Story Behind The Monstrut Controversy (1 Viewer)

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Re: Boo hoo hoo get out the towel

ber
Mike and company had 18 months to get the mono strut on a car. He (Mike) knew Powers was interested in the wing 18 months ago!
Yea I feel for Mike and company but what would have happened if Garlitts did same when he came out with rear engine car.
Oh wait you can't run that car, thats my idea and I say you can't run it.
Yes Mike wants to see a safer car so why is he crying foul if someone else wants to actually try out a mono wing on their dime.
And in the interview Mike mentions that there are several other areas of TF dragester design that need to be addressed (refering to CDF?). Well why not bring this info forward and perhaps pervent another casuality.
If Mike has info that would prevent another casuality, I can just imagine how he would feel if a driver is killed due to a car design flaw that Mike knew about now.
Instead of crying Mike should be helping as an advisor to the Powers team.
Yes Hadman should have confered with Mike that Powers wants to purchase a mono wing. Mike could have then purchased a mono and ran it on their car.
But Mike then would have to buy several new shoes as draging them would wear them out.
Lets all play good together and don't be throwing the sand out of the box.

Drop dead. Kloeber jumped through all the NHRA hoops and at the last minute
Ally outlaws it. Because that is his pals wanted and then goes to work for one of them. Powers bought the parts. What else did he buy?
 
I can't tell you if Buzzz and Paul got pictures of Rod's monostrut but I heard the welding done on it wouldn't have passed freshman welding in high school metal shop?

Is this what Powers' meant by "over-designed"?:rolleyes:
 
He said he gave Klober 18 months.. but... if the molds were not ready in November as Klober stated, how was he supposed to have it on the car if it was not ready? :confused:
 
Bobby
I understand why you would not post pics of the monostrut on your site... But Drag Race Central | Presented by Summitracing.com 1-800-230-3030 does have one shot of it from the front minus any kind of carbon fiber work... It is of the bars only... I'm sure it is the way the shot was taken, but I do not see much room for a sponsor logo to even fit on that thing the way I pictured it in my head... It looks nothing like the Garlits design other then the mounting point at the wing itself...
Anyone got a pic of this thing or an update on if it was struts only without carbon fiber sides?? In other words, it does not look like the tail on an airplane like one would think... YET!!
 
Speaking of Comp Plus... who's the lady posing next to the Patron car on a number of pictures? Just wondering since there are no captions.

Thanks
rich
 
Alexis DeJoria TA/FC pilot
Dad- John Paul Dejoria- Owner of Paul Mitchell hair care products and Patron Tequila...
Back to the subject!!
Kloeber was told that the molds were not done??
I see no body work on the struts PERIOD...
Only the HARDWARE as was stated in the videos... My question is, did it have the side panels on it if you will, in the afternoon run?? This could explain why nobody really noticed it...:eek: And why they even have it on the car...
If the airfoil sides are not on it, then the molds are not ready... I hate speculating...
 
Well, Powers said he has a sponsor to be put on the wing, and he made it clear at this time, it's not Fullers full sponsor once Valvoline is gone, but a company that was paying to be on that wing, and wanted it done by Ponona. That right there tells me there is bodywork for the wing. If they are testing this deal for safety, it should be tested as it's going to be run in competition.
 
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My question is did Hadman contact Mike K that Powers was wanting to purchase a mono wing from him.
seeing how Hadman knew that Mike K was behind project from begining then perhaps Mike K should be ticked at Hadman, not Powers.
IF Hadman had contacted Mike K BEFORE Powers purchased wing then it's every man for himself.
There is perhaps more to this story than us keybord mechanics know.
ONLY Mike K and Hadman really know the truth.
lets get to Pomona and start this silly season up.
 
Well the problem is at the time, we had the story well before we could get the photos. If we had a connection at the track, we could have gotten them up. We have a few up there now. Sorry for the delay.
 
Bobby
Is there side panels on the struts themselves or just raw tubing?? The pictures clearly show no body work whatsoever... The shot from behind is a little misleading though, because of lighting issues with the shot itself...
 
If Powers wanted a monostrut tail so badly, then he should have designed his own instead of "stealing someone else's homework and claiming it as his own"!:mad:
 
personally, if the wing is approved, a year from now i will remember garlits as the
innovator and kloeber for his R&D. i would think mike will receive high
accolades for bringing this design to fruition.
i agree with earlier post, without knowing every detail, hard to make
comment about the whole episode.
 
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Mike
While I agree with most of what you said... If you don't think that Kloeber was also thinking of markability, you would be wrong... IMO
I want to go back and clear something up about a statement that I made about this monostrut not looking anything like what Garlits ran... As far as I know, there were never any public photos of the inner workings of how Don mounted his mono... We only saw the skin, which I believe even a novice could see would be much safer and much more marketable from a space standpoint to add a place for more decals and signage... From the pics I have seen so far, there is no sides to Powers design, which leads me to believe that Kloeber has not been lied to about the molds not being ready... But Hadmans sleepless nights make me wonder about the pressure put on him by Powers to get the (hardware) to him...i.e. Struts... CLS was handling the carbon work... I need a quick nap... Talk amongst yourselves for an hour... Or go to 1320tv.com and watch and listen to both interviews...
 
The night picture from behind the car and the picture of the car in the pits that is now at the top of the story both seem to show the carbon fiber pieces on it.
 
From DragRaceCentral.com

Left Lane: Rod Fuller Runs 4.530/326.40, Now #5; Best prior run: 5.011/202.73, Was #11

Certainly anyone that was watching could have missed the Mono Strut wing this time. The cover is on the rudder this time and it looks huge. That car went straight as a string but did push a headgasket near the finish line. Can't blame THAT on the wing.

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
 
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The cover is on the rudder this time and it looks huge. That car went straight as a string but did push a headgasket near the finish line. Can't blame THAT on the wing.

Sure we can. It affected the aerodynamics around the intake or has less drag and the motor didn't have enough load.....
:D

Edit: I see that that came from DRC
 
O.K. now it is official!! What we have here is a bonified controversy...:mad: This will end up in the courts...:eek:
This is not good for anyone... I understood what Kloeber had to say on this issue... However I do not think Intellectual Property is a winable defense... Of course I am not a weasel lawyer either... But like I said on a past post, a hand shake and a smile will get you in more trouble then you could ever imagine!!
 
Also...

A lot of this goes back to Don Garlits.. He knew it would work. The best he got it to run was 323 in that old car of his, and now it has gone up to 326. I bet Don takes a bit of pride in that himself.
 
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