100 replies to this topic

[Franklin Ratliff]

Jocko streamliner (1958)

http://www.nitrogeez...re Photos 5.htm

Woody Gilmore half monocoque half spaceframe streamliner (1974)

http://www.draglist......Don Ewald.jpg

John Buttera monocoque dragster (1972)

http://www.northernt...redragster.html

[Bob Riebe]

It is too bad that the AA/F dragsters, while interesting due to very short times and high speeds, have lost the era of "new" radical ideas being tried.

Big Daddy was the last of the boys who did things differently, but (I think) all the old school drivers have retired.(Unless the Greek still runs.)
Bob

[Franklin Ratliff]

Originally posted by Bob Riebe
It is too bad that the AA/F dragsters, while interesting due to very short times and high speeds, have lost the era of "new" radical ideas being tried.

Big Daddy was the last of the boys who did things differently, but (I think) all the old school drivers have retired.(Unless the Greek still runs.)
Bob

In today's highly restrictive rules environment, it would be very difficult or impossible to get any of those cars on the track. NHRA doesn't want to confuse people with anything that doesn't look like their standard "product."

[m9a3r5i7o2n]

I remember Jocko's car, a real beauty he should have been building road race cars.


http://www.nitrogeez.../Jocko_copy.jpg

M. L. Anderson

[Franklin Ratliff]

Originally posted by m9a3r5i7o2n
I remember Jocko's car, a real beauty he should have been building road race cars.


http://www.nitrogeez.../Jocko_copy.jpg

M. L. Anderson

Can you imagine what a sensation a car like the Jocko liner would've been at Le Mans in the late fifties?

[Tom Thomas]

Remember Tommy Ivo's 4 Buick dragster or Lefty Mudersbach twin Chevy in the 60's?

[Franklin Ratliff]

Originally posted by Tom Thomas
Remember Tommy Ivo's 4 Buick dragster or Lefty Mudersbach twin Chevy in the 60's?

There's also a neat twin driven by Ivo on display at the Garlits museum.

[HistoricMustang]

From the AIRPS collection.

Four engine Ivo, the jet Monster and Big Daddy.

Feel free to copy!

Henry

[CJE]

This is quite possibly the best eBay ad ever. If you have any interest in drag racing, this auction for a $5 vintage decal goes above and beyond the call of duty!!

http://cgi.ebay.com/...017908451QQrdZ1

[Twin Window]

Originally posted by CJE

This is quite possibly the best eBay ad ever. If you have any interest in drag racing, this auction for a $5 vintage decal goes above and beyond the call of duty!!

And some - I've seen entire websites with less content than that!

Later on I'll post some pics I found the other day which I took at Santa Pod in 1974 - my only ever visit to a drag meet.

[Twin Window]

Here are the pics I mentioned earlier, from Santa Pod in August 1974. They were taken on a Kodak 'Instamatic' so please forgive the poor quality!

I know next-to-nothing about the cars except that it's Clive Skilton in the Castrol-sponsored rail, the Stingray doing the wheelie was a demo car (with a perspex floor to allow the driver to see where he was going!), and I seem to remember that the Hillman Avenger (Plymouth Cricket in the US) funny car was driven by Dennis Priddle. The top pic is of 'Houndog 8' driven by Owen Hayward.































It must have been a 'day-nighter'...!

[HistoricMustang]

Big Daddy himself in rural Georgia.

Tower in background can be found at the local police training ground today.

[Andrew Kitson]

Originally posted by Twin Window
Here are the pics I mentioned earlier, from Santa Pod in August 1974.

Twinny thanks very much. I was there too, I certainly went to most of the drag meetings from '71-'76.
The black Ford Pop of Al O'Connor in your picture ( Al's Gasser) is still raced by Al today!
I still visit the Pod a couple of times each year.

You must go again! It is absolutely astonishing the way performance and the spectacle has improved since the 70s. The top fuel dragsters have something like 8000bhp (each!) now. They are doing 100mph from the standing start in 0.8sec, 0-60mph in 0.45! Makes these Ferrari's and so on tested on 'top gear' and F1 acceleration look futile. At the eighth mile mark at half track they hit 250mph on a good run, that is about 2,5 secs. Twin fuel pumps deliver the nitro methane at 56 gallons per mile!

