Photos of Courtney Force testing at Charlotte and Yes I'm sure it's her! (1 Viewer)

[john]

Courtney Force Testing At Charlotte Photos | rpm2night.com

thanks to Elon Werner of JFR and Harold Hinson of CMS for sending me photos of Courtney testing Monday at Charlotte.

Yes, I'm sure it's her, unlike the mistake I made of the video I posted earlier and told everyone it was Robert Hight's crew, when in fact it was Mike Neff's. Again, I apologize. I screwed up in my haste to get it on the site!

Sorry, I'll try not to do it again!
JK

 

[murdock]

Her car was in the pits this weekend, I wondered if that meant that she would be testing this week. Several cars made passes on Monday morning before we pulled out of the RV area, I was wishing that I had time to go over and watch.

 

[twostep]

Courtney is a cutie even wearing a gas mask, warming up what appears to be a Chevy 427. Yes, I know what it really is.

 

[Gordon]

I'm sure Courtney will do well under JFR's tutelage, assuming there are enough people available to help translate her dad's input.

As with Ashley, I suspect John won't let her stage in competition until she's ready, and when she is, she will be a threat to win almost immediately... thus making the already ultra tight Funny Car class, even tighter - and that's a good thing.

 

[mick]

......warming up what appears to be a Chevy 427.......

good eyes carl, any chance this could be a double test for a different
engine combo for nhra?

 

[Just Paul]

good eyes carl, any chance this could be a double test for a different
engine combo for nhra?

Mike, What you are seeing is the shield over the valve cover.

 

[Gordon]

good eyes carl, any chance this could be a double test for a different
engine combo for nhra?

I could be wrong, but I believe Carl was looking for sarcasm... nothing about any of those pictures shows me anything short of a normal nitro motor... In this case, a Boss 500.

 

[mick]

Mike, What you are seeing is the shield over the valve cover.

woops.........thanks paul.

 

[twostep]

I could be wrong, but I believe Carl was looking for sarcasm...

I was, but to the untrained eye it does appear to be a Chevy big block. In case anyone is wondering, these shields are in place primarily to prevent spark plugs from being blown out of the heads and aerating one of those $50K carbon fiber bodies.

 

[mick]

the shield in photo has radius corner sides; don't think i've seen this type
before; looks like a valve cover......haven't been paying attention in pits lately.

 

[BaldyLochs]

These photos are fake. The one of her giving thumbs up is staged, we have no idea who's in the car seen on the track.... and that's clearly a John Force Look-alike. Until I see her suit up, crawl into the drivers chair, and see the body lowered over her..... in one continuous video clip.....I am simply not convinced. Jeeze I'm just kidding !!!! Hey good for her - we need more girls racing pro!

 

[Gordon]

I was, but to the untrained eye it does appear to be a Chevy big block. In case anyone is wondering, these shields are in place primarily to prevent spark plugs from being blown out of the heads and aerating one of those $50K carbon fiber bodies.

Untrained eye? I thought all maters were "trained".

As for the shields, didn't that start happening with Armstrong's motors when he was tuning on Kenny's cars? If memory serves me right, he was tapping all of the spark plug holes so that the spark plugs would all sit in the cylinder a specific way? As I recall, one of the negative side effects was weakened threads, thus the mini-spark plug missiles.

 

[twostep]

Untrained eye? I thought all maters were "trained".

As for the shields, didn't that start happening with Armstrong's motors when he was tuning on Kenny's cars? If memory serves me right, he was tapping all of the spark plug holes so that the spark plugs would all sit in the cylinder a specific way? As I recall, one of the negative side effects was weakened threads, thus the mini-spark plug missiles.

I believe that's correct, Gordon. And those plugs will go a long ways, too. Someone posted an article here a couple of days ago that mentioned 16,000 psi of pressure inside one of these cylinders at WOT. I'd hate to be standing alongside a nitro engine warming in the pits, with no shield, about the time the throttle is whacked and out comes #4 spark plug, right in the kisser.

Speaking of Chevy powered nitro FCs, does anyone remember who was the last person to win an NHRA national event with one? Not challenging, just asking. I couldn't tell you. The last nitro BBC I saw run was AA/FA pilot Tim Hay, who unfortunately was killed a few months later driving the same car.

Not sure what any of that has to do with Courtney Force, but I'll think of something.