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Post by johnbalich on Dec 5, 2007 17:31:44 GMT -7
 Hello From the left Coast, everybody. I am new here but an old hand to Drag racing in general. I hope this section will interest you. I will be the moderator and a type of 'host' to the discussion. That means I will usually open with a thread, somewhat like a monthly or weekly 'column', and invite replies, additions, opinions, rants and whatever else we can stir up! You don't have to agree with me or each other, but lets keep all fisticuffs above the belt! 8-)I plan to cover drag race history and stories, slot racing especially slot dragging, and actually hopefully stray off into any and all things interesting to fans of these wee beasties. Current drag topics will be covered as well. 8-)I think I'll incorporate some drag race trivia, such as drag slang what it means, where it comes from and similar things that catch my eye. I'll fill you in a bit more in a few hours and we'll see what develops. Your participation will make this more informative, useful and fun! 8-)Anyway Ill post a little later and start this off, right now I'm at the fire station, and we have a drill commencing any minute, so I am going to 'coffee up' and try to stay awake. Catch you in a few John Jett
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Post by SKR on Dec 5, 2007 18:55:47 GMT -7
Sounds great John  |
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Post by johnbalich on Dec 8, 2007 11:48:08 GMT -7
Hello again. My first 'article' will be posted here in a couple of days. I just thought i'd drop something here to see if you are paying attention!
I have a couple of teasers for you. The correct answer gets awarded 10 points, unless I deem a question to be worth more.
Ok does anyone know, why 'golden age" gassers, altereds and superstockers were jacked so high off the ground?? To get full credit, you then must tell us why that is no longer the case, and why in fact, now days, lowest is best. Hint: It's not based in rule changes.
Ok, what else do I have here? Oh, this one is good: Which car or team was likely the first , most visible proponet of the 'sky high' look, and for bonus smiles what was the name of the car? Another hint: The car was rather bizarre and I dare say wonderfully ugly. I'll post a pic when we get the answer.
Did you guys realize that in the early sixties, say 1961-62 that Superstockers were super 'hot? I think the Indy nationals in one of those years had about 200 entries in the Stock ranks. Also up to about 1957 or so, there were basically two classes. Some form of stock or near stock, and 'unlimited'. Furthermore, the "top eliminator' was often a motorcycle!
Oh also in the area of BIG numbers. There were once so many Funny Cars, that the bigger tracks often had 32 car fields, for the prize money, and one race I know of at Irwindale Raceway, featured the fastest 64 cars!
I grew up (drag racing wise) at the famed Lion's Drag strip in Long Beach California. My fondest memories , are of the cold, cold fog laden beach air coming in after dark. The fog and nitro and burned rubber would mix in an unforgettable brew that smelled like heaven to me, tho it did make the eyes smart. The nitro fumes would be heavy and have a very 'sweet' fruity odor to them. If you could get bite in the damp air, the additonal horespower would make for some very fast and quick runs. BTW why does cold air make more horsepower? Give your self 1 and a half smiles if you know.
By the way, when i refer to the 'golden age' of drag racing I am talking about the mid sixties to oh mid seventies. I deem it to be so, not because its the old days, but because the sport was very much a bunch of hot rodders doing their thing. very few teams were really 'professional" in the sense of the word that we know today. A sponsor was much more likely to be a local speed shop, not Budweiser. The variety of cars was bewildering and bedazzling. We will talk about why there were so many many types in another article, and why the cars, (dragsters and funny cars) are almost carbon copies of each other beneath the paint.
Oh last item today: I assume everyone knows what a "Time Slip" is. It was only after the fact, that I realized ity's a perfect name for a look back, as we are talking about TIME 'slipping away.' We will also get a chance to talk about slot car history as well here.
Til next time.............
John
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Post by allstarhr on Dec 8, 2007 16:15:05 GMT -7
Origional gassers jacked up was to tranfer as much weight to the back tires at the hit as possible for more traction. Ultimately better (softer) tire compounds made that unnecessary and actually slowed the car down due to excess wind resistance.
First one is by the Origional group of Chrysler Engineers, the Ramchargers and it was called "the High and Mighty". That car was not ugly, more like looking at your sister. She never looks good...I hope.
Cold air is denser and has more oxygen molecules per square inch. This mean more fuel can be added to the air entering the cylinder and still burn effeciently. You could run a bigger jet in the carb to allow more fuel to enter the cylinder with each piston intake stroke. The more efficently burning fuel and air you can get through a motor in any given amount of time makes more power.
Your right about the golden age of drag racing. I believe that when the SMI Motorvitor funny car showed up at tracks in about 1977 with a enclosed tractor trailer it signaled the end of the golden age. Question...Who was the driver of the SMI funny car and what did his Dad do?
