Please understand that this is not the way I run my car or clutches. We have never pushed our cars after starting. This is someone else's set up and a proceedure they are using, and I feel since they have shown they are doing it safely, they should have the right to do it their way with their car.
Alan's clutch set up only uses 5 primary levers with a unique radius system and a minimal amount of weight. It is not my place to give actual numbers and set ups. The burnout proceedure puts heat into the clutch and the rate of expansion of the discs and floaters is greater than the titanium stands which closes the clutch gap. Sometimes a little too much stall spring (and with the lack of fingers and weight is touchy) the gap isn't closed enough on the burnout and the car needs to be helped towards the starting line. It is critical for the gap to be consistent, as a .005" difference in gap changes the lever's tip approximately .021" creating lever angle. Lever angle changes leverage of the lever, which changes the characteristics of the clutch. Same goes for clutch wear. The safety record for the 3 years this has been going on is perfect and the performances and consistency of the cars using this system speaks for itself.
As far as the pro stock deal, I am sure the people doing it understand the where's and why's of the proceedure, and again, for the thousands of runs that it has been taking place, their safety record is perfect. It is not my place to dictate to these professionals how they should do their job when they have shown that what they are doing, they can do safely, time after time.
Randy - I am not saying Scott did anything wrong, or is not safety consious. I feel that anything attached to the throttle that can open the throttle during a malfunction should be redesigned or banned from use entirely. I was not aware of anything that would do this, as I am sure Scott wasn't either. The cars in question in this topic have no such device, and the last thing in line is a heavy spring that closes the throttle in case of any linkage malfunction.
Basically all I am saying is that if you want to call for another safety rule, show just cause with facts that are relevent why the rule should be implemented. I am trying to show with facts why I feel the rules being called for are not needed. And other rules or situations are not relevent to the situations that rules are being called to ban.
