Sounds, by the way that Capps described it, almost like a lockout like on the 2 speed shifters.... Push the reverser lever forward, hold forward, engage lever/button, continue to push reverser lever forward to the stop... Car is now in "true neutral"
The neutral has been around for a while, it came about when the clutch packs started welding themselves together, and they couldn't get the cars off the track...
The button on the side of the reverser had to be pulled out and most of the time the car needed to be rocked back and forth to get the reverser into reverse. Then you had a true neutral and wouldn't have any chance of a Troxel incident. The problem was that the driver needed to unbuckle his/her seatbelts to reach it. Now we have an air powered solenoid that pops the button out for us by flicking a switch we can reach in the cockpit. Then all you have to do is get the car rocked back and forth a bit, stick it in reverse, and it's in neutral. I talked to Timmy after the first round and it sounds like the switch got accidentally pushed (maybe when he got strapped in?) and then after his burnout, when he put it in reverse, it went into neutral.
After that happens, is there any way possible to get it back into drive?
Sounds, by the way that Capps described it, almost like a lockout like on the 2 speed shifters.... Push the reverser lever forward, hold forward, engage lever/button, continue to push reverser lever forward to the stop... Car is now in "true neutral"
I'm curious what Graham Light thought when he heard Tim Wilk say he was going to disconnect it???
There is no "2 Speed" shifter on a AA fuel car. It has forward and reverse. In forward, the reverser is basically a coupler, and in reverse it is gear reduced.
That's funny I'm old enough to remember direct drive, no reverser, and no starter and the T/F cars were 1000lbs lighter and 100mph slower.