It is common now for top fuelers to cross the line in under 5 seconds and at around 300mph. Quickest I have witnessed is 317mph at Santa Pod. To an outsider it is difficult to explain the appeal, however drag racing, especially the top nitro classes create tension unlike any other form of motorsport, when two of these monsters are staged on the start line. The noise is incredible, infact two top fuellers register 2.3 on the richter scale when they launch from the green, huge flames from the headers, nitro fumes filling the air. It takes more BHP just to drive the supercharger than in a modern F1 engine. Each cylinder produces 1000bhp!

The ground shakes, the car alarms go off in the car park and if you are watching from the far end by the finish it is difficult to focus on them when they pass as your eyeballs vibrate! There are many different classes too, from street cars to 1000bhp drag bikes and jet cars.

For once the Goodwood Revival does not clash with the Santa Pod European Finals this year (Sept 8-9-10). However keep an eye on the weather, nothing happens if there is the slightest drop of rain.
They have jet driers and can clean up pretty quickly but try and pick a completely dry day.

Some more nostalgia drag racing pics on this site:
http://www.ukdrn.co.uk

Top European dragster site, dates etc:
http://www.eurodragster.com

[Frank S]

What I could extract from Bill Bean's severely underexposed
slides made at Paradise Valley, near National City, California,
in the mid-1950s.

This was home track for the famous/notorious "Bean Bandits"
drag racing team.

[Cirrus]

I still visit the Pod a couple of times each year.

Sounds like a suitable subject for a painting to me.......

I have only experienced Drag Racing in the seventies (at Blackbushe), but a trip to Santa Pod for the finals sounds quite appealing.

My favourite car from those days was a Mini Van with the inspired name "Earschplittenloudenboomer"

[Andrew Kitson]

There was another Mini Van in the 70s with a 3.8 Jag installed called 'Stripteaser'.

Another favouite now is a Chevy V8 powered Vauxhall Firenza called 'Grounds for Divorce'!
Then there is Drag 'n' Fly, A chevy Ford Anglia 'Alco-Pop' and 'Only Fuel & Horses'.

John Spuffard who drives a 7000bhp nitro funny car at the Pod is affectionately known as 'Spuff the magic drag man'. A very friendly bunch are the drag racing folk. Always have time to chat and talk about their cars or bikes and happy to answer any questions.

[CJE]

Wow! Great photos guys. Thanks.

BTW, the guy with the ebay ad has a nice website here:

http://www.standard1320.com/

[jpt]

Looks like Tee-Rat in one of those pics.
Talking of fuel altereds, there is a rumour that they are coming back to the FOS next year and this time the fabled Winged Express is amongst them.

Talking of car names, again a minivan from the seventies, 'To tun car men' (sp ?)

[Twin Window]

Originally posted by jpt

'To tun car men' (sp ?)

Was it 'Two ton car man'?

[jpt]

Ha, we were both wrong !!

It is about 2/3 down the page

http://www.theaccele..._altereds3.html

I can recommend the extremely wonderful accelerationarchive.co.uk site for some excellent photos (and storylines).

[Andrew Kitson]

A few pics I took from the 2004 FIA 'Main Event' to show little has changed at the Pod, except the performance and the much louder noise from the nitro cars!

In this first one taken from the spectator bank, a dragster launches and the starting light 'Christmas tree' can be seen. This is not a 'top fueller' but a dragster from the lower classes. The starting line is roughly where the back wheels are, by the time the top fuellers reach the 60ft mark (by the reflector in the middle of the track on the far right) they are doing 100mph!


1000bhp drag bikes. 6 second runs, over 200mph.



The jet car, not used for racing only for demos at every meeting. Recorded at 336mph across the line in 2005!


A top fuel nitro funny car team warm the 7000bhp engine in the paddock. Each engine is stripped after every run, usually around 2.5 hours between runs. The gas masks are necessary! Note how the blower is strapped down. If not and it 'went', it would end up in the grandstand.


