Slowing Them Down (1 Viewer)

[Muddy]

Now that NHRA has decided to shorten the track in the interest of safety, I'm curious as to how you would slow the cars down. If you were the Czar of Drag Racing, what would you do?

I am willing to give the 1000ft thing a try, I can't think of anything that could be done that would be easier for the tracks to implement or cheaper for the teams. As was mentioned time and time again, a lot of damage is incurred during that last 300ft.

But if you agree that the cars need to be slowed, and you would still like to see 1/4 mile racing, try to take into account expense, limited testing, and try not to obsolete the notebooks of every Crew Chief.

How would you slow them down?

Alan[/QUOTE

Remember we are talking about both fuel coupes and dragsters. So here's my opinion. I would stay with the 1000', don't allow any technical change in the rear ratio, cu in, etc. except limit the fuel delivery system to about 70% of the total volume now delivered to the injectors. This meets the criteria of not incurring much additional expense and not making a bunch of parts obsolete. Don't know how you accomplish a slow down without incurring some expense, some testing, and almost any change will obsolete the notebooks of every Crew Chief. If you don't believe that just look at what the additional weight and the 90% rule did. The only other rule I would change is any class that the national record is over 300 MPH and the et record is under 5.0 sec shall run 1000'.

 

[DixonFan]

Take the blowers off
Injected
98% nitro
Reduce Fuel Pump
1 mag

 

[Al smith]

my extreme version of Slowing Them Down Nostalgia style

Now that NHRA has decided to shorten the track in the interest of safety, I'm curious as to how you would slow the cars down. If you were the Czar of Drag Racing, what would you do?

I am willing to give the 1000ft thing a try, I can't think of anything that could be done that would be easier for the tracks to implement or cheaper for the teams. As was mentioned time and time again, a lot of damage is incurred during that last 300ft.

But if you agree that the cars need to be slowed, and you would still like to see 1/4 mile racing, try to take into account expense, limited testing, and try not to obsolete the notebooks of every Crew Chief.

How would you slow them down?

Alan

This would probably obsolete the crew chiefs log book but here goes

Bring back the funny cars of old that LOOKED like actual cars, decrease down force by taking off that ridiculous whale tail, stretch that greenhouse roof to a full pillar width with side rake angle equivalent to factory spec. 427 ci limit. 10/71 blower limit, One mag. One spec pump, Current era heads, valve angle and billet blocks. Use current a/fuel clutches w/no management. NO gear rule you can run 2:90s if you want to and No rpm limiter to blow things up. Also 100% nitro.

 

[DoubleL]

As a Crew Member of Eddie Hills 1993 Top Fuel World Championship Team I hate to see 1320 go away. I do agree with going back a few steps . ( smaller pumps like Uncle Daves Nuclear Pump ) worked great for us in the Nuclear Banana back then. No timing advance, hell we all know the amount of twist in the crank. Smaller clutches with less fingers. Limit the fuel and clutches to on a certain number of movements. We were the first in the Fours, and Bernstein was the first to run 300, there are no more giant barriers to break! If you want to run 350 go to Bonneville. There is so much for the crowds to do and see at the races , they will still jump every time someone waks the throttle in the pits , their eyes will still burn and they will scatter like a covey of quail , ( all crews get a kick out of these things ) . They will not be pissed because Alan Johnson tuned Schumaker to another win at 4:78 @ 299.55 against "Hot Rod Fuller" at 4:77 @ 300.10 eek:Whoops a little late Hot Rod, Ha! ) They will still pay the price and keep coming . I do not want to lose another friend to such a horrible accident ( How Old Are Those Catch Nets ??????? ) I am sure that NHRA will come up to something I mean up with something