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Post by johnbalich on Dec 8, 2007 16:45:07 GMT -7
Its not nice to show up the moderator!
lol give yourself 100 points (bonus for quick answers. I beg to differ it was butt ugly. Id love to get a resin body and build one of these in any scale . Your answers, especially about the height of race cars etc is dead on. Better tires yielded more traction, and that coupled with higher speeds made wind resistance a much bigger factor. Let's face it, did those cars really look that safe???lol
Yes yes yes. cold air is denser. Gasoline (and nitro or alcohol) engines are AIR PUMPS. The more air (oxygen) in and out, the more power you will make. Bigger cubic inches = a bigger pump. Superchargers and turbos and headers and heads etc, affect the efficiency of the pump. A Diesel engine, by way of contrast is a FUEL PUMP. Increase the fuel delivery and voila! More power, brother! Los Angeles Fire Dept Cummins diesels are rated at 400 horsepower. Turn up the fuel pump pressure and you can get 450 or 500 hp with no other changes, except........then engine life is affected! lol (if those horsepower numbers sound low, realize that they are achieved at very LOW rpm's; 2100. These engines do their damage with torque.
ok I am going to have to dig for some more teasers.........All Star, you are on probation. Means you are not allowed to answer til one other guess is entered!! lol Subsequent 'victories' will result in heavier fines. Meanwhile I'm scrambling to find info on the SMI car. Btw, I forget was "High and Mighty" a Plymouth or Dodge? I'll post a picture and you can vote whether its ugly or beautifully ugly! Don't get me wrong I love the car. Ill post some pictures of truly weird beasts before we are done. I wonder if the 47 ford body could be used to make a 'phantom version' of this car on a T Jet chassis?
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Post by SKR on Dec 8, 2007 22:05:46 GMT -7
Allstar will give you a run John. Later on down the road when I have time I'll try and make a slot car like it. It was wild looking but it definately has it's place in drag history. I think the Ford would be a good donor. Now where can I get those wild pipes  . I'll save my my opinon of it for the poll. |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2007 0:44:19 GMT -7
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Post by johnbalich on Dec 9, 2007 17:01:17 GMT -7
If someone will tell how to attcah a photo ort wo we will start voting on wheter this car is ugly as sin or beautiful like a bulldog!
John Jett
Thanks for the info on on Meyers and the Motivator!! and, um...............who's old?
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Post by johnbalich on Dec 9, 2007 17:02:50 GMT -7
Good grief.............is there a spell check here, my typing scares children and small dogs! I was trying to ask how to attach a photo....sheesh
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Post by allstarhr on Dec 9, 2007 17:59:18 GMT -7
Dang! Probation! I used to get probation in high school for not knowing any answers! Heck, I didn't even hear the question for reading Super Stock hidden in my text book. I taught high school for 14 years and I still believe the stuff written in Super Stock was and is way more important than knowing how to diagram a poem. And yes killerskid, I AM old! Still have enough reflexes to redlight everyround, so there! I know I'm not allowed to answer questions but the High and Mighty had alot of letters in the name of the cars now deceased manufacturer. And anything that creative can't be ugly. Ugly is NASCAR's new cars with stickers the difference between brands. Yuck!
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Post by SKR on Dec 9, 2007 20:47:27 GMT -7
John, I'll try and get a "how to" post photos thread going tomorrow.
I'll get the poll up tonight.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2007 22:28:37 GMT -7
@spell checking Try out the firefox browser instead of using internet exploder. www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/It has automatic spell checking built in...and it's more reliable...and it does a better job of sticking to the web standards, which helps out the web folks. |
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Post by johnbalich on Dec 10, 2007 12:06:48 GMT -7
yes next step will be "Double Secret Probation" And you are right, I had forgotten that particular "brand" exists no more!
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Post by johnbalich on Dec 10, 2007 13:25:08 GMT -7
of course I'm kidding a little about your 'probationary status! maybe we should stir up a "good guy bad guy" routine like the wrestlers do! lol
Your comment about nascar is dead on. I'm sure Im just old but I used to love, well still do, the old stockers Like Fred Lorenzen, Tiny Lund, and of course "King Petty". They still looked like dad's grocery getter on the outside. Much similar in my mind to todays funny cars. All clones with different paint, but that leads to a topic for another day........... Yes we can talk Nascar here too!. Anything that moves on wheels is cool. Ever see the T-shirt thats says: "if it has wheels or a skirt, it's gonna cost you." ok Im a chauvinist.....
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Post by allstarhr on Dec 29, 2007 14:40:18 GMT -7
In the HODRA, St. Louis thread on "Little Red" about wheelstanders, I was asked to tell the story about a wheelstander race that happened back in 1979. I figure this is a better place for it here in "Timing Slips". Here goes...
In 1977 my brother and I bought St. Louis International Raceway from Wayne Meinert and quickly learned that we knew nothing about promoting drag races. After two mediocre years we were agreeing on nothing and I bought my brother out. I had been planning our seasons in January and getting as many items like booking racers for shows, radio and tv time, various promotional items, the track newspaper redundant stuff and other items out the way when the snow was on the ground. That way I could spend my time in season on trying to put on a quality program each week.
I had been told by Jim Tice that running a small show on the 4th of July was an easy way to make a few bucks. I noticed that it fell on Wednesday that year and we would have our normal Grudge Night that night anyway. So I called around and booked Bill Golden’s Little Red Wagon, Richard Hutchins’s Chevy Rebellion along with his friend, John Ludwick and his new Dodge Rebellion plus Bob Riggle’s Hemi Under Glass They sent contracts which I signed for the four of them including the two from Richard who was taking care of the Ludwick bookings.
