix the car.
I was also sitting in the section at the end and felt the heat and concussion from the boomer. That was definitely a mechanical failure of some kind! It reminded me of the explosion Mark Kinsella had in E-town. I was doing the clutch for him and we had the block split in the first round against Cory Mac. All hell broke loose and pieces went everywhere.
On another note, it was nice to meet you Kelly, Greg and Mark.
On another note, it was nice to meet you Kelly, Greg and Mark.
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I heard it was a broken timing gear on the crank...
http://www.nitromater.com/nhra/21311-paging-dr-dupuy.html#post205619
There's more fireworks from the Erbacher fireball in the NHRA Pro Coverage from Houston Raceway Park in DRO.
Kelly
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You too Gary!
Great pictures, thanks Darr!
"Chuck"
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I heard it was a broken timing gear on the crank...
http://www.nitromater.com/nhra/21311-paging-dr-dupuy.html#post205619
Urs said it was a broken valve. The article is on Comp Plus I think.
Nitrohelper
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When the gear drive breaks, it then crashes many valves. That makes the fire ball much larger that a single intake.
I've dropped the head off a single intake valve ,and it only opened the burst panel ,the blower stayed on the manifold. Now granted that was in the 45 gallon days.
Urs deal also destroyed the manifold, 90 gallon fuel pumps don't forgive.
UK_Nitro
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I guess the new David Nickens designed heads are trash then!
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