Nitromater
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Jennifer White
- Thread starter Cliff
- Start date
1975. I was at that race. 5.63, low ET of the world for, what, 6 years.
TD5023
Nitro Member
You don't have to worry about that. It's much easier to scrub ET in these cars down low by pulling some timing at the launch than using a throttle stop. Same effect, but it doesn't have the complete nose-over that so many people dislike. That's how racers are able to run 240+ while still being above the index (it's quite an experience having one of those blowing past you in the traps). I don't have a rulebook on me at the moment, but I think they might not even be allowed in the class (again, not that anyone would use it, anyway. Too much risk upsetting the chassis when you come off it).
Also, my mistake on the points. For some reason, I was thinking that a DQ race was one that counted in the final tally, not just wasting one eligible race.
Thanks Brad. There is one thing I worry about with the fields getting toward everyone running the index. It would kill off the "slow" cars, cars that run 6.40's & slower. You'd either have to step it up big time $$$$ or race another class. Just to throw out something. Today's T/AD & T/AFC are so expensive to run that the classes have been loosing cars. Suppose that a new T/AD class is created using the fast T/D of today, say with an index of 5.80. Then create a new T/D class with an index of 6.60. Just a wild hair idea but it seems to me that it would be easier & more cost efficient to run a 6.60 car. You guys know way better than I do about all this, so that's why I'm posting my idea. Besides, only had one cup of coffee. heh
Pretty sure the ET record took 7 years to beat. Think it was Jeb Allen that did it.
Yes it was Jeb. If I remember right, there may have been 1 or 2 cars that beat the 5.63, but couldn't back it up & Jeb was able to do that. Also remember that in the late '70's, Jerry Ruth was using Don Garlits' car at an NHRA race (Garlits & NHRA were on the outs, so Garlits had Ruth drive his car to tick off NHRA). Ruth got the car to run 255, fastest speed ever at the time, but couldn't back it up. Speeds got up to 257 & change until Amato ran that 260 speed. That was the race where Amato debuted that tall wing & the next race, everyone had a tall wing.
TD5023
Nitro Member
The possibility of losing cars over time due to cost is greater with a true heads up class or index class than a dial-in class. For TD and TS, I can see it being more cyclical, because all you have to do is make the field to have an equal shot of winning. When short fields start trending, they can be filled by slower cars that are quicker than the minimum dial who can still compete for the win, unlike TAD or TAFC. If you're a field filler for one of those classes, you go in knowing it'll take a lot of luck to win a single round, much less the whole race. Same for cars unable to hit an index. I'm currently one of those 6.40s cars that needs to up my game some to be comfortable, but that's part of the challenge.
I'm right on the border of D3 and D5 in east Iowa. Still trying to figure out what my schedule will be this year. The last few have definitely been roller coasters trying to figure out how to make a slow-fast car run properly. Maybe this will be the year that it actually stays together
Thanks Jesse. In Q1 I was aiming for a 6.10 but had an agreement with Jenifer that she'd practice hitting a specified lift point (a place on the track that cuts .02 of ET, and is pretty challenging to hit at 220+). Well she hit the microphone button as she crossed the finish line saying she forgot to lift .... from the 227 mph on the board, that was obvious to me, but the 6.092 put some pressure on Q2.
I set all of the nitrous timers to cut off at roughly 1000' and told her to try the lift point again .... the car left much harder than normal and immediately started belching flames from the pipes .... then one big boom from the intake. Fortunately the carbs were at WOT and it didn't blow them off. Checked everything on the motor and no damage .... but the car should have launched at 3500 rpm and shot smoothly to its 7850 shift point .... instead when she decked it, the motor went to 6k and stayed there until it blew.
Laid in bed and decided that somehow the coincidence that this was the same as the burn out RPM had to be related. Early this morning I put on ohm meter on the burn out button wires and they acted funny at first (indicated not OL when released) but then returned to very normal. Standing there wondering, I realized one of my 60 Racepak channels was the MSD indication of burn out button on/off .... it never turned off after the burn out ..... ugh.
So I'm running the same PowerGrid since we built this car in 2012 .... the button and the Grid are all replaced with new and we are about to try and qualify for race 2.
If this was easy it wouldn't be any fun.
I set all of the nitrous timers to cut off at roughly 1000' and told her to try the lift point again .... the car left much harder than normal and immediately started belching flames from the pipes .... then one big boom from the intake. Fortunately the carbs were at WOT and it didn't blow them off. Checked everything on the motor and no damage .... but the car should have launched at 3500 rpm and shot smoothly to its 7850 shift point .... instead when she decked it, the motor went to 6k and stayed there until it blew.
Laid in bed and decided that somehow the coincidence that this was the same as the burn out RPM had to be related. Early this morning I put on ohm meter on the burn out button wires and they acted funny at first (indicated not OL when released) but then returned to very normal. Standing there wondering, I realized one of my 60 Racepak channels was the MSD indication of burn out button on/off .... it never turned off after the burn out ..... ugh.
So I'm running the same PowerGrid since we built this car in 2012 .... the button and the Grid are all replaced with new and we are about to try and qualify for race 2.
If this was easy it wouldn't be any fun.
Jeff, you & Jennifer gotta get the win at race 2. Make up for them Louisiana boys taking the win & R/U today. Thanks for telling us what was going on. Am watching the race (off & on) on U Tube channel. There was one Q session for T/AD and a driver in the right lane missed going over the line about 3X. Announcer said he'd never seen anyone make a pass like that where they didn't cross the C/L. That was a shakey pass!
Thanks for telling us what was going on. Am watching the race (off & on) on U Tube channel. There was one Q session for T/AD and a driver in the right lane missed going over the line about 3X. Announcer said he'd never seen anyone make a pass like that where they didn't cross the C/L. That was a shakey pass!Well changing to the new Grid box fixed the problem, but of the almost 100 software inputs you have to make (old grid run file not compatible with much newer spare I had) with my set up I got bit by having too much on my plate. About 50% of the way through the set up, I couldn't get my launch retard table to input ... called MSD and they laughed at how old the software was I was using, and warned me that I needed to go back to my prior input and make sure nothing returned to a default setting. Well I didn't catch that my 8250 RPM limit (one of about 3 with different names because of all of the safety defaults) had reset to 7k .... so this run made it to 7k rather than 6k, but totally because of operator error. I think we are "fixed" again, and we are #30 or 31 in a 32 car field ... so I'll keep demonstrating my stupidity and apparently "White Noise's" ability to have the fire equivalent of explosive diarrhea.
Nemo
Nitro Member
Seen it pop through the scoop a couple times this weekend, glad your able to keep making it back. We qualified well and ran great first round (.006 light 6.28 on a 6.28) but found a broken valve spring warming up for round 2 so had to bow out. Got it fixed but couldn’t find all the parts of the spring and when they called for race 2 last night we didn’t have it back together (did find it...part was in the lifter valley other was in the pan). No other damage but pulled home in the rain today. Good luck tomorrow down there!
