Roller Starters (2 Viewers)

[TopFuel@Lions]

A very nice piece done by Phil Burgess on NHRA.Com about roller starters. Made my heart melt with the pictures of the starting line rollers from "my" Lions Drag Strip and the rollers in the pits from Orange County. Great stuff.



TopFuel@Lions
Talladega Announcer

 

[Ramjet]

The Roller Starters at Lions were a big deal when they came out. Not too long after they were in there was a guy who showed up giving away his all new "whiz bang" oil filters. Most of us ran a block off plate but I decided this might be a good deal. You could go up to the rollers and get started for a warm up. WELL - He probably didn't count on 70 weight oil and 120 PSI oil pressure when the motor was cold. We were about 3rd or 4th in line to warm up and the car was pushed up on the rollers. "Weed" (the assistant starter) hit the switch that turned on the rollers and revs her up and nodded to me to let the clutch pedal out. In about 3 seconds there is a bang and said "Whiz Bang" oil filter is a missle going down on the roller platform with 10 quarts of oil following it as the motor started. There was two guys holding the car down in front and one holding onto the rollbar to keep it straight. They absorbed a couple of the quarts but the rest went onto the rollers. It was a fiasco getting the car off the slippery rollers and about an hour to clean up the mess. Needless to say CJ went around the Pits and said no one was allowed on the rollers with those filters. I don't know if the problem was ever fixed, but I do know that I went back to a block off plate instead of a filter. I remember that you had to let the clutch out on one car after the other one was turning over or it would bog down the motor on the roller setup.

 

[Cliff]

I remember those starters too. At first not too well liked by spectators, cuz it took away the push starts which were always fun to watch. The OCIR rollers had a small block Chevy engine to run the rollers. Used to go in the pits early and watch the AA/FD fire up on the rollers. I also remember the fire up road at OCIR, right in front of the pit side stands. It was so cool to watch - the dragster going down the road with the clutch out to bring up oil pressure, then hit the mag switch & WHOOMP! the engine starts up. Lions, San Fernando, OCIR, etc.

 

[Ramjet]

I remember those starters too. At first not too well liked by spectators, cuz it took away the push starts which were always fun to watch. The OCIR rollers had a small block Chevy engine to run the rollers. Used to go in the pits early and watch the AA/FD fire up on the rollers. I also remember the fire up road at OCIR, right in front of the pit side stands. It was so cool to watch - the dragster going down the road with the clutch out to bring up oil pressure, then hit the mag switch & WHOOMP! the engine starts up. Lions, San Fernando, OCIR, etc.

Do You remember Muravez' Great Dane running along side the car as he came down the fire up road and then jumping into the back of the truck as the car made the turn? Also at Lions all the cars lined up on the little road in front of the Pit side stands and waited their turn to push down. Right side pushed down on the left and left on the right. Insurance companies would have a Heart Attack in todays world.

 

[mike]

Do You remember Muravez' Great Dane running along side the car as he came down the fire up road and then jumping into the back of the truck as the car made the turn? Also at Lions all the cars lined up on the little road in front of the Pit side stands and waited their turn to push down. Right side pushed down on the left and left on the right. Insurance companies would have a Heart Attack in todays world.

 

[mike]

I remember using the at Indy- Englishtown- Bowling Green and a one or two others -The hard part was very little spring in the car - started with the clutch pedal - out! I had the honor to crackle Dixons car at Columbus thought it would never start - kept jabbing the clutch last ten seconds it fired-brought back a lot of memories thanks-Mr. GIBBS- Mike Kosky

 

[Cliff]

I don't remember the Great Dane, but do remember the cars pushing down from the staging road on the spectator side at Lions. The cars pushed down each lane & turned around at the start line & lined up. During elims, sometimes they would play a game. Rules back then (at least at Lions) was that if one car fired & the other didn't, they would give them a 2nd chance. The car that was fired had to shut down, already had heat in the engine. So they would re-push start, both cars fired and made a race. You didn't always see that, but I heard the stories. That never happened at National events. If you couldn't fire, you lost. I don't seem to remember the game playing at OCIR with push starts. Ya know what I really miss is the Old Daze when cars push started and then smoked the tires most of the way down. At Lions, if you were in the stands by the starting line. you couldn't see anything but tire smoke. Then around 700 feet, the cars would stop smoking the tires and all you could see was the flames from the headers. I used to love seeing the cars after the slipper clutches came in. They'd do the burn out and crew would back them up. All the while you'd see the flames from the headers. then they would race, & all you'd see would be the header flames. Wow..... I was thinking about that tonite. It's Sat nite, I'm stuck inside the house & how I wish I could go to Lions for the Sat night show. Atlas Oil Tool Spl just ran 6.68 for low ET......

