Top Alcohol Dragster combination parity

[Ramjet]

The Alcohol cars seem to have a built in ending performance wall. The weight minimum is realistic without using unobtanium marerials at a zillion dollars an ounce. More Cubic Inches won't work very well because the Cylinder Heads have pretty much been maxed out as far as they can for air flow so more boost won't help all that much. The A/F cars are really more logical as far as cost vs reward per round or race. We know that RPM's are the enemy as far as maintainece and attrition goes so an engine that turns in the low 6000's at most has to do better than one that turns over 1 1/2 times that to be competative. Also blower maintainece is not a problem for the fuel cars. While spectators like to see different combinations the class is a "Red Headed Step Child" that normally does not have major sponsors so how much can you really spend without the number of contestants dwindling to nothing.

 

[Ramjet]

Screw it, bring back Hydrazine and then we can sort out who the real men are.

Not so shure about that. I still have some breathing problems 50 years later. I thaught I was 10 feet tall and Bullet Proof then but the Green in the flames and the Ammonia smell proved me wrong. I have to live with my choices but the spectators and Crew as well as the Track people shouldn't have to (My opinion anyway).

 

[Cliff]

I have asthma that has gotten worse as I get older. I often wonder how many racers & track people & even fans have gotten cancer or breathing problems or whatever, from exposure to chemicals used in drag racing. I know the Greek messed with it & a lot of others. I would hope no one is messin' with that stuff now.

 

[Ramjet]

I have asthma that has gotten worse as I get older. I often wonder how many racers & track people & even fans have gotten cancer or breathing problems or whatever, from exposure to chemicals used in drag racing. I know the Greek messed with it & a lot of others. I would hope no one is messin' with that stuff now.

Yes - John Krannenburg was Chris's Crew Chief for awhile and when he moved out here to go to work for SpeedMasters he brought it with him. He actually had several things including Iodine Crystals and Picric Acid. He walked over to the car when it was running - Took off the fuel cap and poured a vile of something in and in a few seconds this thing sound completly different. It ratteled the tires but everyone wanted to be his next best friend. We knew a guy who worked at Rocketdyne with a Thermos bottle and we were in the Chemistry business. After a while NHRA and Lions had dye put into the Nitro that would tell you if there was anything in the fuel when it was running. Later John Mitchel found out about making a filter out of activated Charcole that filtered out the dye and couldn't make them fast enough for a while. The first time we used it Madden didn't put in enough without telling me and I didn't feel anything - it was just a little ragged and smelled funny. Next pass everyone called him a pu$$y so he doubled or tripled up still not telling me. When it fired up I thaught he had something really messed up. I could hardley breathe and about 1/2 track it was shaking so hard I could see three of everything. I clipped it at about 1000 feet and went around the corner. Don (Madden) pulled up and jumped out of the truck with a wrench and took the hose off the tank. As the fuel ran onto the ground it started smoking. I said what the Hell is giong on? He told me and decided that we had to find out how to run this stuff. The secret "stuff" didn't cause the shake - it was the broken crankshaft from adding the "stuff". Don's older brother was best friends with the Chemist at Cox the model plane guys and he worked out the best mixture for the Hydrazine and the Picric Acid which isn,t really all that much. Other people ran it and who knows how many "Motors" they used up gettin it right.

 

[Al]

Yes - John Krannenburg was Chris's Crew Chief for awhile and when he moved out here to go to work for SpeedMasters he brought it with him. He actually had several things including Iodine Crystals and Picric Acid. He walked over to the car when it was running - Took off the fuel cap and poured a vile of something in and in a few seconds this thing sound completly different. It ratteled the tires but everyone wanted to be his next best friend. We knew a guy who worked at Rocketdyne with a Thermos bottle and we were in the Chemistry business. After a while NHRA and Lions had dye put into the Nitro that would tell you if there was anything in the fuel when it was running. Later John Mitchel found out about making a filter out of activated Charcole that filtered out the dye and couldn't make them fast enough for a while. The first time we used it Madden didn't put in enough without telling me and I didn't feel anything - it was just a little ragged and smelled funny. Next pass everyone called him a pu$$y so he doubled or tripled up still not telling me. When it fired up I thaught he had something really messed up. I could hardley breathe and about 1/2 track it was shaking so hard I could see three of everything. I clipped it at about 1000 feet and went around the corner. Don (Madden) pulled up and jumped out of the truck with a wrench and took the hose off the tank. As the fuel ran onto the ground it started smoking. I said what the Hell is giong on? He told me and decided that we had to find out how to run this stuff. The secret "stuff" didn't cause the shake - it was the broken crankshaft from adding the "stuff". Don's older brother was best friends with the Chemist at Cox the model plane guys and he worked out the best mixture for the Hydrazine and the Picric Acid which isn,t really all that much. Other people ran it and who knows how many "Motors" they used up gettin it right.

Thanks for your insight on hydrazine and other additives in recent months Roger. I have really enjoyed your stories. I would like to see someone do an in depth story on this stuff sometime. Probably with your input !

 

[twostep]

Interesting perspective from an unbiased outsider with no skin in the game. But I'm curious, why not 100%? That would eliminate the need for fuel check giving the teams and NHRA one less thing to worry about. Wouldn't it?

Alan

LOL I could see this coming a mile off....

I'd be against switching to different chassis, wings, clutches, more weight and reducing downforce for the fuelers and any of the more involved solutions. If anything, a minor tweak might be all that's needed. Start with something conservative like a 25-pound weight reduction or a few percentage points more OD for the blower for three races and see how that works.

On a related subject, I recall the long-gone days of A/FC. I know NHRA doesn't want to go through years of parity regarding injected nitro vs blown alcohol all over again but I'd still like to see an A/FC compete with the TA/FC folks. Just throwing that out there with no expectations of it happening.

 

[Ramjet]

Thanks for your insight on hydrazine and other additives in recent months Roger. I have really enjoyed your stories. I would like to see someone do an in depth story on this stuff sometime. Probably with your input !

I found this on the WEB (

Drag racing pioneers or suicidal nutjobs?

This is basically a tribute to the crazy bastards who risked life and limb for that last bit of speed… and were willing to play with untold amounts of self-igniting, super toxic, incredibly u…

euclidsbridge.wordpress.com

) and it is pretty good. I think some of it is embellished but it is using quotes and hearsay stuff. One thing it says is that John Hogan used this for the Greek which I am not sure of, but I am sure John Krannenburg worked for him and brought it out here. Also the Jr. Fueler they were talking about belonged to Jerry Johansen's (Howard Cams) father in law Holly (Holly and Dietz) and it did blow part of the head off. They won Jr. Fuel at the last drag race. Jerry had been tuning with it for a while - unfortunately he died in his thirties from unknown reasons and we believe that it was related to inhaling fumes from race cars. Jerry was basically a genius - he won the first Pomona tuning his dad Howard's "Twin Bears" dragster with Christman driving when he was 14 years old. He was magic with a Chevrolet when he had Larry Dixon Sr. driving for him also. It is the big reason I don't think Hydrazine is good to run.