Worst oildown you've ever seen?
- Thread starter Mike
- Start date
none
Nitro Member
Randy Parks Indy early 90's, his TAD dumped the rear end and the engine freewheeled. Blew up EVERYTHING. And covered both lanes.
He was running just before a (rare for the time) live TV window and for two hours they did a live show without one single car going down the track.
Alan
He was running just before a (rare for the time) live TV window and for two hours they did a live show without one single car going down the track.
Alan
65 Goatboy
Nitro Member
2023 WWT St. Louis final eliminations. Two pro mods came together just past the starting line. LOTS of gear lube, took at least 1 1/2 hours maybe a little longer. It was very hot and we hid under the bleachers for a while!
- Thread starter
- #5
As a variation, what is the whackiest reason for a delay, even a short one? For example, a rabbit runs across the track and gets diced into 1,000 pieces or someone on the starting line pukes from inhaling nitro fumes.
There have never been any drunk drag race streakers like they had at the Super Bowl, correct?
There have never been any drunk drag race streakers like they had at the Super Bowl, correct?
MM
Nitro Member
Some that come to mind is last year or the year before at a bracket race there was a drunk driver that came driving up the track from the shutdown area in their passenger vehicle, but I don't remember the track.
One year at Muncie we got delayed in the water box because there was a heard of deer in the shutdown area. They weren't on the track, but the shutdown area had no guardrails so they were worried about them wondering onto the track. Had to wait 10-15 minutes for the safety crew to shoo them back into the woods.
A few years back at Charlotte I think, one of the track scrubbers had a hydraulic line come off and cause a delay.
Just Paul
Nitro Member
Antron Brown leveled one at the fall Vegas race in the late 2000’s. I remember it being abnormally long. Now that I think about it, he might have blown up twice that weekend, Q2 and Q4.
Luigi nuked one first round in Brainerd in the late 90’s/ early 2000’s. Ruined the right lane for the rest of the day. People still talk about that one.
Last year we had a bracket bike at my local track come through the lights with one less rod in it than it left the starting line with. I swear it must of had 15 quarts of oil in it for as long as it took to clean up.
I’ll try to think of more.
Luigi nuked one first round in Brainerd in the late 90’s/ early 2000’s. Ruined the right lane for the rest of the day. People still talk about that one.
Last year we had a bracket bike at my local track come through the lights with one less rod in it than it left the starting line with. I swear it must of had 15 quarts of oil in it for as long as it took to clean up.
I’ll try to think of more.
sfw1960
Nitro Member
Way back, I had a UDRA Altered puke a crank on the ground coming out of the waterbox and don't really recall if I got it on video, I used to work the starting line & my wife would typically record down track -660' or even past the traps, but I've NEVER seen anything like AR described, but sounds so brutal.
Saw 2 streakers back at the old Irwindale in early 70's. One just ran down the track for a bit & got into a van. (What if the guys in the van kept the door closed?? heh heh) Other one was a nekkid guy on a drag bike. I kid you not. Announcer was going nuts. As far as bad oil downs, pick one from the 1960's - 70's. There were 2 guys in the bed of a pick up. They would each have 50 lb bags of oil dry powder. Pour it on the track to cover the oil down. Then come back down the track, each man with a push broom. Repeat until the oil was (mostly) cleaned up. Whoever got that lane was screwed. Oh, and you had plenty of time to go to concession stand, the restroom, take a nap, etc. Been thru my share of those.
War story. Once at the old Irwindale, Larry Sutton was the starter. Just before the T/F final, oil down just off the starting line in right lane. Got it cleaned up. Leland Kolb was in the bad lane, James Warren in the left. Larry told Leland to make another burn out thru the grease sweep. Worked, cuz the final was a great race. Warren won with a 5.99 and Leland ran 6.12, but it was side by side. I heard Warren in the winers circle, said that he saw Leland "all the way down". I remember Leland was really on his game that day, put a hole shot on everyone. That was an old WCS race, Div 7, back when the Pro cars ran with the sportsmen. Was like a mini nat'l event.
