Tony Schumacher And The Canopy

[Rat]

# 1 is impressive and it looks great. is it still the I believe 25 pounds heavier than the rest or did they improve since the prototype?

 

[Nunz]

How about the fact that Tony and Antron are 1 & 2, virtually IDENTICAL E.T.s & MPH, and Tony's running the canopy, Antron not yet? I think Tony wasn't pushing down on the loud pedal all the way so nobody would notice the aero advantage.

 

[twostep]

I think Tony wasn't pushing down on the loud pedal all the way so nobody would notice the aero advantage.

Oh, Gawd....don't get 'em started, Valerie....

 

[d'kid]

Tony and Ant... one and two, identical et's, Tony 2/10 mph faster...

Here's hoping we never have to see it put the extreme of it's design.

Thank You Don & Mike Green


d'kid

 

[Bobby Bennett]

http://www.competitionplus.com/drag...res-back-at-critics-with-no-1-and-stern-words

 

[Topfuel386]

patrick yes the canopy adds 25 pounds but tony's car was always light and they had to add weight. now they take that weight off and the car is still the required minimum and not over weight.

 

[HEMI6point1]

Three things I like about the canopy:

1. It looks badass.

2. It adds safety.

3. It's available to other teams shall they want it.

Seems like the canopy is not hurting them on the performance front, either.

 

[Rat]

patrick yes the canopy adds 25 pounds but tony's car was always light and they had to add weight. now they take that weight off and the car is still the required minimum and not over weight.

Thanks for that. That answers my question. I could see all weekend that it did not look like an aero advantage and the 25+ didn't add up, so thanks. The other teams cant afford the weight, so outside a rules change this may be the only team that has it. I hate that your now gonna hear nothing but crap about aero for the rest of the season. I loved Tony's post first round interview.

 

[Nunz]

I like it, but I think it's great that NHRA didn't go from non-acceptance all the way to mandatory. Now we may have a little variety in the TF ranks.

 

[my friends call me Zappy]

nhra won't make it mandatory till it proves itself (bad fire).

 

[Topfuel386]

why do you want it mandatory? I would think a lot of the independent guys might not want to spend the money like me and others might not want the weight.

 

[Dave]

There will be at least 3 teams at Indy with it, DSR has a big advantage in the data department with the testing runs and Brainard.

 

[Leebone]

Who cares!!

 

[Sandman]

Amen! I think the big attraction to the canopy is that at least now we don't have 16 car fields of exact replicas racing. T/C and F/C are just like the old IROC series. The cars all look the same except for decals. At least now Shoe's car is slightly unique.

 

[Just Paul]

It's a non issue to me. The Glass Slipper had a canopy in the 50's! Half the TF cars of the mid 80's ran them as well.

All this talk about "should have waited to change rules till '13" or whatever, blah blah blah. This is nothing new.

 

[my friends call me Zappy]

why do you want it mandatory? I would think a lot of the independent guys might not want to spend the money like me and others might not want the weight.

I don't want it mandatory. Just answering Valerie Jr. He said he was glad nhra didn't make it mandatory. My point was the canopy hasn't proved itself safer in a fire yet, so nhra won't make it mandatory for liability.

 

[my friends call me Zappy]

Amen! I think the big attraction to the canopy is that at least now we don't have 16 car fields of exact replicas racing. /QUOTE]

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.

 

[Nunz]

I'm no aero expert, but I would find it hard to believe that the canopy could ever produce any real performance advantage. I mean, dragsters have so much exposed, so many turbulent areas, and the canopy is not a huge stretch from the super high windshields. I really think the benefit is purely in keeping things off the driver. But, JMO. And again, from a fan perspective, it brings variety to the cars.

 

[Rat]

There will be at least 3 teams at Indy with it, DSR has a big advantage in the data department with the testing runs and Brainard.

I would think it all depends on if the other 2 DSR TF teams were just like Tony's and were light to begin with.

It's a non issue to me. The Glass Slipper had a canopy in the 50's! Half the TF cars of the mid 80's ran them as well.

All this talk about "should have waited to change rules till '13" or whatever, blah blah blah. This is nothing new.

It's nothing new, but to alot of people that don't know or don't remember it's 100% new. Why it took until 2003, have it die, and then 2012 to see the canopy again I do not know. It should of been implemented back when Garlits first ran it.

 

[DrRocket]

I would think it all depends on if the other 2 DSR TF teams were just like Tony's and were light to begin with.



It's nothing new, but to alot of people that don't know or don't remember it's 100% new. Why it took until 2003, have it die, and then 2012 to see the canopy again I do not know. It should of been implemented back when Garlits first ran it.

His canopy was a pretty simple peice of formed plexiglass. this new one is a reasonably complex peice of technology. I noticed that when Tony exited the car in the top end, it was pretty much just unlatch and then quickly flip it up to exit the car. Looked like it worked pretty well. They did note that Tony was a bit later on the tree than his norm, so we'll see how long he takes to adjust for it. I wonder if they'll eventually start tinting the clear portion.

Remember when everyone was wearing special "glasses" that supposedly enhanced thier perception of the tree lights?

That didn't last very long IIRC.