Top Sportsman added to NHRA Events (1 Viewer)

[stanman]

... I have two words for you: delay box. Perhaps you would prefer these two: throttle stop...

Ed,

The casual fan, hell even the not-so-casual fan, wouldn't have a clue if a car had a delay box or not unless they walked up to the car, looked inside, and knew what they were looking at.

You are right though in that all the squawk about the Super Classes is about throttle stops, NOT delay boxes. As exhibited in Jesse's original post, he had no idea the Top Sportsman cars had delay boxes until it was pointed out.

 

[stanman]

In my experience, this is very much a regional thing. For your area, Greg, there seems to be mostly fuel fans and I've seen the very thing you describe. But come back east and you'll see different behavior.

The Midwest has always been a doorslammer hotbed starting with the Gas classes many years ago. Pro Stock gets a much warmer reception in St. Louis, Indy, Columbus, and even the southern tracks such as Bristol and Atlanta. There were never that many fuel cars around the area, certainly not many in weekly shows like all you Californians were lucky enough to see.

Even the bikes gain big crowds in certain areas such as Englishtown, Memphis, and St. Louis.

That said, from someone involved with drag racing since 1965 I'll state that the Top classes have piqued my interest also. I honestly think it's the absence of down-track electronics that make the difference. What's not to like about two fast cars charging for the finish line?

Dan,

I would agree with you about there being a stronger audience for Pro Stock in other regions. I spent a lot of time back in and remember fondly the booked in shows of Pro Stock and the new forming Pro Mod at many of the southern tracks.

I love the Top Dragster and Top Sportsman classes... see my signature below! They just need to find a way to keep it affordable if they are going to make them national event classes. My plan that I posted here over two years ago was to get rid of the Super Classes and make TD and TS all run fields with the maximum ET requirements.

 

[d'kid]

Okay, as one of the Bottoms in the seats, and growing up on So-Cal Nitro, I don't leave my seat on Sunday. Fridays and Saturdays, I watch a little of everything.

One Good Thing about "the stands clearing out"... I can see the track without having to see around the drunk in front of me who 'drives a blown, injected 04 riceburner on alky on the street, car runs 7's at 160mph'...

And yeah, I enjoy watching everything from a W/SA to T/F...

d'kid

 

[Reese]

It's all about proper staging, picking your spot, focus, and consistently doing the same thing each time.

That statement is all you need to know about bracket racing.
I have a friend that have a super street car and I told him while we were at the Cajun SportsNational that if you want to learn how to be good, study these guys staging a car in time trails and watch the same drivers at the finish line during eliminations.
Also I love Top dragster/sportsman but I think Pro mods are a better show at a National event.

And Greg, the magical electronic box is called a Matty box.

 

[stanman]

...And Greg, the magical electronic box is called a Matty box.

Oh no, you just had to do it didn't you, Armand!?!?!? LMAO

 

[Reese]

Oh no, you just had to do it didn't you, Armand!?!?!? LMAO

At least I didn't say playback tach(oops)

I am trying to get my friend to get rid of his twin air cylinder thottle stop, what do you recommend. We look at different types go down the track this pass weekend and I like the servo motor but he don't want to spend that kind of money.

 

[sc7711]

HAHA, Leave it up to the Stan Man to stick up for the underling sportsman racers.... I'll just kick it over here in my corner and watch.

Jared

 

[stanman]

At least I didn't say playback tach(oops)

I am trying to get my friend to get rid of his twin air cylinder thottle stop, what do you recommend. We look at different types go down the track this pass weekend and I like the servo motor but he don't want to spend that kind of money.

Who makes a servo motored t-stop? I have not seen one of those. Of course I haven't raced any of Super Classes since 2003 and haven't paid much attention to the stops. I thought of using a servo years ago. But there was a nagging problem I wasn't able to easily figure out... Unless there is some kind of release that allows the stop to go to the closed position instaneously, it won't work. You want to slam the RPM to your stop RPM off the launch. Otherwise you can't kill enough ET and you'd be on the timer for a much longer time, which isn't consistent and kills MPH.

No matter what brand or type (blade, disc, inline), make sure you get an Air-On/Air-Off double acting. And the hot ticket is a "split" stop... where you have a separate cylinder for the primaries and secondaries.

I still have on my car a Biondo Double Acting "stop" that I use as starting line controller. It is what I used when I ran 8.90/9.90 and was always very happy with results.

The disc stop from Dedenbear is the ticket for maximum MPH. A lot of guys like the A-1 air power split stop too.

It all just depends on what you're trying to do and what your motor will like.

 

[stanman]

HAHA, Leave it up to the Stan Man to stick up for the underling sportsman racers.... I'll just kick it over here in my corner and watch.

Jared

Hey, what are you doing young man!?!? How's little sis?

 

[sc7711]

Hey, what are you doing young man!?!? How's little sis?

Ain't so young anymore.... Gettin ready to move out to Kansas. She's doing good, we're gettin ready to start the Famoso Summit Series. Unfortunately have to give the seat back to pops.

J

 

[Reese]

Who makes a servo motored t-stop?

Actually it is a stepper motor. It is something new from Dedenber Products. It is called the Stepper Throttle Stop System. It is a blade type throttle stop. I first saw this in the May 2008 issue of Drag Racing Action. We use both stepper and servo motors at work and they are very accurate and repeat consistantly to the same position every time.
Also thanks for the information on the throttle stops.