whatever happened to the little front tires/wheels on TFD's?

[davey]

That's backwards of everything I've ever read. If you deep stage you have less distance to move before you roll out of the beams, that gives you a quicker reaction time. Also, since you have barely started rolling once you're out of the beams the vehicle is travelling slower which would make your ET appear slower. If you shallow stage you're going faster when you pass the beams than if you shallow staged, which would give you a quicker ET.

Whoops, I totally worded that wrong. What I meant to say was it gives you a better reaction time. I was using "increase" as "better" which made no sense when I went back and read it. Sorry about that. Deep Stage is better reaction time and slower e/t due to the lack of a "running" start before rolling out. Thanks for pointing out my error. It was a long day yesterday!

 

[Nitrohaulic]

The small diameter front wheel/tire combo came about when Garlits built his version of a streamlined dragster. He wanted the extremly low front end with the wheels covered so the car would cut a hole in the air and than drive thru it. I think this was the description Big used to describe his thinking.
Many of the drivers did not like the handling with the small front wheels and when they realized they really had no effect on speed or ET they went the way of the five cent cigar!

That's the way I remember Don saying it. Punch a hole through the air and drive through it.

 

[The Swegian]

i thought when jim head was racing tf that he figured out the bigger tires acted as rudders and they were actually more aerodynamic that the little tires.

I recall hearing that as well.

 

[Tom]

Goodyear also stated that those little tires (which I really liked actually) were ONLY rated for 300mph. After Bernstein went 300 at Gainsville with the little front wheels, it seems like around that time, they went back to the larger fronts as the speeds had outgrown them. Shirleys crash at Montreal was when she was running 17" tires and pre-dated the little front wheels IIRC.

 

[Alan]

The Rascal scooter company got their patent ok'd and now have a monopoly on all small fat tires/wheels

I was thinking that maybe Connie needed them back for his planes...... In all seriousness, the rails look much better with the tall skinny tires, especailly Dixon's blue wheels.

 

[Nitrohaulic]

I was thinking that maybe Connie needed them back for his planes...... In all seriousness, the rails look much better with the tall skinny tires, especailly Dixon's blue wheels.

I think both looks were/are nice. The short tires had a cool look right behind the little wings. They looked REALLY cool under Don's aero nose, IMO.

 

[Alan]

I think both looks were/are nice. The short tires had a cool look right behind the little wings. They looked REALLY cool under Don's aero nose, IMO.

Didn't big try to run some kind of belt strapped around an aluminum disc as well?? Seem to remember something like this, but not 100% sure.

 

[Butch]

from first hand knowledge i can say they were outlawed in part due to excessive wheel bearing temperature that maifested bearing failure. think about how many times the small wheel had to turn versus the large ones.

however my .02 on the subject - I like the small ones better because when we went from the "Garlits" nose to a "standard" one. we were able to run a larger front wing with the small tires which gave the driver a better "feel" due to the added down force.

 

[Nitrohaulic]

Didn't big try to run some kind of belt strapped around an aluminum disc as well?? Seem to remember something like this, but not 100% sure.

I'm pretty sure I remember it being conveyor belting that he first tried to use on the discs. Riveted? I remember following it in National Dragster and, when he finally came up with those little wheels and tires under that nose! What a look! The whole car! The nose, the canopy, the rudder, the black paint. So many visual changes to one type of car all at once. THAT was interesting! When are you going to see that again?