Starting line crowd (1 Viewer)

[Randy]

 

[TSK]

I'm glad I wasn't standing near this.

Weren’t several people hurt after that boomer?

 

[my friends call me Zappy]

I've stated for years no one between the water & the start line. Including crew.
Look at pro/stock, they stand in front of the car under power then jump out of the way, like a matadore & bull. If that's not asking for it, what is.

 

[Dave]

I'm glad I wasn't standing near this.

You didn't have to be. Parts were raining in the pits!

 

[PiPPi]

I'll get them out of there....someone get me Slammin Sammy Miller's kid on the phone...

I worked the Santa Pod tower for over a decade, it get's a tad rough up there when the jet cars do their stuff. The whole construction rocks a few inches back and forth. Watch to the end so as to get the bearings right, we're literally right on top of the back-fire action.

 

[Cliff]

That was great footage! Thanks, Par.

 

[Randy]

I raced against Jet Cars a couple of rounds in my TA/FC at night at a dog and pony Funny Cars vs Jets show at Firebird in Phoenix back in 1993. The in-car perspective was... I'm sitting in the car with the body up ready to fire. The jet fires up and you can hear the jet's rpms slowly come up. One of the jet car crew guys motions to the starter to give the signal to fire me up. My car is fired up and the body comes down. I roll forward and do my burn out and it's as if I'm on a single run, everything is routine. While I'm backing up I see flashes of my shadow in front of me from the orange flame show the jet car is doing behind me in his lane. I get back and pull forward to pre-stage. The dash and tin in my car shakes from each jet burner pop as the jet car is also pulling forward. We pre-stage together, then the jet car stages. I can hear the jet rpms screaming through my helmet but it goes away when I rev mine up to 6,700 RPM and pull forward to stage. The light goes green and I never see or hear the jet car until I approach the finish line. As the jet car blows by you can see into the back of the jet engine. At shut off it's glowing red hot. They used cargo chutes back then that blew rocks everywhere which was a little rough on the paint job. We turn off together, get out of our cars and have a good laugh.

Jet cars are slower the first 1/8th mile so you never see or hear them at that point, but they make up the difference in the back half. I ran a high 5 something which was a good run back then, but the jet dragster ran a 5.23 at 293 miles per hour against me. If I recall correctly he only ran 186 miles per hour at the 1/8th which means he accelerated 100+ miles per hour from 1/8th to the quarter mile. The race ended up pretty close because of the difference in reaction times, but I still got my butt handed to me.

Lotsa fun.

 

[.]

I raced against Jet Cars a couple of rounds in my TA/FC at night at a dog and pony Funny Cars vs Jets show at Firebird in Phoenix back in 1993. The in-car perspective was... I'm sitting in the car with the body up ready to fire. The jet fires up and you can hear the jet's rpms slowly come up. One of the jet car crew guys motions to the starter to give the signal to fire me up. My car is fired up and the body comes down. I roll forward and do my burn out and it's as if I'm on a single run, everything is routine. While I'm backing up I see flashes of my shadow in front of me from the orange flame show the jet car is doing behind me in his lane. I get back and pull forward to pre-stage. The dash and tin in my car shakes from each jet burner pop as the jet car is also pulling forward. We pre-stage together, then the jet car stages. I can hear the jet rpms screaming through my helmet but it goes away when I rev mine up to 6,700 RPM and pull forward to stage. The light goes green and I never see or hear the jet car until I approach the finish line. As the jet car blows by you can see into the back of the jet engine. At shut off it's glowing red hot. They used cargo chutes back then that blew rocks everywhere which was a little rough on the paint job. We turn off together, get out of our cars and have a good laugh.

Jet cars are slower the first 1/8th mile so you never see or hear them at that point, but they make up the difference in the back half. I ran a high 5 something which was a good run back then, but the jet dragster ran a 5.23 at 293 miles per hour against me. If I recall correctly he only ran 186 miles per hour at the 1/8th which means he accelerated 100+ miles per hour from 1/8th to the quarter mile. The race ended up pretty close because of the difference in reaction times, but I still got my butt handed to me.

Lotsa fun.

I wonder what the 60 and 330' times are on a jet, I've never paid attention. They sure leave slow compared to a TAD, TAFC or nitro car but they sure back-half like crazy! Past the 1/8th mile they're like a bottle rocket.

 

[Dennis]

Cool story Randy!

 

[PiPPi]

I wonder what the 60 and 330' times are on a jet, I've never paid attention. They sure leave slow compared to a TAD, TAFC or nitro car but they sure back-half like crazy! Past the 1/8th mile they're like a bottle rocket.

Some numbers from a random run of the Jet Force 3 car at Santa Pod:
--- 60' --- 330' --------- half track ------------- 1320'
1.0763 - 2.7334 - 3.9604/206.05 mph - 5.7624/279.77 mph

 

[Pete]

Weren’t several people hurt after that boomer?

I had a guy in a training class a few weeks after this, that was working the starting line....he described it as armageddon

 

[Mooseman]

Jets leave slow because they have no diff driving the wheels. It's all thrust and acceleration. No torque.

 

[Con]

The second ship I was on was a aircraft carrier. So I saw a lot of jets take off.
There are large blast shields that rise up from the deck to protect things behind the catapults. Plus the flight deck crew inspect for debris.

The real danger on a carrier is planes landing. That is where the bad crashes happen. Lots of videos on you tube.