In the middle of March I was told that the City of St. Louis had such success with the 200th Anniversary 4th of July Celebration in 1976 and the smaller one in 1977 that they were going to have a big one again on the evening of the 4th of July. For those of you that don’t know, SLIR is 4 miles from the Gateway Arch and you while you can easily see the fireworks from there the view is not that spectacular. My thoughts went like this. SLIR with higher than normal priced Wednesday night program of 4 wheelstanders vs. FREE fireworks and waterfront show downtown with cheap bucket's of beer. Drunken fireworks would win. So in late March I sent a letter to Golden, Riggle and Hutchinson to cancel the show. The contracts all had a clause that said I could cancel as long as it was at least 30 days before the event. No problem....I thought.
Fast forward to Wednesday night on the 4th of July. Beautiful weather and I’ve got a nice sized crowd of about 800. They have all paid the normal $4.00 Wednesday night price. About 7 PM I look up at the entrance gate and saw a semi pulling in. Now back then a semi bringing in a race car was a big deal. The Little Red Wagon and Hemi Under Glass still toured the country on ramp trucks. I drove over to the gate and it was John Ludwick with his Dodge Rebellion. He said “Where’s your crowd?” and then “Where’s Richard and the others?” When I told him that I had cancelled months ago he said that he had raced with Richard just two weeks ago and Richard didn’t say anything about it. He then said, “You do have a nice crowd here, how about I make a pass for them and you just give me three hundred dollars for fuel as I’ve driven down from Chicago. Since I felt bad for him and I liked throwing unexpected extra’s at the crowd so they would leave feeling they got more for their money than they expected, I agreed. However... I had been screwed around by enough racers by now that I wasn’t going to let him just screw me out of the money. I told John that it’s a deal if he makes a pass all the way down the track with the wheels in the air. No going to the starting line and pulling a wheelie for 20 feet and bouncing down the track to collect the $300.00. He said no problem.
At 8 PM Ludwick pulled into the staging lanes. We are pumping it up on the PA system and our starter let him chose lanes and he went into the left lane. We ran the tree down and he pulled the wheels up for...oh...about 20 feet, came down, bounced around to the right and drove on down the track in the right lane. I was standing in the middle of the return road when he came back shacking my head “no” and he said “no problem” that he would get it fixed and be right back up for a full pass. We agreed and he went to work on the truck.
About 9 PM he comes back to the left lane and we started the tree for him. He yanks the wheels in the air all the way up on the wheelie bars and with sparks flying he flies down the track all the while drifting over to the right. He crosses the finish line in the right lane, takes out my center line lights with the left rear wheel and goes off the track past the finish line. SLIR at that time had the guard rail about 20 feet off the pavement and it stopped about 100 feet past the finish line. He misses the end of the guard rail and hits one of the light poles head on with the passenger side of the truck. Fortunately for John, his truck was still driven from the left side as most of the wheelstanders had moved to the center driving position. With mud and grass flying he hit the pole which broke into three pieces. The stub in the ground was broke off at about 12 inches out of the ground. The center piece was exactly the length of the height of the truck and the top part of the pole was now rotating completely over the wires between the poles on each side of it. It made one complete revolution with the accompanying sparks as the wires crossed and arched. As it came to a rest at about a 60 degree angle to the ground and was now supported by the wires only. All the track lights from that pole on quit working. The truck made at least two full clockwise rotations throwing up more grass and dirt before it came to a stop with the front of the roll cage pushed back to the back of the cab. The ambulance and track safety truck flew to help him. By the time I ran down the tower steps and jumped into my car and drove down the track to see if he was alive, he was out of the truck He seemed ok as he walked to the ambulance and climbed in on his own but you could tell he was in shock.. We helped his small crew get the truck loaded up while he went to the hospital to be checked out. Yes, I paid him the money plus paid about $2300.00 to get the light pole fixed.
Oh yeah, to finish the evenings event I needed to get the lights back on. We had an old (and I do mean old) wooden extension ladder that had been laying by the track shed for years. As nobody else was volunteering to do it, we put the ladder up against the now unattached to earth light pole and as the ladder swaybacked from my weight, I climbed to the top and spliced in some jumper wires to get the lights on. The ambulance guys helped by putting the spotlight on me and the pole. When I got safely down and switched on the lights they all worked although the broken pole light was aiming the wrong way.
Let’s see. 800 people at $4.00 = $3200.00. $300.00 to Ludwick, $2300.00 for the light pole, $100. for centerline lights, add the track crew salaries, ambulance charges, security cop pay, track insurance for the night and a bunch of other expenses. I should have closed the track and gone to watch the fireworks under the Arch.
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Hello From the left Coast, everybody. I am new here but an old hand to Drag racing in general. I hope this section will interest you. I will be the moderator and a type of 'host' to the discussion. That means I will usually open with a thread, somewhat like a monthly or weekly 'column', and invite replies, additions, opinions, rants and whatever else we can stir up!
. I'll save my my opinon of it for the poll.