Tony Schumacher Signs Extension Through 2032 (6 Viewers)

[mick]

Now that they got the band back together, Nicky and John have to bring this back. Anyone remember these?

yes. they were great.

 

[MSopko_Jr.]

I agree, I like the look of the open cockpit myself. Having said that, in the modern world where TF cars are all virtually the same visually (like pretty much all motorsports nowadays) having the canopy cars in the mix does add a little variety.

I'm actually going to go on the other side of this and say I like the canopy cars better. I think that is because of the impression Swamp Rat 30 and the other streamliners at the time (though brief-Gwynn, Amato, and others) had on me when I was around 5 years old. However I'm in agreement that I too like that there is a variety in Top Fuel of canopy and conventional cars. I even like that some run the "mud flaps" and some don't or switch back and forth depending on the conditions.
And not to sidetrack this thread, but I've been noticing some other things that there used to be more variety of and was curious if anyone else noticed this or if I'm kind of on an island of my own with this. The first is I miss the variety of colors and designs of chutes that teams in the pro categories and even in the Top Alcohol classes used to have. For whatever reason I've always been interested in parachutes and when I'm not racing and am taking photos my favorite shots are chute shots. It seems to me that a lot cars in classes use the same color chutes and styles. When I think back or watch videos from the 80's and 90's there were many multicolored chutes and chutes that often stood out or matched the scheme of the car.
The other thing I've noticed is many drivers have gone away from the Simpson Bandit or Impact Nitro/Champ helmets. I've always liked the way these looked with front of the helmet coming to a point above the driver's nose. I always thought they looked cool, and again growing up many drivers used these or the Simpson RX helmet. I know they were used in other racing for a time, like in Indy cars or sprint type cars, but over time they seem to have become almost specific to drag racing. Now I have noticed many drivers turning to the "flat faced" helmets, similar to what is common in other forms of motorsports. This isn't to complain about those helmets as they have always been a part of drag racing too, it's just we seem to be losing the variety and a style that was fairly prominent in drag racing.
Again, these were just things that I thought added character to our sport. Sorry to go off on a tangent, but wondered if others had noticed this too.

 

[mick]

mike sopko, thank you for bringing up those two items. i had really not noticed to the point of thinking about it, but as i'm reading
your post, i'm in total agreement. for sure the chutes used to have more variety, and some were color coded and/or with team logos.
...... and the helmets. actually i just noticed this a day or two ago. tasca had a utube short posted showing austin walking from tow vehicle
to climb into car for gainesville testing. as he walked past the camera, it was a closeup of his helmet, and i noticed that it was flat front.
as you stated, nothing wrong with that, but for sure again the helmets used to be more of the other variety, and if anyone should wear one,
it should be austin, as people are having fun in the media saying he will carry the 'villian' role, so his helmet should look more like
darth vader

 

[mick]

yes. more please. &*@#ing hilarious

 

[mick]

what i can't find is the nomex effect interview with shelly anderson. that one was super funny too.
those two did their deal on facebook. i can find their FBpage, but the very few episodes they did i can't find.

 

[mgty3whlr]

yes. more please. &*@#ing hilarious

They had a bunch of them on Youtube but they seemed to have disappeared. don't know if Kalitta had them pulled down for some reason not. They used to be uncensored also.