I think you all missed the point here. Engine Failure has so many varibles. I worked for one of the most conservative tuners in the business and we still had engine failure. Eddie disected EVERY engine explosion personally and with a fine tooth comb. We most likely always new what happened. Most would be amazed at the inferior parts that get to racers that we trust as the best. We ran our parts longer than anyone "BUT" we had a very strict code among our self . "Dont assume anything" . I trained several new crew members and always told them your assumption could cost Eddie his life . "ALWAYS" say something if you screwed up , think you forgot somthing , or in doubt about something on this car. We had a 3 Man full time crew. Fuzzy Carter, Ronnie Wood or Gary Prater at different intervals and myself. We knew everything on the car and we made sure that every piece was as good as it could be. I think the 70 minute time limit has caused the teams to have to hire more people to do a specific job "ONLY" and it has taken the total car integrity out of the game. I could stand in the trailer doing cylinder heads between rounds and here an air wrench out of sync and run to the car to see why ! So would the other guys. "WE KNEW". The sport is growing so fast with the big money and sponsors that new inexperinced crew members are thrown into the mix without having the pride and knowledge it takes to realize that you prepare a car (maybe after a BIG nite on the town } and believe me no one had BIGGER nites than we did, and as I always said " I strap Eddie in and we light a rocket behind his ass and send him down the track" Guys Its not that hard to figure out, you have too many people and no one can be 100% sure that the other guy properly completed his job correctly. WE DID Fuzzy Carter and I knew that every time we fired that car that we were confident in sending "DAD" down the track . Not saying we were perfect but I would have sat in the seat for every pass. We Crashed , Blew up, Kicked rods out and screwd up yes but we always knew why or owned up to it more time than not found inferior parts were the cause. Protect the driver more( these cars are built to crash) and police yourself and others on your crews better and I think if NHRA will slow down (not the cars so much) you will see less and less accidents. I remember standing in the staging lanes on Sunday morning while everyone was up around the starting line area and searching for something wrong on our car. I would go over it time and time again from one end to the other(alot of this was nerves too) just to make sure that I along with everyone else had done their job properly. "This is total car integrity" , one guy knowing if somethng is wrong on the entire car .Sometimes I would ask the other guys including Fuzzy if they had done a particular thing and none of us was ever offended or had such an ego that we didn't just answer the question and roll on. This is what will make the sport safer. Good Luck Guys and just do a little soul searching and make sure that you can say "I know that car is "RIGHT" with confidence.

 

[Reese]

Great post Lonnie. Damn I miss Eddie Hill .

How long do you think it will take the crew chiefs to learn how to run 1000' harder than they ran 1320'?

 

[Butch]

from a technical stand point cutting the track length to 1000' will only slightly slow them down. please keep in mind that the "quality cars" are reaching 270 at half track. So the 1000' mark is a bandaid on a gushing wound!

what should be done is to revert to the "old days" - single mag/single plug, single fuel pump, restrict blower over drive and take a lesson from our brothers at NASCAR add a restrictor plate - it could go between the blower and injector. Take some weight out of the cars the heavier the mass the harder it is to stop.

what should also be considered is taking away part of the lock up clutch "stages" and finally the MSD control box. cars were slower and racing was "tighter" without them.

I agree we need to do some thing to stop losing our friends but 1320 has been the sports standard way to long to change it now! besides let's solve the issue long term not just provide a knee jerk solution.

just .02 from an "old" fuel person.

 

[Rexfiles]

from a technical stand point cutting the track length to 1000' will only slightly slow them down. please keep in mind that the "quality cars" are reaching 270 at half track. So the 1000' mark is a bandaid on a gushing wound!

what should be done is to revert to the "old days" - single mag/single plug, single fuel pump, restrict blower over drive and take a lesson from our brothers at NASCAR add a restrictor plate - it could go between the blower and injector. Take some weight out of the cars the heavier the mass the harder it is to stop.

what should also be considered is taking away part of the lock up clutch "stages" and finally the MSD control box. cars were slower and racing was "tighter" without them.

I agree we need to do some thing to stop losing our friends but 1320 has been the sports standard way to long to change it now! besides let's solve the issue long term not just provide a knee jerk solution.

just .02 from an "old" fuel person.

Why must the absolute simplest solution (for now) be "Knee jerk", or a "band aid".

Sometimes simple is just that.

I agree that 1320' has been the standard.

And you have the experience over me, no doubt about that. All due respect.

But for now, this will IMO, help to alleviate the carnage we are seeing from 1000' on, and have most of them recorded on DVR.

this is happening after 1000'.

