My money is on no. 8.
Posted on 12/10/2014 5:09:39 PM PST by West Texas Chuck
Awesome quote from John Phillips column in January 2015 Car and Driver.
“Frictional losses in the final drive’s ring-and-pinion, along with rotational losses from engine parts and axles and such, well, that requires another 577 horsepower.”
He shoulda used Clark’s special lubricant, as used on the snow saucer in Christmas Vacation!!
BTW, great article!! Thanks much! Love watching these beasts!
Dragster rail cars .... slingshots ... the epitomy of mechanical engineering ... the scent of the fuel ... the roar of the engine as it heats up the rear tires ... the rush to the finish line ... the adulation of those who do finish and the awe-inspiring survivability of those who, for some reason, don’t finish.
Garlits in black; Muldowney in pink; the next generation and their ‘colors’.
THIS ... IS ... DRAG ... RACING!!
(bow to sparta)
My money is on no. 8.
“it’s like plunging your toilet with a Claymore mine.”
One of the tails of lore at the beer joint that I hung out in when I first turned old enough to drink was something similar to that. Seems as though some of the local loggers came up with the bright idea of putting a 1/4 stick of dynamite in the toilet one night. Not only did they disable the restrooms the also gave Lois a rather traumatic experience. Lois, who I believe was the original model for the cabbage patch doll, just happened to be sitting on the pot in the women’s side. when the pranksters set it off they heard loud screaming and Lois came out sopping wet, pants down around her ankles in a state of shock.
I love drag racing... John Force is great...(and CourtneyForce is beautiful)!
And the Best of the Best in my humble opinion, Big Daddy Don Garlits, and his "Swamp Rat(s,)" he actually gave one to The Smithsonian museum in Washington, DC. Personally I think he was nut's for doing that, but hey, that's just me, and I'm a nobody, anyhow.
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Garlits
In 1970, Garlits was driving Swamp Rat XIII, also called the Wynnscharger, a front-engined slingshot rail, when the vehicle suffered a catastrophic failure. The two-speed transmission Garlits was developing exploded and took a piece out of Garlits' right foot;
It was this/that event, that all {Dragster} builders, started to put engine's in the back/rear of Dragsters!
Unquestionably this fan will always remember Raymond Beadle and the Blue Max, and the interview he gave Playboy magazine, a big buildup to get ready for a run, and at the end of the interview something like "you ask yourself just what the f*!k (Hockey Puck) am I'm doing sitting here (in the driver's seat)."
PRICELESS
How do you clean a toilet with a sword?
Acceleration of five G’s correlates to a rubber to track coefficient of friction of 500%. Some sticky tires.! How is traction maintained on down the track?
LOL
Cool? Sure, but can they turn left, in a circle?
I vividly remember the first pair of nitro funny cars I saw go down the track. The sound waves are so strong that you can see them and the fluid in your eyes moves with the waves. Every sense but taste is effected if you are close to the track.
Very interesting remark about the trans that blew off half of Big Daddy’s right foot. If you are ever in Ocala, FL, hit the Museum of Drag Racing. They have a photo of him leaving the line with the car splitting in two pieces, cockpit pointing straight down, and pieces of the transmission in a display case. Seared into my memory.
America, F*** Yeah!
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