The canopy is a ballistic piece. The windshield is bullet proof and quite thick. The balance of it including the sides , bottom and top are Kevlar witch is also aballistic. There is a fire bottle in it and a oxygen bottle for the driver also. It weighs 25 lbs and is for safety period.
Nitromater
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Tony Schumacher And The Canopy
- Thread starter Rat
- Start date
Topfuel386
Nitro Member
How big of a fire bottle does it need?
Topfuel386
Nitro Member
I did drive a funny before you know.
rckymtn3
Nitro Member
Minick and Wurtzel...best tennis match since the Olympics.
I always had an interest in the dragboat capsules, especially after seeing some take huge impacts that still protected the driver. I know the dragster application is different in many ways, but similar enough to make associations. Like in the water, they test the driver for capsule use by submerging the capsule, and turning it upside down. I'm sure the added NHRA "blind" test will be to identify and pull the canopy release. I am sure the first time someone explodes ahead of Tony and shrapnel bounces off the canopy, it'll have paid for itself.
ps....it looks pretty cool too. Yeah, I saw all the 80's cars with the tiny tire/flexi canopy looks. Swamp Rat XXX was the first of that era, and still the best looking. The Army rail will probably be viewed the same way, looking back thirty years from now.
I always had an interest in the dragboat capsules, especially after seeing some take huge impacts that still protected the driver. I know the dragster application is different in many ways, but similar enough to make associations. Like in the water, they test the driver for capsule use by submerging the capsule, and turning it upside down. I'm sure the added NHRA "blind" test will be to identify and pull the canopy release. I am sure the first time someone explodes ahead of Tony and shrapnel bounces off the canopy, it'll have paid for itself.
ps....it looks pretty cool too. Yeah, I saw all the 80's cars with the tiny tire/flexi canopy looks. Swamp Rat XXX was the first of that era, and still the best looking. The Army rail will probably be viewed the same way, looking back thirty years from now.
Ordinarily, I'd be inclined to agree, but I remember when Garlits debuted Swamp Rat 30. Sure a couple had the canopies right after ( I can only think of Amato right now) but far more had the tiny front wheels and when the "me-too" crowd finally figured there was no real advantage to either one, they both died quietly. Why NHRA is so slow to allow anything different, even when proven, is beyond me. To me, the cars that make drag racing what it was are the oddities. Cars like the Dunn & Reath rear engine 'Cuda, Ormsby's streamliner, and pretty much all of Garlits' cars are what has made me a drag racing fan. How many of today's cars does anyone think will ever make it to the Drag Racing museum in Ocala? I say zero. As much as I love watching anything burning nitro run, I simply can't get excited by even one of today's T/F or F/C cars based on emotion. They are no different than any other soul-less, assembly-line vehicle.Enjoy that while you can because you know that if it proves itself, by the 2013 Winter Nats 90% of the cars will have it.
I'm gonna have to agree on that. I have to say Tony's is the first I seen that could even maybe be admitted all because of the canopy. That and Garlits 03 Monorail and Canopy design. All the other TF's are just vanilla. The FC's I can't even think of one that would be up for the vote in the last 15 years. MAYBE Bazemore's carbon fiber aero body of 2001, then again that car is what started the new era of the bodies and Force just capitalized on it. I miss the old full window design.
my friends call me Zappy
Nitro Member
Registered member said:
Just curious, but what has the NHRA been slow to approve that's been proven? If you are referring to the canopy on Schumacher's car, tell me when and how it's already been proven?
Yes, Big Daddy definitely has some unique cars in his Museum, but then there are a lot of others, for instance Prudhomme's Army FC, Shirley's dragster, etc., that are in the museum because of what the driver accomplished....not because the car was unique. Given that, I would have to disagree. Take for instance Tony Schumacher....most TF wins, 7x champion, currently tied with Garlits for 8 US Nationals victories....those are the kind of things that can get your car into a museum too, IMO.
[/QUOTE]
Yes, Big Daddy definitely has some unique cars in his Museum, but then there are a lot of others, for instance Prudhomme's Army FC, Shirley's dragster, etc., that are in the museum because of what the driver accomplished....not because the car was unique. Given that, I would have to disagree. Take for instance Tony Schumacher....most TF wins, 7x champion, currently tied with Garlits for 8 US Nationals victories....those are the kind of things that can get your car into a museum too, IMO.[/QUOTE]
Your right. That means Dixon/Worsham Al-Anabi Dragster (The 1 chassis that won 12 straight then Worsham used) should be in there. The car technically has 2 championships under it's belt, then again when it was back or front halfed I don't know). As far as straight up innovative cars there have not been much lately when you take away performance. Is Kenny Bernstein's famous 87 (i believe Batmobile body or something) innovative FC in there?