The fastest pickup truck in the world, 'Fast Freddie' from Sweden. 6.3secs, 220mph.


The Formula One of dragsters, a top fueller ready to launch. The challenge is to put the estimated 8000bhp through those slicks onto the road. One of the biggest problems is tyre shake forcing the driver to back off. This close I had ear plugs in and ear protectors on top, it still hurt!


The wild and the wacky, always great diversity at the Pod!

[Twin Window]

Originally posted by Andrew Kitson

My impression from the one event I attended was that the racing was almost incidental - it's the sheer noise and spectacle that hits you. I remember trying to explain to my mates the experience of watching the fuellers leave the line... it's almost impossible. The nearest I got was to compare it to watching a powerful catapult; there isn't any acceleration as such - when the lights go on they're going fast instantly!

Interesting pics, Andrew, and also to learn about having to strap the blowers down... Brother will be interested to hear about the rebuilds.

The bikes are mental aren't they - they were mad enough thirty years ago!

I think I'm going to have to pay the Pod another visit.

[ian senior]

Wow. It's another world, isn't it? And one that looks well worth exploring. Shame about the Pukka Pies adverts, though.

For some rason, I'm particularly taken with the Triumph Herald, which appears to be displaying typical Herald swing-axle characteristics.

[Andrew Kitson]

Each lane is sponsored, there is also a big 'Pukka Pies' sign at the finish line. The lane nearest the spectator bank is sponsored by 'Boost' chocolate I think (?). The two big FIA meetings at the Pod, the Main event in May and Euro Finals in September have crowds of 20,000 each day. These are the ones to go to. Great to take kids to as they get in for free, but make sure they have ear plugs! (which are sold at the venue). Downside is lots of funfair rides and shops to enable them to bug you for pocket money!

[Andrew Kitson]

Another thing that has changed since the 70s: Some of the performance increase is down to track preperation. You will see that the road looks wet in some pictures. It is not, the strip is sprayed with a sort of low tack glue to help give those slicks better traction, hence the sheen.

European records for elapsed time (ET) and terminal speeds at the 1/4 mile finish line shown here:
http://www.eurodrags...ests/chrono.htm

[HistoricMustang]

Chrysler, Chevy and Ford "factory" teams from the States in the '60's.

Henry

[john aston]

Nothing in motorsport comes close for sheer violent,visceral drama than two top fuellers bellowing down the strip.Don't care who wins, just want THAT noise , the colour, the sheer bloody drama.The people are very friendly, and much more diverse than the crowd at a typical race meeting.From trailer trash through chavs to nice people like us to toffs we all love it.

Even the names, the iconography is special- Moroso,Yenko, Edelbrock, Mopar, Hemi etc

There is also a sense of humour,of showmanship utterly lacking in mainstream motorsport.

If you have never seen this stuff- do so.

And...I've just talked myself into going to the September meeting.

PS Run Wot Yer Brung -or RWYB - is the cheapest form of the sport in which to participate.I blush to admit that my last outing saw my Caterham Seven annihilated by a bloody Honda Civic.But he was running nitro .

[Andrew Kitson]

Good for you John, will be there myself!
Re: Nitro in the Civic, a lot of the 'street' cars run with nitrous oxide, or also known as 'throttle in a bottle'!
More info on the September meet at www.santapod.com

[bpratt]

Here's a page of UK drag racing from the 1960s and 70s.
http://giswww1.bcit...._drag_bikes.htm

[GeorgeTheCar]

John

The Civic was using nitrous not nitro

Nitro is Nitromethane and is just short of an explosive.

Nitro is know as fuel and is used by the AA/FD and Funny Cars to make 1000 HP per litre or cylinder, take your pick.

Nitrous Oxide is fun but Nitro is crazy!!!!

