Story Behind The Monstrut Controversy (3 Viewers)

[Just Paul]

Hmm....FC or TF??

Also, Dave Uyhera slammed into the back of Ron Correnti really hard during FC qualifying, terrible crash.

 

[TJ]

TF......low qualifier?

Uyheras license was yanked after that incident......

 

[Just Paul]

I'll say Dick Lahaie

 

[r2]

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY- noun (1845 ) ; property (as an idea, invention, or process) that derives from the work of the mind or intellect; also: an application, right, or registration relating to this.
Websters Collegiate Dictionary-
You come up with your own interpretation or meaning of how this relates to this subject...
Fire Away...
Come on guys, take the trivia questions to another thread... REALLY!

 

[Rajunz]

Was Frank Bradley the low qualifier?

 

[TJ]

Lahaie was correct.....sorry about the thread abuse....

 

[r2]

O.K. Maybe I should look up,
Handshake, Friend, Nod, Wink, Smile, Pat on the back or ?, Right vs. Wrong, Good ol' boy agreement, Verbal agreement, Relationship, or maybe PATENT??
Do any of these apply to this situation?? Just wondering outloud again...

 

[TJ]

Non-disclosure form or CA cover it all....having anything to 'patent' is too expensive and time consuming in most cases...

 

[Too many to list here]

So has there been a change of heart in Glendora?
Did Ray alley not want it and Dan Olsen does?
If there was a ban on development /use of the wing by NHRA @ NHRA sanctioned tracks(?), why would Powers even care to try and further the project if he could'nt use it in competition?

 

[FuelCarBuilder]

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"?

WOW

 

[.]

Re: A Big Whale Tale???

Oh, I don't know. I sort of like the look. Sometimes, when you get used to the look of something, anything else looks funny. The mile high dual strut arrangement in use today had been around for a looooong time. I'd imagine that if someone who hadn't watched drag racing since the early eighties showed up at a strip today, they'd think the mile high wings in use these days look pretty outrageous.

Weren't the wings set higher and further back than they are now sometime back in the early/mid 90's? I could have sworn they had them out back another foot or more past the rear-end and up a few inches higher too.

 

[.]

wasn't it mike k. who also experimented with the v-grooved blower belt
a few years ago?

Yes, it was Mike that came up with that idea. He spent an hour of his time chatting with me one year at Cordova about it. I'd seen about it on TV and when I went past Millican's pit area Mike was standing there at the rear corner of the trailer eating something (an apple, I think).

I asked him if he had time for a quick question about the pulley/belt setup and if there was anyway I could take a peek. He smiled at me and welcomed me into the pit area and showed me the setup on the car and told me about how he came up with the idea of using the belts (a friend of his ran them on conveyors in some facility), what it took to get the pulleys made and his discussions with the Goodyear engineers. What I thought would be just a quick peek and a short explanation turned into an almost 1 hour convo. I always thought he was a class act anway but after that he won a fan for life! He lives just across the river from me over in Vancouver, WA somewhere, I wish I knew where because I'd love to chat with him and pick his brain some more.

 

[Gordon]

WOW

Bob,

That quote was actually posted in a different thread (See: Monostrut-- It's Back???), but I haven't figured out how to quote from one thread to another so I had to manually type it in - that's why it looks like I wrote it. I thought it was harsh when I read it and my intention was to make a little humor out of it, thus the sarcastic smiley, but I guess I missed the mark - and for that I apologize.

Flaps

 

[whyisthisarequiredfield]

Has no one else thought of this scenario?

If Powers was so hot-to-trot to be on the "Bleeding Edge" of current Top Fuel technology, why wait 18 months to simply purchase a working prototype of an as-yet untested design?

Had Powers legitimately wanted to be on the forefront of this technology revision for Top Fuel cars, it begs the question...Why didn't he simply purchase the Werner team, its associated personnel, and by extension...access to their Intellectual Property, when Kenny Koretsky announced that the team was for sale last year?

Had Powers simply purchased the team's resources and contracted Kloeber, he would gained access to the most pivotal facets of Kloeber's design ideas, had Kloeber's contract stipulated as much. In addition, once Kloeber was under his employ, some well-worded contracts with Hadman and CLS could have actually granted Powers the ability to develop future versions of the monostrut for significant financial gain, once the availability of a finalized design caught up with the inevitable demand for the monostrut.

As I see it, all Powers has really done is brought his team under intense scrutiny for the '07 season, and raised everyone else's guard with respect to future dealings with his team.

 

[TJ]

Powers has empty pockets.....this situation will roll off of his sleeve yesterday.
The amount of financial commitment Powers is doing, or done so far, will get his team open arms from the NHRA....

