When Nitro attacks???? (1 Viewer)

[Toejam]

When I was at Indy I was with some friends from Vegas along with a crew member from Team Kalitta at a Hooters (suprised?). Anyway the subject of Nitro hydralicking came up, I was at Indy when both Scott Weis' and Randy Anderson had there's in the Staging lanes of all places! And I was at Sonoma in '96 when Gary Densham had a Motor go bang in his pit, but I was stunned by this Kalitta crewguy who told me just how easy it can happen if your NOT careful!

He was telling of one time this season when one of the headguys took off a valvecover after the Plugs were removed. And since we were drinking beer I don't remember everything, but he said when the crewguy took off the Valvecover he heard a BAMM! Sounded like a M80 or something! I guess they forgot to back the motor down in the pits and the air rushing in the cylinder ignited some unburned Nitro leftover in the motor! No one was hurt but I thought as many times as these guys take these things apart at every race you'd think this stuff would become automatic, I guess not.

I'm curious to hear some stories from the veterans like Jerry Newman and others who've been around this sport for years!

 

[MM]

knock on wood.....in the years i have been around these cars i have never had one hydraulic on me, but i always make sure that the first thing i do when we get to the top end is disconnect the mag and back the thing down...now granted i am only 22 and i know jerry's stories are way better than mine!!

 

[Paul]

I was at Indy when Scott Weiss had his deal and I was also at Reading when Doug Kalitta had a similar issue. Both times it caught me off guard and I thought a bomb went off. Nitro is some serious sh*t.

 

[Suzie Q]

Yep, Jon O had no eyelashes or eyebrows after that. It was pretty scary to see that.

 

[d'kid]

CRS has set in, not sure if it was 69 or 70... wanna say snow... could have been goldstein, nope it was snow, front two holes on one side... was like a hand grenade going off... and cast iron bits everywhere, including embedded in the asphalt...

d'kid

 

[none]

One of the stories I heard was an A/Fool team was screwing a head stud back in the block. There happened to be some nitro left in the stud hole. When the stud was in far enough, the little bit of nitro left was compressed enough that it blew part of the block off.
A few of the A/Fuel teams have had a cylinder hydraulic/ explode enough that crew people have gone into different pits through the air.

Lee
Notroclovers

 

[Nitrohaulic]

I remember a member of this board, one of his crew got both legs broken from that. There used to be an old photo on a UK site with the entire front corner of a Rodeck block and that end of the cylinder head blown off, studs and everything exposed.

You'll see Will explaining here why the A-fuelers are so much more dangerous due to their high static compression vs a blown engine.

www.insidetopalcohol.com - Starting an A/Fuel car?

 

[Nitrohaulic]

Found it! Click on the pic halfway down this page.

The Timo Aartomaa Galleries - page 4

That whole site is LOADED with UK nostalgia stuff, including a Kenworth funny car.

Check out the woman driver smiling as she's pulling the brake lever on the funny car. That's just right! I could be in favor of cloning.

Check out the FED fire burnout on this page.

The Artwork and Pictures of Mark Gredzinski - page 1

 

[Toejam]

One of the stories I heard was an A/Fool team was screwing a head stud back in the block. There happened to be some nitro left in the stud hole. When the stud was in far enough, the little bit of nitro left was compressed enough that it blew part of the block off.
A few of the A/Fuel teams have had a cylinder hydraulic/ explode enough that crew people have gone into different pits through the air.

Lee
Notroclovers

Dave Hirata had a Bad one a few years back, I heard his Father suffered leg injuries!

 

[Nunz]

I was at Firebird one year when Gene Davis' A/Fueler went boom when they spun it over behind the starting line.

 

[.]

Didn't Gene Snow have an A/Fuel engine go boom a few years ago in the pits? I wanna say it happened sometime in the late 90's.

 

[MM]

Dave Hirata had a Bad one a few years back, I heard his Father suffered leg injuries!

yea that was at Cincinnati...although i though it was old man hirata's arm that sustained a great amount of damage?....i could be wrong though

 

[Nitrohelper]

First off just to pick the fly sh*t out of the pepper, the technical process is "to compression fire" that how the engineers at Commercial Solvents describe it in research studies they were conducting in the 1950s to find more uses for Nitro.
Hydraulic is drag racing slang. When a gas engine is hydraulic-ed the connecting rod bends from trying to compress a liquid.
When Nitro is compression fired it is a mini explosion, you can hit it with a hammer on a concrete floor to test the theory. The oxygen in the Nitro is the key. A/FDs with their high compression demand a lot of respect, all the time. No place for rookies.

We always screwed the head studs in by hand ,not with any impact wench, several blocks have been blowed-up (nascar term) in the pits between rounds.
We never put the the spark plugs in until just before we're ready to start it, Densham put the head gasket in his leg at Brainerd one year because they had the car ready to start when they loaded the car at night. The nozzles drained down in the trailer , then the instant they touched the starter it blew-up.
We always turn the motor backwards when adjusting the clutch after warming it up.

In the cast iron block days, I saw one that had the front corner blowed out when they turned the motor clockwise to change the magneto timing after they had put the plugs in, and I think the nozzles drained down while they waited to see if the weather would change.
Gene Snow had a bad one with his A/FD in the pits some years ago,and I believe he holds the "on the track" record for shooting a complete head with the top half of the block still bolted on, over the wing at Gainesville around 1990. He was experimenting with a Scott fuel pump that he had hopped up ,and was using large nozzles. That was with points magnetos.
Herbert's big one at Pomona was believed to be a magneto cross fire, they were testing a new type electronic version. I believe the boxes sometimes backfire blowers today.

