There are no stupid questions, right?

[Murph]

What is it that a crew guy is hanging on to at the back of the car, right up until the car is pre-staged? I've seen this done on pro-mods & alcohol funny cars. A few crews were giving the staging guy fits they were hanging onto it for so long and it seems to be something thats just come around recently?

 

[.]

Activating the data recorder?

 

[Sully]

Brent is correct - the data recorder switch is usually located on the tail of the full-bodied cars, under the spoiler.

 

[Murph]

Thanks for the answer. I watched car after car doing this and wondered what it could have been. More than a few crew guys had to be waved away by the tree guy with a few animated gestures afterwards. I guess its easier to read the data from the pre stage on as some of these guys seemed like they waited until the last possible moment to activate it.

 

[PJ]

I wish that they wouldn't allow contact with the car that close to the line. I always fear somebody getting snagged on something and the car launching

 

[Outlaw Eric]

I wish that they wouldn't allow contact with the car that close to the line. I always fear somebody getting snagged on something and the car launching

Yep. And with today's data storage capabilities I doubt that extra couple of seconds really mean anything. In the 'old days' the Race Paks had a more limited storage capacity so they were activated as the car rolled into pre-stage.

I highly doubt anyone is using up their storage capacity now.

EDB

 

[Tom]

The RPM Data System allows a person to preset an RPM that engages the data recorder. The crew person can flip the power on switch after the back-up. Once the motor hits the preset RPM, the data recorder picks up everything through the run including information 3 seconds before the the data system begins recording.

Question, are the pro folks recording the burn-out????

 

[Outlaw Eric]

Question, are the pro folks recording the burn-out????

Could be...

EDB