What's new
By:
Filters

WTF? C'mon REF! OPEN YOUR FRIGGEN EYES! (1 Viewer)

B

BaldyLochs

Nitro Member
I don't like to get on here & bash NHRA. But I was mortified when I saw Ronnie Capps leaking fuel on startup in round 2....and our wonderfully competent safety crew either A) sees them tie a rag around the fitting and chooses to ignore it; or B) they never saw what happened - meaning they're not paying attention up there. Even more maddening is that AFTER the run, Ed McCullough stated, "It was leaking fuel when it left the starting line".
I think Capps CLEARLY got away with one there. WOW. I am shocked that this happened at THIS RACE much less.

Let me clarify - I'm not upset at the Brut team. And I'm not being a sore loser for Scott Kalitta....... I'm UPSET with NHRA for letting this kind of stuff slip by.... and from the other side of thier mouth they're trying to control the points, the teams, the money....... BULL CRAP.
Terrible job, NHRA !!!!!!!
 
Karma paying back the Brut guys for the phantom leak at Reading last year? :)
 
Yes, infact I have! (and still do). There's been a heck of alot worse things happen for sure. Again, please hear me out... I don't care about Scott or Ron with this.... I was just trying to prove a point about NHRA's "Supreme Imperial Control-All Domain".... at thier showcase event. Why was he not shut off?? Because NHRA didn't do thier job - that's why. But you better dam well not own 5 cars, or have 13 people on the starting line with you when you run... and we're going to take points away from you next year, too.
BUT CONGRATS TO THE BRUT TEAM ON GETTING THE POINTS LEAD!

Uggggh sorry guys;- I'm just venting. See how I get when Team Kalitta has an off-weekend???
Heck, be glad you're not my family tonight LOL
 
Dude, get ahold of yourself.... Its drag racing, tie a glove around it, no fuel hittin the ground, let's race....
 
I agree, good thing they found it, and had quick enough reactions to find a quick fix. It's happened before, it will happen again. The fuel was not leaking on the ground, or it was a small enough amount it didn't matter.
 
I'm crew chief on a nostalgia funny car ( I know, not quit the level of the nationals) and we ahve been having a problem keeping the front wheels on the ground. To help we have been filling the fuel tank for the weight, and usually after doing our dry hops ( yep we do them) some fuel will come out the vent and the starting line crew will normally smell the fluid and realize it's nitro and will evaporate and off we go, we have never been shut off on the line.
 
I have to admit I pull for the Brut team and the fact remains it worked out OK. If Ron had gone 10', hit the fuel with one tire and turned hard into the wall......or worse, into Scott's lane.........................
 
It didn't look like it was that bad... I'm sure Ace wouldn't send Ron down the track if he thought it was going to be a big problem. I didn't think it was a big deal & heck, I was rooting against Ron.:D Sorry dude, it's a points thing you know?:)
 
Ron ran the car straight through and didn't oil down the track or anything. Chris, do you remember Scott K's first top fuel win in 93 at Topeka, he had a fuel leak after the burnout. The starting line crew was mopping up after him and he then went out and ran 308. It was no big deal, actually when I saw the title of this thread I thought it was about whether or not Head crossed the centerline.
 
That's why I asked if you had ever raced. Sometimes I have trouble telling the fans from the people who actually have experience with this stuff here on the Mater.

It was not a problem. Ace knew it wasn't, NHRA people knew it wasn't, so they had a race.

If Ace thoughty he was going to set the car on fire or get the tires wet, he would have shut Ron off.

Jay
 
It was clearly not leaking enough to shut him off. The glove just provided a little insurance that the leak would not cause any problems.
 
LOL; hell I've had a gas leak on my Holley dual feed line before in my street Mustang to where is was pooling up on the low points on the manifold & the manifold was WET.... and at the same time I also had spark arcing at the distributor from a crappy set of braided stainless plug wires!!! Why that thing didn't ignite on several occaisions is a mystery to this day.
Sorry if I got a little mouthy here.... Eddie the Ace knows me, and he knows I love him!
On to Pennsylvania we go !!!!!!!!!
 
I just assumed that the "Safety" people didn't see it.
They shut the body really quick.

Alls well that ends well but he prolly should have been shut off.:confused:
 
I thought it was great. Ed had that look in his eyes like..."#&ck it. Were going to kick his a$$, anyway."

Relax. You had to be around when guys like Ace, Snake, etc used to race before all the TV cameras were all over the place. TV has given you some insight into what really goes on. Sit back and enjoy.

The first race Larry Miner drove for me with TORCO sponsorship we qualified number one, went through eliminations and were in the semi's. In that round Larry was pointing at the oil pressure guage after he backed up from the burn out. It said 40 pounds instead of 140 pounds. I pointed to Larry through the windshield and then pointed to the finish line. "GO!" I said. 40 pounds is more than zero, and I wanted this one for Evan Knoll.

It went kaboom at 1,299 feet and we still won it on a holeshot over Doug Gordon. The damage was so bad we couldn't get it fixed in time for the final.

I knew the risk, and Larry was in control in the car. My gesture told him "I'm good if you are." He made the decision and staged the car and won the round anyway. We were there to win, not shut it off and push it back to the pits.

In hindsight I would say it was pretty stupid, but the emotions are high on the starting line and sometimes wisdom loses. But thankfully we didn't.

RG
 
I think it was Ace in the post race interview who said he put the glove in there, they did the burnout, raised the body and saw the glove in place, and lowered the body quickly and staged "before they changed their mind and shut us down."

I played it back in slo-mo on my DVD and I didn't see a real gusher or anything. I doubt Ace would risk Ron's safety if it were truly dangerous.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Ways To Support Nitromater

Similar threads

Deby
  • Article
Q&a Session With Dsr Funny Car Driver Ron Capps
Replies
0
Views
1K
Deby
Deby
Deby
  • Article
Scelzi Sings In Memphis, Wins His Third Of The Year
Replies
0
Views
2K
Deby
Deby
Deby
  • Article
NHRA Teleconference Transcript: John Force Racing, April 10, 2007
Replies
0
Views
3K
Deby
Deby

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)

Back
Top