[CJE]

Here in the States, many of us growing up as kids in the 60s and 70s got hooked on cars due to drag racing, then later discovered sports car racing. We lived about 10 miles from a drag strip. On a clear Saturday night, you could clearly hear the Top Fuelers and Funny Cars roaring down the track. Scroll down to the bottom of the follwing page and see the ruins that are left today:

http://www.waterwint...?id=1337&type=6

My 1st sports car race was equally as eye-opening as those who first witness a nitro top fueler. It was a CanAm race at Road America and as I walked over the bridge crossing the track, 2 of the cars flew underneath at 175MPH +, then seemingly without lifting went around the corner like some sort of slotcars on steroids!! It was absolutely incredible to me. I was hooked.

[GT Reproductions]

I'm glad to see the interest in the Nostalgia Drag Racing. We have built our business around these cars from the Glory Days www.activepowerinc.com

[Joe Nix]

Outstanding history of drag racing, mostly west coast US, 'We Did it for Love'


http://www.wediditfo...temap-free.html

I went all through this site before membership was required for some of it. It brought a lot of memories into sharper focus since I lived in Southern California 60's-80's and knew many associated with drag racing, not all of it on the track, either. You might say it 'was all around us'. My sons and I visited the Orange County International Raceway and the renowed Pomona drags.

[canon1753]

I've been to a couple of NHRA national events, several years back. It was an experience. You feel the Nitro cars even more than you hear them. The racers are extremely approachable. The pits are open to everyone and it is a feast for the eyes and ears seeing and hearing all of the various sportsman racers. There still is a sense of "run what you brung" even at the national events because they let sportsman racers race between the rounds of the pro classes. (kind of like having kart races between F1 practice sessions). It is always a lot of fun...

[GT Reproductions]

That's what I'm talkin about. The Willys Home Run in Buffallo New York was a huge success. Thanks to all who made it possible.


American Gasser by:
www.activepowerinc.com

www.gassermadness.com

[ralt12]

I was recently sent this in the mail--though I can't verify the accuracy of the statements, they don't seem totally out of bounds:

A lesson in acceleration
------------------------------------
First, some useful info:


* One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower
than the first 4 rows of cars at the Daytona 500.


* Under full throttle, a Top Fuel dragster engine consumes 1½ gallons of
nitromethane per second; a fully loaded 747 consumes jet fuel at the same
rate with 25% less energy being produced.


* A stock Dodge 426 Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to drive the
dragster's supercharger.


* With 3000 CFM of air being rammed in by the supercharger on overdrive, the
fuel mixture is compressed into a near-solid form before ignition. Cylinders
run on the verge of hydraulic lock at full throttle.


* At the stoichiometric 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture for nitromethane the flame
front temperature measures 7050 degrees F.


* Nitromethane burns yellow. The spectacular white flame seen above the
stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, dissociated from atmospheric water
vapor by the searing exhaust gases.


* Dual magnetos supply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is the output of an
arc welder in each cylinder.


* Spark plug electrodes are totally consumed during a pass. After 1/2 way,
the engine is dieseling from compression plus the glow of exhaust valves at
1400 degrees F. The engine can only be shut down by cutting the fuel flow.


* If spark momentarily fails early in the run, unburned nitro builds up in
the affected cylinders and then explodes with sufficient force to blow
cylinder heads off the block in pieces or split the block in half.


* In order to exceed 300 mph in 4.5 seconds dragsters must accelerate at an
average of over 4G's. In order to reach 200 mph well before half-track, the
launch acceleration approaches 8G's.


* Dragsters reach over 300 miles per hour before you have completed reading
this sentence.


* The red-line is actually quite high at 9500 rpm.


* The Bottom Line: assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked
for free, and for once NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an estimated
$1,000.00 per second. The current Top Fuel dragster elapsed time record is
4.441 seconds for the quarter mile (10/05/03, Tony Schumacher). The top
speed record is 333.00 mph (533 km/h) as measured over the last 66' of the
run (09/28/03 Doug Kalitta).


Putting all of this into perspective:


You are riding the average $250,000 Honda MotoGP bike. Over a mile up the
road, a Top Fuel dragster is staged and ready to launch down a quarter mile
strip as you pass. You have the advantage of a flying start. You run the
RC211V hard up through the gears and blast across the starting line and past
the dragster at an honest 200 mph (293 ft/sec). The 'tree' goes green for
both of you at that moment. The dragster launches and starts after you. You
keep your wrist cranked hard, but you hear an incredibly brutal whine that
sears your eardrums and within 3 seconds the dragster catches and passes
you. He beats you to the finish line, a quarter mile away from where you
just passed him.