Yes, Big Daddy definitely has some unique cars in his Museum, but then there are a lot of others, for instance Prudhomme's Army FC, Shirley's dragster, etc., that are in the museum because of what the driver accomplished....not because the car was unique. Given that, I would have to disagree. Take for instance Tony Schumacher....most TF wins, 7x champion, currently tied with Garlits for 8 US Nationals victories....those are the kind of things that can get your car into a museum too, IMO.
[/QUOTE]Your right. That means Dixon/Worsham Al-Anabi Dragster (The 1 chassis that won 12 straight then Worsham used) should be in there. The car technically has 2 championships under it's belt, then again when it was back or front halfed I don't know). As far as straight up innovative cars there have not been much lately when you take away performance. Is Kenny Bernstein's famous 87 (i believe Batmobile body or something) innovative FC in there?
Topfuel386
Nitro Member
I know. I know. The funny car is the man's machine.
rckymtn3
Nitro Member
I think yes, but also no....the Army car is the 'Cuda....the same car that was the all-black car...now, I'm all about the Wildlife Racing theme....I was just the right age to be the target for the Hot Wheels campaign....in fact, my avatar is me in my Hot Wheels uniform at Fremont in '72. The unique but less than big performance cars are Setzer's Wedge car, Prudhomme's wedge car, Prudhomme's FED Snake I dragster (the beginning of Hot Wheels) The Red Wagon wheelstander thing...so yes, there's certainly as many unusual cars as there is performance cars. It's a nice cross section of the unique attempts at skinnin' the same cat....and I think that's always been Garlits' vision....an innovator showing people the processes of innovation and the end results.
Garlits ran a similarly designed, but likely less stout, canopy nearly 30 years ago with zero problems, and apparently no performance advantage. Another Garlits innovation, the mono-strut wing was banned, even after Big forked out serious money to have it looked over by engineering experts. I suspect both of these items were tossed out because they look different more than any proof of failure
Yes, Big Daddy definitely has some unique cars in his Museum, but then there are a lot of others, for instance Prudhomme's Army FC, Shirley's dragster, etc., that are in the museum because of what the driver accomplished....not because the car was unique. Given that, I would have to disagree. Take for instance Tony Schumacher....most TF wins, 7x champion, currently tied with Garlits for 8 US Nationals victories....those are the kind of things that can get your car into a museum too, IMO.
Very true, but if I had to be selective about floor space in the musuem and I had to pick between Shoe's Army T/F car and (for example only) Breedlove's extremely unsuccessful streamliner dragster, I'd toss Shoe's car out in a heartbeat, and I'm a HUGE Shoe fan!! Change the paint and it's like every other car in the pits, from TJ Zizzo's to Al-Anabi's cars, T/F cars are pretty much the same to even the above-average fan
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mick
Nitro Member
always wondered if this is any reason mike kloeber's presence in nhra
is so rare?.....wasn't it his expertise (and possibly others) and Werner's
money behind the mono-strut engineering effort?
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.....It's interesting to note that in the very little testing they did with the "monostrut", Kloeber was able to get that car down to a 4.49 ET in the 1/4 mile that was really quite a good run for then.....Sure a few cars had run quicker but anything below a 4.50 was still considered a damn good run !!!.........But heard about weight problems etc and we might never know just how workable that thing really was.................................e
It had nothing to do with the weight problems. It was the speed. The monowing's picked up more back half speed that the more contemporary. NHRA knew if they allowed it full time it had the potential to hit 340. 337 made the NHRA drop the hammer and say no more.
I am not suprised it took so long to get the green light to use. NHRA is between a rock and a hard place, they are trying to stop the cars from going too fast or too quick yet every rule change they have done over the years to decrease performance the cars have wound up going quicker and faster then they ever did before.
While the canopy in this case is a safety feature the fact that it looks aerodynamic was allways going to have people crying foul.
While the canopy in this case is a safety feature the fact that it looks aerodynamic was allways going to have people crying foul.
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none
Nitro Member
I remember watching the David Powers mono strut car run on a Monday in Gainesville, and Hot Rod Fuller almost crashing it. I believe that he told them he would quit before he drove the car again, and to my knowledge it never ran again.
The car is in Australia and I'm told there will be more testing, but I don't have any first hand information. Does anyone?
Alan
The car is in Australia and I'm told there will be more testing, but I don't have any first hand information. Does anyone?
Alan