War story. Once at the old Irwindale, Larry Sutton was the starter. Just before the T/F final, oil down just off the starting line in right lane. Got it cleaned up. Leland Kolb was in the bad lane, James Warren in the left. Larry told Leland to make another burn out thru the grease sweep. Worked, cuz the final was a great race. Warren won with a 5.99 and Leland ran 6.12, but it was side by side. I heard Warren in the winers circle, said that he saw Leland "all the way down". I remember Leland was really on his game that day, put a hole shot on everyone. That was an old WCS race, Div 7, back when the Pro cars ran with the sportsmen. Was like a mini nat'l event.
Who can forget the plane crash at Pomona 2 2024? Right in the middle of TF round 1. Quite a delay.
PiPPi
Nitro Member
Over here in Sweden, we have big and small tracks. I remember calling a local 1/8 mile race on an airstrip that took a while to get up to par in the morning - Cows from the next door farm had breached security during the night. They were on the track and did what cows do which made for the most unusual drag strip clean up I've ever witnessed.
In the streaking era, one of the Yuill's crew would streak the track on a minibike. A short, large fellow indeed. He would get bookings. one time (at least) they would turn the gas tap off on the starting line. At half-track the engine would quit, leaving Lightlunch frantically pulling on thestarting cord to attempt to resume his "pass".
Randy
Nitro Member
One night at Orange County International Raceway at what I think was the Fox Hunt, someone drove an El Camino through the staging lanes and parked in front of the tower opposite the starting line. Out jumps this skinny guy stark naked. He jumps the guardrail and starts running down the track. The El Camino is pacing him along the return road, leading us to believe the streaker would be able to jump back in it towards the finish line. About two hundred feet down track, the driver of the El Camino just takes off and leaves him stranded. Maybe Larry Sutton remembers whatever happened to the guy. All I heard was that he was seen running through the pits later, naked, looking for the guy in the El Camino. There was a picture of the streaker in the Drag Scoop magazine a few weeks later, but they never told the whole story. I'm thinking it was a Rick Shute photo.
You!
Nitro Member
Super Bowl of Drag Racing event (Division 7 race) at Firebird, probably 1988-'89. Charlie booked in jet cars and Super Comp, maybe other cases too, were in the lanes for our last TT. Jet car in the right lane literally blows up just feet from the starting line, all the kerosene pours out and catches the pad on fire. Burned for a LONG time and burned off all the rubber for about 100' or so.
Most of us racers hated running after these cars anyway as the track was a skating rink but this time, they actually killed the track for the rest of the night. Reinhart, you were probably in the tower...
Most of us racers hated running after these cars anyway as the track was a skating rink but this time, they actually killed the track for the rest of the night. Reinhart, you were probably in the tower...
ZWeinstein
Nitro Member
The worst oildown I've personally sat through was Terry Haddock in his Funny Car back when he was blowing up on a regular occasion. It was that disastrous 2010 Phoenix race and they had a tight window in between rain showers on Saturday and he was the first nitro car I believe and he fireballed it at 200' or so and oiled from 100' through the shutdown. Took an hour to clean up and they even had to put down gold dust for most of the track. Add in Vinnie Deceglie's crash and they barely got the session in before it dumped. I have a cool photo from Haddock's fireball it but cant find it right now.
Other interesting delays Ive seen was during preseason testing a few years ago Chris McGaha hit a pigeon about half track and sent feathers everywhere. The body ended up out of the groove but the lane was covered in feathers. It was late in the day and they decided to run the last few cars in the other lane. I cant imagine its easy or quick to peel hundreds of feathers out of the glue.
Also an interesting one was a few years ago they ran a divisional in mid September and Im pretty sure it was 110+ the entire weekend. In fact during one of the Comp rounds Joe Mozeris told me his crew guy recorded a track temp of 163! They ended up scheduling a four hour break each day and while I was in the tower cooling off they took a water truck and sprayed the track several times and then re-prepped for the night half of the race.
Other interesting delays Ive seen was during preseason testing a few years ago Chris McGaha hit a pigeon about half track and sent feathers everywhere. The body ended up out of the groove but the lane was covered in feathers. It was late in the day and they decided to run the last few cars in the other lane. I cant imagine its easy or quick to peel hundreds of feathers out of the glue.
Also an interesting one was a few years ago they ran a divisional in mid September and Im pretty sure it was 110+ the entire weekend. In fact during one of the Comp rounds Joe Mozeris told me his crew guy recorded a track temp of 163! They ended up scheduling a four hour break each day and while I was in the tower cooling off they took a water truck and sprayed the track several times and then re-prepped for the night half of the race.
