When Nitro attacks???? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Toejam
- Start date
Patrick, It wasn't Richard Langson he was driving his own car there ( Swamp Rat 34 ) I was helping him out that weekend in 1995. He was racing out of his own pocket. Used up the crank on every pass and had to keep swapping shortblocks that weekend. That was just about the end of his TF racing. The car went back to Big after that. I wasn't in the lanes when the other car popped, I was back working on shortblocks in the pit.
Rick
Rick
Nitrohelper
Nitro Member
OK one more old guy story;
My closest personal "Nitro attack" was in '90 or '91,maybe 92 (too many fumes) at Darlington. A former Nitro crew chief from the '70s had put together a T/F car for a comp car owner. The owner asked a T/F owner/driver , the guy I was tuning for at the time, to help him "shakedown" the car. I went along as a consultant.
The old chief was a mess! Among many things he had problems with, one was starting the car. He would try to restart it after it died by just adding more gas and spinning it again without backing it down.
When I told him to back it down ,he says "it's only gasoline", (fuel shut-off partly open) on the third try he forgets to put the ground wires back on, more gas and tells the crew guy to spin it over. (I'm stepping back). When he hits the starter it "kinda" bangs, but starts & idles ! !
The former chief is now happy as he turns around to set down the gas bottle, except he doesn't see that the head at # 2 cylinder is about a quarter inch off the block. Every time it fires #2, a small fireball is blowing pass the drivers helmet. I wave to the driver to shut it off.
The old chief looks at me ,and says "what's wrong"? The driver gets out , looks at the head, and then the car owner ,and says "we're done with this deal", and walks away.
I was ready to kill then, but I sure wish I had a video now.
My closest personal "Nitro attack" was in '90 or '91,maybe 92 (too many fumes) at Darlington. A former Nitro crew chief from the '70s had put together a T/F car for a comp car owner. The owner asked a T/F owner/driver , the guy I was tuning for at the time, to help him "shakedown" the car. I went along as a consultant.
The old chief was a mess! Among many things he had problems with, one was starting the car. He would try to restart it after it died by just adding more gas and spinning it again without backing it down.
When I told him to back it down ,he says "it's only gasoline", (fuel shut-off partly open) on the third try he forgets to put the ground wires back on, more gas and tells the crew guy to spin it over. (I'm stepping back). When he hits the starter it "kinda" bangs, but starts & idles ! !
The former chief is now happy as he turns around to set down the gas bottle, except he doesn't see that the head at # 2 cylinder is about a quarter inch off the block. Every time it fires #2, a small fireball is blowing pass the drivers helmet. I wave to the driver to shut it off.
The old chief looks at me ,and says "what's wrong"? The driver gets out , looks at the head, and then the car owner ,and says "we're done with this deal", and walks away.
I was ready to kill then, but I sure wish I had a video now.
What I still don't get is Randy Anderson's Boomer at Indy when Jim Dunn was tuning the car what 98-99? The Car Backfired through the Injector scoop, and it was loud and strong enough that it knocked the squirt bottle out of Jim Dunns hand! What could cause it to backfire through the Blower like that?
Nitrohelper
Nitro Member
Mag timing , retarded by setting it on the wrong side of the lobe, or crossed spark plug wires. The long ones (5-7&6-8), are easy to do if you don't make them the exact length.(we do)
A rare one is placing wires in the wrong firing order in the cap.
onfire
Nitro Member
Indy '67 was dubbed "Year of the Blower" for that reason. There were a ton of blower explosions in qualifying and in elim. One that was rather spectacular...Tommy Ivo in the "giraffe" car. Big boomer.
Late...........Mitch
d'kid
Nitro Member
well, i 'heard' at the 69 PDA meet at the county, there was a small 'bang' in the gravel past the hot car pits not long after a aa/fd driver from the great lakes area made a pass that was 2/10's quicker than any other pass he made that weekend... guess the fleet was in for at least one run....
what green flames
d'kid
what green flames
d'kid
Too many to list here
Nitro Member
Damn,for some reason I thought it was Langson driving.I remember the driver getting out, looking back ,taking off his helmet....................and thats where my brain cramp kicks in.
I was in the staging area when wise had his dreal in indy. We were doing our last min check of the car to make sure everythig was good to go for the run then we heard the boom. there was not a team in the staging area were the stater didnt come off and the motor wernt backed down again.
Nitrohelper
Nitro Member
Hydrazine ? ? ?
We know nothing, ,nothing I tell you,,,nothing,,,we see nothing ,,,Midwest guys are naive about that illegal stuff, talk to the Californians
Don Maynard, oh yah ,well maybe I did hear that name once or twice ,, but I know nothing!
The Counterfeiter
Nitro Member
Hydrazine ? ? ?
We know nothing, ,nothing I tell you,,,nothing,,,we see nothing ,,,Midwest guys are naive about that illegal stuff, talk to the Californians
Don Maynard, oh yah ,well maybe I did hear that name once or twice ,, but I know nothing!
Hydrazine was illegal? - who knew! Saw a few "minor" problems at Lakeland, but when it worked it was spectacular. Huge white flames (don't remember green) and I always thought it smelled like a Gin & Tonic. My favorite fuel additve -
headporter
Nitro Member
About 17-18 year ago. I was at NY international dragway outside Rochester NY. IHRA race. I don't recall who it was. We were in back of Scotty Killer red trailer right where they fired the TF cars on the line. They tried to start the Engine it didn't fire. they tried again and POW BANG BOOM..
The whole left side of the Engine exploded. The block turned to powder. 3 crew guy were full of shrapnel 2 got broken ear drums and the Head came off the engine in like 4 pieces. The valve cover and valve train ended up raining down about 100 feet in back of the car, all over the pits. We were lucky it was not on our side of the car.. All in all I think 5 people were hurt.
Nitro = Fireworks when handled wrong.. But it sure makes for fun stuff in RC trucks.
The whole left side of the Engine exploded. The block turned to powder. 3 crew guy were full of shrapnel 2 got broken ear drums and the Head came off the engine in like 4 pieces. The valve cover and valve train ended up raining down about 100 feet in back of the car, all over the pits. We were lucky it was not on our side of the car.. All in all I think 5 people were hurt.
Nitro = Fireworks when handled wrong.. But it sure makes for fun stuff in RC trucks.
Hydrazine ? ? ?
We know nothing, ,nothing I tell you,,,nothing,,,we see nothing ,,,Midwest guys are naive about that illegal stuff, talk to the Californians
Don Maynard, oh yah ,well maybe I did hear that name once or twice ,, but I know nothing!
Jerry, at Pomona this year I ran into Amos Satterlie, some how hydrazine popped in my head and I asked him about it! He said a number of racers were able to run it, but even if it didn't blow up it murdered Parts!
funnycarguy
Nitro Member
I sometimes feel some of the NFC crowd take blowing the port nozzles down lightly. Just from watching folks. I worked on an A-fuel car for a season. The nozzle rail hoses were removed at the top end and the rails were blown down asap. The main fuel line was removed until it was ready to start. Im always concerned when tightening head studs even by hand.
Makes you wonder how many dents in trailers came from Stuff like this?
cephus
Nitro Member