 

[M Jones]

Here in Vegas the roller starter was at a bad angle close to 45 degree to rollers, blew u-joints all over the place on a regular basis, I miss being push started with our B - Alterd, used to start going down track and making u turn after it fired then make another one to line up for the run, 105" car turned on a dime, those were the days

 

[Cliff]

Mark, what year was that? I went to the drags in Vegas in the 1990's, when they had the Gambler Nats Div 7 race. That was the track before the present one. I really enjoyed going to that track, went a couple of years in a row. Jeggie was new in Super Gas then. heh How fast did your B/A run? What kind of body & engine?

 

[Butch]

My 1st experience with rollers was at Bowling Green, Crewing in TF for Tim Arnold/Eddie Vanhorn. I believe it was powered
with a Ford 6cyl.

 

[Nick Name]

One night at Lions there was a big top fuel and funny car show. They were running the TF cars, and as soon as we got on the rollers they held us up while they ran funny-cars. I just sat on the cars rear tire and had the best seat in the house. Saw my first 7 second funny that night. Butch Leal in the injected Cuda.

Back then, the TF guys and the Funny guys were in different camps. TF was jealous that these new fangled cars were getting so much publicity. That night I got my mind changed. I was sitting on the tire watching the show and Don Gay pulled up on our right next to the chain link fence in the Infinity GTO. It was a door car, and when he got out and shut the door, the front wheels fell over as they had dragster style caster in them. The fender of the car hit the fence. I couldn't believe it a door car with the front wheels laid over like that. I was in love.

 

[pokey]

The first one I remember was in 1973 at Century 21 dragway outside of Denver. This brand new track also featured 10,000 individual fiberglass bucket seats as well as ushers at the permanent restrooms up on top.

 

[Von Halen]

I remember them in Tulsa.

 

[Dennis]

The roller starters at New England Dragway were in place well into the late 80's/early 90's. I've never seen them used (before my time) but I always thought that little piece of nostalgia was cool.

 

[M Jones]

Here in Vegas the roller starter was at a bad angle close to 45 degree to rollers, blew u-joints all over the place on a regular basis, I miss being push started with our B - Alterd, used to start going down track and making u turn after it fired then make another one to line up for the run, 105" car turned on a dime, those were the days

pretty sure mid 70's don long car 105" 1918 t-bucket, just sent the car to my cousin in washington, will raced in nostalgia

 

[M Jones]

That was a long time ago, mid 9's- 150's

 

[SundayNiagara]

Mike Roth @ Mr2 Performance in Indiana owns the IRP rollers.

 

[DG]

For those of you who "love" the push-down starts, you never tried to get the engine to start on a really cold winter Saturday morning back in the early 60's!
Even filling the line from the pump to the injector with alcohol didn't help much. Trying to go faster in the push start to get more energy from the mag meant that there was a lot less room to slow and stop once the engine did start!

I was OK with the rollers, but really happy when we went to the aircraft starters and alcohol startups!

[Happy Retired Push Truck Driver]

 

[Cliff]

David, did you ever get any "stuff" from the engine that splashed on the windshield of the push truck / car? San Fernando was a short push road. I think Lions was about 1/8 mile. Six guys in the push truck & try to get to speed to start the dragster...... heh

 

[Muddy]

Used a dark blue 65 GTO to push often. Ate the paint off in many spots and gave it a custom leopard looking paint job LOL. First time I used a roller was at Dallas International. I was as nervous as a long tailed cat in a retirement home with 30 or 40 rocking chairs. Wasn't sure how to get off after the engine fired. Of course it turned out to be no problem.