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Should backup cars be allowed during eliminations?
- Thread starter Mike
- Start date
turbo ken
Nitro Member
This is what I was curious about, I always heard/thought that a brand new "never" run car's first pass could only be a half track, checkout pass.Jordan Vandergriff asked when was Doug's back up car last run and was told "never". It was a brand new car, warmed up only twice, and was to be tested in Brainerd but it rained out. Out of the box untested it ran 3.81 @ 335mph
none
Nitro Member
That rule went away in the mid 90s. They used to let you do the half pass in the morning, then come back for Q1 later in the day.
Someone (Steve Gibbs maybe?) finally realized that was a waste of time, so the rule was scrapped.
Alan
none
Nitro Member
The rule states that you may change cars (or motorcycles) at any time, for any reason. But only one change is allowed per event. Once you have changed you can not change back, or change to a third car.
Remember Topeka '99? Gary Scelzi blew a tire Q1 and twisted the back of the chassis, and they brought out the back up car. Q3 lost the engine and broke the car in half. The Q1 car was not hurt bad, but they could not swap back. They took to Q3 car to Neil & Parks shop, used the cocoon from the Q3 car, cut the front half off the Q1 car and borrowed a bolt-on rear section from John Mitchell who had one of the three piece bolt together chassis' (remember those?) and welded the Q3 car together for eliminations. They went to the Semis that Sunday.
But they had to fix and race the Q3 car, even though the Q1 car would have been much easier to repair. That car became known as FrankenFueler and was sold to Ron Smith in Seattle. He ran it for many years. I honestly don't know if he is still running it, but he may be.
Alan
Remember Topeka '99? Gary Scelzi blew a tire Q1 and twisted the back of the chassis, and they brought out the back up car. Q3 lost the engine and broke the car in half. The Q1 car was not hurt bad, but they could not swap back. They took to Q3 car to Neil & Parks shop, used the cocoon from the Q3 car, cut the front half off the Q1 car and borrowed a bolt-on rear section from John Mitchell who had one of the three piece bolt together chassis' (remember those?) and welded the Q3 car together for eliminations. They went to the Semis that Sunday.
But they had to fix and race the Q3 car, even though the Q1 car would have been much easier to repair. That car became known as FrankenFueler and was sold to Ron Smith in Seattle. He ran it for many years. I honestly don't know if he is still running it, but he may be.
Alan
z28
Nitro Member
thanks.
Randy
Nitro Member
Ouch.....Ever figure out what it was?
Back then everyone was trying to figure out how to take it to the shift light in low gear with PSI screw blowers instead of short shifting with a lot of gear and counterweight from 1-2. I made a bunch of changes to the clutch and a transmission gear change and figured we were good. It was lights out. And it was at night when I did it. I told the guys at that point I thought I met Elvis face to face. LOL.
TF CREW
Nitro Member
none
Nitro Member
Not arguing, just asking. Who decides what constitutes "Safely Repaired"?
And if a car can be "Safely Repaired" but untested, or a back-up car could be rolled out that is known to be in perfect condition, why would you not allow that?
Which one is safer for the driver and the person in the other lane?
Alan
This was the basis for my initial question, about if there is a standard to make that determination (what constitutes "safely repaired"?)
"Safely repaired" should not include wood (unless it's Dade County Pine) or tie-wraps. Dade County pine (now extinct) machines like 6061 T6. A This Old House episode had a Florida Keys reno a few decades ago, where Norm asked Bob Villa for a few grand to purchase a few new Sawzalls to replace the ones they burned up cutting the framing while reworking their project. Good stuff. Hugh Tucker wanted to make a 6-71 manifold from a piece.
ironpony
Nitro Member
Safely repaired would be NHRA Tech and I am sure many will come along and say NHRA Tech is a joke so why have them at all
If it can be safely repaired per a standard it is good to go, other racing organizations do it, During qualifying yes, eliminations no, just leveling the playing fields for low budget teams that don't have a perfect complete back up car
Safely repaired or replacement car are equal now if the repair is questionable a new car definitely
I also believe certain engine components should be limited during eliminations again for cost reasons and help the little guy. Mainly the engine block itself, if you can not rebuild the engine around the existing block done.
We are already at the point where big teams just keep rolling new parts out of their multiple trailers at the event. People keep saying we need to reel in costs.......
z28
Nitro Member
you would see way more engine explosions with the block rule you suggest. They'd have to take chances where today they just swap it out.
that's a very good point, about helping the small teams.
No wood, check. How about bondo, bale wire, and duct tape? There's a lot of redneck engineers around, LOL.
side note - I love that show, "This Old House". Was thrilled to find it on a 24/7 channel on Pluto TV. My parent's old house, when I was just a tot, the oak floors were like that - when they had forced air put in, the contractor burned up a couple Milwaukee circular saws cutting out the holes for the vents.
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