Tony Stewart’s Debut

[stitcherbob]

Great pair of films by Tony’s team putting you right there for his first NHRA National Event

Tony said something in the second part that made me feel bad for not remembering and appreciating the late John Andretti and his Top Fuel seat time… how soon we forget

 

[mick]

watched #1 yesterday, #2 this morning. here's another owner/racer making the most of social media.
you can't go out 1st round all year long, and he won't, but some of these teams are selling it all; the driver, the crew, the experience, almost reality tv.
how the car finishes the race is important, but not by a long shot is it the sole focus of social media advertising.
isn't that something what he said about john andretti! ....... have the utmost respect for what TS is doing at this stage in his life.

 

[Cliff]

I watched John Andretti at Firebird the year he raced. Thought he did a great job as T/F driver. I remember him saying that when he first got in the dragster, he thought he was in over his head. Thought that was something for an experienced Indy car driver to say.

 

[Ramjet]

I watched John Andretti at Firebird the year he raced. Thought he did a great job as T/F driver. I remember him saying that when he first got in the dragster, he thought he was in over his head. Thought that was something for an experienced Indy car driver to say.

Don't you think A T/F or F/C driver would feel the same way when He/She figured out that they had to turn when they got to end of the straight away the first time with 32 cars surrounding you .

 

[sammi]

His reaction times were superb. Once he experiences a few more of the quirks of running a TF, he will be a serious player.

 

[you]

These were great! Also, not to de-rail this thread, but I enjoy McKailen Haddock's youtube channel as well. Great stuff!

 

[drag racer]

I'd be shocked if he is not right there in the mix for championship - he is one of the most naturally talented race car drivers in history, like him or not. Slapping an .021 light on Ashley was a shot across the bow.

 

[z28]

I'd be shocked if he is not right there in the mix for championship - he is one of the most naturally talented race car drivers in history, like him or not. Slapping an .021 light on Ashley was a shot across the bow.

wait until he red lights a couple of times. .021 is hard to get away with

 

[Custom Body Fan]

wait until he red lights a couple of times. .021 is hard to get away with

One thing I realized I’ve never heard is how long after the driver nails the loud pedal does the car break the beam?

 

[z28]

One thing I realized I’ve never heard is how long after the driver nails the loud pedal does the car break the beam?

where you stage makes a difference as well as how the tuner does the setup but I have to believe .021 is close to psychic.

 

[Litefoot]

wait until he red lights a couple of times. .021 is hard to get away with

Some people are afraid of the lite, Tony is the type that looks to make a great light part of his personal tune up, red lite sometimes yes, but will never make him back down on cutting lights

 

[Ramjet]

One thing I realized I’ve never heard is how long after the driver nails the loud pedal does the car break the beam?

The total time is the cars reaction time and the drivers reaction time combined. I bought a full Port-A- Tree for the kids to use when we were running the Jr Dragsters. It had the old style bulbs so they were a little slower than the LED's are. Al Smyth has data to show that the Median driver is .210 on reaction time. Some are Faster and some are Slower. The rest of the total is the car. He showed us what to do to prove that. We hooked one of the lane cable connections to throttle with a quick disconnect. When the kid (Driver) staged it set both lanes (One of which was connected to the carburetor. A Jr. Dragster is like a T/F or F/C in that you stage at an idle (Up to 4500/4800 on the bigger motors). When the light goes green - it's petal to the metal which triggers the cars reaction time and when the car breaks the beam it shows the whole reaction time. You subtract the throttle aplication time from the total time and that is the drivers reaction time. The connection then pulls apart after the car moves about a car length. A long time ago they used to show the base number added to the number as reaction time. Now they don't show the base number added in. Once a driver gets their Reaction Time (Motor Skills {Brain to Foot}) really consistant you then work on the car. Pro Stock adjusts the clutch linkage - throttle position - launch RPM - driver position - Blue Blocker glasses - shocks etc. and then just like the fuel cars who have their own ways to adjust launch (and every class) you hope the Driver doesn't go COMATOSE when the lights go down. A Full Tree is more friendly to the slower driver than a Pro Tree because of the time between the bulbs and you can count, where the starter can manipulate the start time on a Pro Tree where you can't always count. Thirty minutes a night on the practice tree after you dial in the cars reaction time doesn't hurt. Also: In Short the CC depends on the Driver as much as the Driver depends on the CC from the time the car gets loud until it gets quiet including the launch.

 

[mick]

sometime during pomona i think leah mentioned in interview that mobil1 made the decision to have their 50th anniversary wrap on tony's dragster
in pomona, ahead of the same livery later this year in other series ......... pomona was so short lived with lost sessions, i'm wondering
if the wrap will appear again this year? IMO it didn't get it's deserved limelight in pomona.