REX

 

[FalconRacer]

Re: my extreme version of Slowing Them Down Nostalgia style

This would probably obsolete the crew chiefs log book but here goes

Bring back the funny cars of old that LOOKED like actual cars, decrease down force by taking off that ridiculous whale tail, stretch that greenhouse roof to a full pillar width with side rake angle equivalent to factory spec. 427 ci limit. 10/71 blower limit, One mag. One spec pump, Current era heads, valve angle and billet blocks. Use current a/fuel clutches w/no management. NO gear rule you can run 2:90s if you want to and No rpm limiter to blow things up. Also 100% nitro.

OH YEAH!!!!! that's what I'm talking about!!

 

[Rexfiles]

Uhhhhhhh.

What do the low buck teams do with all the now obsolete fuel parts?

Not to mention chassis and tires and every other variable that will be affected by cutting horsepower down from 8000, to the approx 5000 I would estimate we are talking about here?

I'd like to see the price tag on all this "simple" stuff.

We are REALLY gonna' wind up w/2-3 teams TOTAL out there.

REX

 

[Gary H]

Just curious, what happens when you slow the fuel cars down and the alky cars start running just as fast? Apply the rules to them too?

 

[Rexfiles]

Just curious, what happens when you slow the fuel cars down and the alky cars start running just as fast? Apply the rules to them too?

At 1000', the fuel cars will be at 320 at a good track in good weather.

They are hitting the rev limiter there, how much faster can they go after that?

Alky cars are at best still 30-50 mph slower.

I really do not see parity anytime soon.

REX

 

[Gary H]

I meant if they start putting more restrictions like blower size, fuel pump etc to slow them down. Not running to 1000ft.

 

[Rexfiles]

I meant if they start putting more restrictions like blower size, fuel pump etc to slow them down. Not running to 1000ft.

I see.

The internet (at least from my perspective), does not covey all intent of thought.

I apologize.

Well then, that would be a good reason to race to 1000' then, IMO.

REX

 

[Al smith]

Uhhhhhhh.

What do the low buck teams do with all the now obsolete fuel parts?

Uhhhhhhh... what low buck teams?

Not to mention chassis and tires and every other variable that will be affected by cutting horsepower down from 8000, to the approx 5000 I would estimate we are talking about here? I'd like to see the price tag on all this "simple" stuff.

same tires, same chassis, Funny cars would need to replace bodies which many do anyway annually. You instantly have a spare mag and wire set, you are using half the plugs, You are changing crankshaft and rods for smaller ci. which they throw away anyway after a few runs. The most expensive nut would be the throw away of the clutch cannon management and pressure plate. along with the fuel pump and 14/71 blowers.

We are REALLY gonna' wind up w/2-3 teams TOTAL out there.


REX

I don't see the logic in that last statement. If anything you would gain more participants with A/Fuel racers escaping the parity battle by upgrading to top fuel with the addition of a 10/71 blower, using a spec pump and losing one mag. They are already running 421's. Only difference would be existing A/fuel 1/2 inch short deck height but i do not know is the half inch short decks would be better or worse for top fuel in a 427 limit configuration. Also A/Fuel already uses a 2:90 ring gear.

 

[Mooseman]

Re: my extreme version of Slowing Them Down Nostalgia style

This would probably obsolete the crew chiefs log book but here goes

Bring back the funny cars of old that LOOKED like actual cars, decrease down force by taking off that ridiculous whale tail, stretch that greenhouse roof to a full pillar width with side rake angle equivalent to factory spec. 427 ci limit. 10/71 blower limit, One mag. One spec pump, Current era heads, valve angle and billet blocks. Use current a/fuel clutches w/no management. NO gear rule you can run 2:90s if you want to and No rpm limiter to blow things up. Also 100% nitro.

the problem with that engine setup now is , the crew chief that are around now and were around in the old days are bloody smart and if they had to run that setup now they would probably take there current knowledge and add it to the killer setup they had in the old days . They would still be ticking time bombs . Im no expert but as I posted earlier I think maybe bigger motors would work to stop damage and explosion not necesarily slow them down though , but if they had a bigger motor it wouldn't rev as high and the valvetrain and bottem end would have less strain on it maybe even make the parts last longer . I could be totally wrong but hey its an idea , I only thought of it after reading the reher morrison tech article on displacement . I know different class but still applies to the basics of how an engine works

 

[Mooseman]

but then they would probably push that setup too far