Think about it, from a standing start, the dragster had spotted you 200 mph
and not only caught, but nearly blasted you off the road when he passed you
within a mere 1320 foot long race course.

[Andrew Kitson]

I have seen that before too, around 3 years or more ago. Impressive enough then, with ever increasing performance I would like to see an updated version.

[Andrew Kitson]

The entry list for the Santa Pod Euro finals is now on-line. As some have said here they might pay a visit, thought it would be of interest.

Entry includes:
Eleven 8000bhp top fuellers.
Two jet funny cars for demos.
Three 7000bhp+ nitro funny cars.
Twelve 3500bhp top methanol dragsters & funny cars.
Over twenty 1000bhp drag bikes.

Over 300 entries in all.
http://www.eurodrags...opeanfinals.htm

Now then...just pray that the summer comes back and it does not rain!

[wildman]

Originally posted by Andrew Kitson
[B]
You must go again! It is absolutely astonishing the way performance and the spectacle has improved since the 70s. The top fuel dragsters have something like 8000bhp (each!) now. They are doing 100mph from the standing start in 0.8sec, 0-60mph in 0.45! Makes these Ferrari's and so on tested on 'top gear' and F1 acceleration look futile. At the eighth mile mark at half track they hit 250mph on a good run, that is about 2,5 secs. Twin fuel pumps deliver the nitro methane at 56 gallons per mile!

I have to echo this sentiment. I went to exactly one NHRA National as a kid (Fremont Raceway, 1974) and didn't go to another one until just a few years ago. The speed, spectacle and especially the sound of today's cars would've been unimaginable 30 years ago. I don't follow the sport that closely, but I now make it an annual priority to attend the Mile High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway near Denver. This year, I took my six-year-old daughter for the first time, and she was overwhelmed in every sense of the word. The top fuelers and funny cars were a bit too much for her, but she said she liked the Pro Stock cars and bikes. The highlight of her day was getting John Force to autograph her shirt. As canon1753 mentioned, the drivers are the most approachable in all of motorsports.

As a Yank, this picture is disturbing on so many levels:


As long as we're reminiscing, I should also mention that I just learned that "Big" John Mazmanian, one of the real legends of the sport, died on July 21 at age 80.

[HistoricMustang]

Conversing with a friend last evening, over a few drinks, and he re-called attending a "four lane" dragstrip in York, PA during the late '60's/early '70's. The concept being providing side by side drag racing for the Ford/Chevy/Chrysler/AMC drag wars.

This was a first for me so wondering if perhaps he/we had to much of the human liquid nitro.

Any memories from the TNF'ers?

Henry

[AyePirate]

I found this picture at a recent family reunion.

Probably Houston (Texas) International Raceway (an odd name for a cow pasture with a half mile of asphalt down the center twenty miles outside of Houston in Dickinson, TX).



That's little me next to some anonymous digger. It must '71 or '72 judging by my size and the Top Fueler's configuration.

Dig that fancy transporter.

[HistoricMustang]

It has legs sticking out from the underside. It is definitely a race car!

Henry

[Lotus23]

Great thread. I attended my first organized drag race as a 17yo in Oct 55 at the Orange, Massachusetts airport. Quickest run of that day was by a Cad-Allard sports car. No Christmas trees back then -- just a rather heroic flagman. He'd rest the flagtip on the ground, and as soon as he lifted it up, the race began. A few months later, I saw a fuel-burning flathead dragster run and thought things just couldn't get any better. They did.

I've followed the drags with varying degrees of interest since then, and concur with all the preceding sturm-und-drang descriptions. Absolutely mind-boggling spectacle nowadays. I believe that any true motorsports enthusiast who's never attended a major drag event has an incomplete portfolio.