 

[Namely Nick]

This would be something to submit to the Mythbusters show.

 

[none]

The Hiratas event happened in the morning. They had serviced the car as they had for years the night before and put it away.
There must have been a little left in the lines, and with putting the car in the trailer with the front end high, some drained into the back cylinder.
In the morning, they turned the engine over, to begin working on it, and surprise.
Kenny, dad, patriarch, was thrown into another pit. His hearing has suffered since, along with some other temporary "owies", his arm, and tattooing by oil drops.
Dave, son, was blown over and knocked unconscious.
Nasty. Could have been much worse.
How much nitro? An ounce, 1/2 ounce? They had performed the usual maintenance, just put the car in trailer front end high.

No one I know will "play" with nitro and a hammer. I ask.

Lee
Nitroclovers

 

[Toejam]

First off just to pick the fly sh*t out of the pepper, the technical process is "to compression fire" that how the engineers at Commercial Solvents describe it in research studies they were conducting in the 1950s to find more uses for Nitro.
Hydraulic is drag racing slang. When a gas engine is hydraulic-ed the connecting rod bends from trying to compress a liquid.
When Nitro is compression fired it is a mini explosion, you can hit it with a hammer on a concrete floor to test the theory. The oxygen in the Nitro is the key. A/FDs with their high compression demand a lot of respect, all the time. No place for rookies.

We always screwed the head studs in by hand ,not with any impact wench, several blocks have been blowed-up (nascar term) in the pits between rounds.
We never put the the spark plugs in until just before we're ready to start it, Densham put the head gasket in his leg at Brainerd one year because they had the car ready to start when they loaded the car at night. The nozzles drained down in the trailer , then the instant they touched the starter it blew-up.
We always turn the motor backwards when adjusting the clutch after warming it up.

In the cast iron block days, I saw one that had the front corner blowed out when they turned the motor clockwise to change the magneto timing after they had put the plugs in, and I think the nozzles drained down while they waited to see if the weather would change.
Gene Snow had a bad one with his A/FD in the pits some years ago,and I believe he holds the "on the track" record for shooting a complete head with the top half of the block still bolted on, over the wing at Gainesville around 1990. He was experimenting with a Scott fuel pump that he had hopped up ,and was using large nozzles. That was with points magnetos.
Herbert's big one at Pomona was believed to be a magneto cross fire, they were testing a new type electronic version. I believe the boxes sometimes backfire blowers today.

Thanks Jerry, I figured someone like you who's been around this sport since the 60's you've probably seen it all! I was at Pomona when Herbert's Motor BOOMED and I distinctly remember hearing his motor sounding like it was Missing something fierce once he High-sided it! Everyone's mentioned the A/Fuel cars with the High static Compression, I think if any of those cars Boom in the Staging lanes like Weis or Anderson's did and NHRA will come down on them in some way.

 

[Nitrohaulic]

Thanks Jerry, I figured someone like you who's been around this sport since the 60's you've probably seen it all! I was at Pomona when Herbert's Motor BOOMED and I distinctly remember hearing his motor sounding like it was Missing something fierce once he High-sided it! Everyone's mentioned the A/Fuel cars with the High static Compression, I think if any of those cars Boom in the Staging lanes like Weis or Anderson's did and NHRA will come down on them in some way.

For those cars, the term engine bag could someday be as common as blower bag is for others. First time it kills instead of wounds?

 

[Too many to list here]

I've seen a few up close,1st one was in Leicester,NY.Clayton Harris tuning John Mitchells car-(Richard Langson was driving?).They went to light it on the starting line ,it blew up big time took out tow vehicle windows,took out the top rail of the dragster,cylinder head ,block etc, had to helicopter a crew guy out.

We blew one up in Memphis.We were paired up with Whit in qualifying ,had a mad thrash to get to the line,and ........BOOM!!All I remember is the click of the starter,and winding up on the ground.It wadded up a .080 head gasket like it was paper,launched a head stud through the valve cover,bent some rods,jacked the head,singed a leg or two,etc etc.
The "Pucker Factor" was way high each time we started it after that,and that car had more crew guys backing it down than you can imagine!!!We even toyed with the idea of REALLY LONG mag wires for the guy who pulled them!!!

Have seen hot clutch parts ignite oil pan fumes while servicing the car,puke tanks explode etc etc

 

[Toejam]

My First experience with a Motor letting go was at Sonoma '96 when Gary Densham had a Boomer in the Pits! Gary used to warm up his car in shorts of all things. A Piece of Metal cut his calf I think...

 

[maddawg]

CRS has set in, not sure if it was 69 or 70... wanna say snow... could have been goldstein, nope it was snow, front two holes on one side... was like a hand grenade going off... and cast iron bits everywhere, including embedded in the asphalt...

d'kid

It was Snow for sure.. OCIR, pretty sure it was 1970.. Still had head bolts.. Nitro had gotten into a lower bolt hole [Iron Block]. Installing the cylinder head bolts with an Impact wrench and BOOM... Mangled his leg pretty bad.. They took him to the hospital.. I was there, close by... It was VERY UGLY..
Savage