 

[r2]

Oh sure Sean, now you jump in with a common sense answer like that... LOL Other then the fact that Matco wanted Whit, and Powers had Matco, it was pretty much a done deal, it makes alot of sense though... Good job for only 16 posts... I may have to go back and read your others now... Welcome

 

[FuelCarBuilder]

Bob,

That quote was actually posted in a different thread (See: Monostrut-- It's Back???), but I haven't figured out how to quote from one thread to another so I had to manually type it in - that's why it looks like I wrote it. I thought it was harsh when I read it and my intention was to make a little humor out of it, thus the sarcastic smiley, but I guess I missed the mark - and for that I apologize.

Flaps

Gordon, no need to aplogize to me I searched through the thread to try to find the original posting, not knowing till now it was from another thread. I knew you didn't write it, just seemed like pretty strong words I guess. bOb

 

[Keith Burgan]

Sean,
If you saw Susan Wade's interviews on 1320 TV, Powers makes it plain that he had approached Kloeber about using the wing but at Mike's request held off until now. Taking both his and Mike's statements at face value I don't think that Powers is terribly out of line. He tried to obtain access to the technology some 18 months ago and there appeared to be no progress as to the wing actually getting on a car. Kloeber stated that he was told in December that the package was still not finished. Was that due to a lack of financial input on the part of his team or lack of enthusiasiam on Hadman and Jones part?
I would class both Brad and Mike as friends of mine and in this case I think that Brad shoulders most of the blame for the current scenario. He says that he and Ron had a lot of time/money invested in the development and Mike talks about Greg Werner putting a six figure sum into the program as well.
It appears that Powers satisfied both Hadman and Jones monetarily and got access to the package.
I feel for Kloeber because the design was his concept and he went through to process to make the thing workable and effective and now another team is benefitting from it. I guess that everyone involved is at fault at some level.
Kloeber had the idea and started the wheels turning but I think that once Double K purchased the team the funding faded, Hadman and co wanted to recoup their investment of time and materials and basically backdoored Mike. Powers used his financial resources to get what he wanted, to the detriment of the relationship between Hadman and Kloeber, although some of that problem has to be blamed on Brad.
No real winners here as Kloeber feels slighted and ripped of, Brad may have seriously hurt a long time friendship and Powers has a lot of people pissed off for getting what he wanted (and was willing to deal for 18 months ago).
As for Powers purchasing the team from Koretsky to gain access to the wing, he already had his second team in the works with parts and rolling stock on order and he also was well into putting the personnel package together. All along all he wanted to do was buy the wing package and if he is to be believed he may have forced NHRA's hand on ruling favorably on its legality.

Roo Man

 

[Joker]

Sean,
If you saw Susan Wade's interviews on 1320 TV, Powers makes it plain that he had approached Kloeber about using the wing but at Mike's request held off until now. Taking both his and Mike's statements at face value I don't think that Powers is terribly out of line. He tried to obtain access to the technology some 18 months ago and there appeared to be no progress as to the wing actually getting on a car. Kloeber stated that he was told in December that the package was still not finished. Was that due to a lack of financial input on the part of his team or lack of enthusiasiam on Hadman and Jones part?
I would class both Brad and Mike as friends of mine and in this case I think that Brad shoulders most of the blame for the current scenario. He says that he and Ron had a lot of time/money invested in the development and Mike talks about Greg Werner putting a six figure sum into the program as well.
It appears that Powers satisfied both Hadman and Jones monetarily and got access to the package.
I feel for Kloeber because the design was his concept and he went through to process to make the thing workable and effective and now another team is benefitting from it. I guess that everyone involved is at fault at some level.
Kloeber had the idea and started the wheels turning but I think that once Double K purchased the team the funding faded, Hadman and co wanted to recoup their investment of time and materials and basically backdoored Mike. Powers used his financial resources to get what he wanted, to the detriment of the relationship between Hadman and Kloeber, although some of that problem has to be blamed on Brad.
No real winners here as Kloeber feels slighted and ripped of, Brad may have seriously hurt a long time friendship and Powers has a lot of people pissed off for getting what he wanted (and was willing to deal for 18 months ago).
As for Powers purchasing the team from Koretsky to gain access to the wing, he already had his second team in the works with parts and rolling stock on order and he also was well into putting the personnel package together. All along all he wanted to do was buy the wing package and if he is to be believed he may have forced NHRA's hand on ruling favorably on its legality.

Roo Man

Roo Man, I think thats the perfect description of what happened. Thats exactly what I think. I think its a little bit of everyone's fault and I dont think David Powers should be thrown under the bus like he's been.

 

[summer]

Klober gave no money, just ideas. Hadman and Jones used their own money. This idea has been around for a long time. Don't share unless you protect your mental property. Hadman is a good man and is in the car building business to make money. It was too bad for Klober but money talks.