BTW, Henry, I don't recall any 4-lane dragstrips of the 60s/70s era, at least not on any sort of sanctioned strip. NHRA had gotten into the sanctioning business by the mid/late 50s, and I doubt they'd have tolerated such insanity! FWIW, I do recall reading that organized drag racing grew out of 4, 6 or even 8 cars running parallel to each other flat-out on the California dry lakes of the 30s.

[wheelock]

Great thread!
I just luuuv the engine sounds so much.
I try to select the best type of hearing protection that provides a nice balanced frequency response.
ETY ER20 musicians ear plugs are great for sound quality, with a pair of shooting muffs on standby
to give the ears a bit more protection when needed.

Something I was wondering, was how many full power revolutions on average a fueler or funny etc
car actually makes on a run.
An engine assuming a 9500 rpm limit held on full power for 5 seconds woulds turn around 790
times.
I wonder what the figure would be in an actual run?


Mark

[Andrew Kitson]

If anyone is interested in going to the Euro finals at Santa Pod this coming weekend, either to experience the sport for the first time (or to catch up on progress after 30 years!), the weather forecast looks pretty good, all important in this sport!
Santa Pod is in the Bedford/Northampton area, therefore click on those towns for the forecast:
http://www.metoffice...uk/eastern.html

The timetable, running order, entry list etc can be seen here:
http://www.eurodrags...als/default.htm

I'll be there on the Saturday, hope to meet up with any fellow TNFers.

[Dennis Currington]

Originally posted by wheelock
Great thread!
I just luuuv the engine sounds so much.
I try to select the best type of hearing protection that provides a nice balanced frequency response.
ETY ER20 musicians ear plugs are great for sound quality, with a pair of shooting muffs on standby
to give the ears a bit more protection when needed.

Mark

I had not been to a professional drag race since the '60s before experiencing the sites and SOUNDS of the NHRA this past January at The Strip in Las Vegas. The event was a Winter testing session for the Top Fuel and Funny cars and was open to the public for a mere $20.

I took my little 3MP Konica-Minolta along just in case I was able to get close enough to take some decent photos. Little did I know that you can not only get close enough, you are right there! The pit area is open to the public (I was one of maybe 50 people at the event) and the drivers are very accessible for photos and autographs. Talk about sounds, if you have never experience two 8000HP top fuel cars taking off from a distance of 30 feet, you haven't lived . I was totally unprepared for the decibels I was about to experience. I had my camera all ready to get the shot and the light went green on the starting tree. In my haste to cover my ears I let go of my camera (on a strap thank goodness) and missed that first experience. The ground shook so much I thought I was back living in SoCal and had just been through a 6.0. I immediately went to the souvenir trailer and purchased a pair of earplugs.

It was really something to see the crews rebuild those monster motors between each run in about one hour. I happen to be standing behind one of the cars when they fired it up to see if they did everything correct. Talk about a blast! The nitro in the air burns your eyes, nose and throat and your ear drums are vibrating from the sudden bursts to "clean out" the injectors.

I agree, every true motorsport enthusiast should attend at least one drag racing event to experience this unique experience.

Here are a few photos I took at the event: http://classicracing...om/Gallery/NHRA

[Andrew Kitson]

Dennis, great photos! The nitrochloromethane that fills the air around these nitro monsters can sting the eyes, especially when standing around one being warmed up in the pits. Don't stand too close! It stings briefly but is not harmful - the same gas as the police sometimes use for tear gas! However it does not affect the spectators watching from the stands or spectator areas, only when close up in the pits. A further example that drag racing gives all of the senses a good workout!

[HistoricMustang]

1959 - Waynesboro Drag Strip (dirt ), Waynesboro, Georgia. Sorry, no information on cars or drivers.

Photographs courtesy of AIRPS historian Joe Cawley.

Henry











WOW!

[doc540]

The king of "wild" himself, Wild Willy Borsch and the Winged Express.

Nothing like it before, nothing like it since.



Note the one handed technique.

[Hoofhearted]

Fontana 1964. One of my favorite hangouts as a teenager. Unfortunately the NHRA has turned drag racing into a spec class. Gone are the days of Chevy, Ford, Olds, etc believers. Now we have to cheer for a carbon fiber body that says Ford or Chevy or whatever.

[/IMG]