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Drag Racing

nascar03 said:
John Force.
3.965 ET 323.6 mph.. !!!!
64 years old and burning up the track!
Awesome to watch the racing.
Graham
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I saw that.....absolutely awesome.......
How times have changed since I first went to the drags in the '60's -- Back then about 8 seconds and 200 mph was tops in any category.

Now it's sub 4 seconds in top fuel and funny car at well over 300 mph.... simply awesome times.

C.
 

and remember too that's only 1000 ft, not 1/4 mi. with the engines making north of 8500 hp, getting the car to hook up is the thing. amazing horsepower on a 500 cid limit. :coolgleam:
 
I had no idea it was only 1000 ft and not 1320 ft. When was the change or reason for the change, do you know?

Thanks for the heads up on the racing! Unfortunately I don't have TSN 2.

From Wikipedia "In a typical run the engine can consume as much as 22.75 Gallons (103 Liters) of fuel during warmup, burnout, staging, and the quarter-mile run."
Woooo! That is some poor fuel economy!
 
Riley, I think the change came about as a result of the death of Scott Kalitta in 2008 in the DHL Funnny Car. The Fuel Funny Cars and the Top Fuel rails were going so fast that most drag strips lacked the overall length to safely bring them to a halt in the event of a problem.

I was amazed watching the Winter Nationals yesterday how many of the top tier racers still went into the pea gravel.

It is my understanding that only the fuel cars run a 1000 feet, all other classes still go 1320.
 

i think it was about 6 or 7 years ago riley. it was done to drop the speeds they were reaching as a safety precaution, much like nascar did with restrictor plates. also that last 320 ft is extremely hard on the engine, at 1000 ft it can mean the difference in whether or not an engine is salvageable. many drivers would like to return to 1/4 mi by using a drop in fuel pressure to control the speeds.
 
If they keep going faster they'll have to shorten the track even more ..... or go with smaller capacity pumps to slow 'em down some.

They sure are going really quick and fast. Got to be nuts to drive one of the top category cars I think.

C.
 
Thanks for the replies guys! Obviously I have not watched drag racing much at all mostly because I could never find it on TV, but after seeing some racing at Castrol Raceway, I would like to watch a bit more of it.

My thoughts, which don't really mean much and others have pretty much said, are that they should look to lengthen the run out area on the track, improve the gravel area and improve the catch fence rather than reducing the length by 320 feet. The reason I say this is because I want to see how fast these cars will go and I always think of racing as the 1320, however, if they only do this to one class, for safety, then do it.

It's kind of the same thing with Nascar. They've been running 200mph since the 60's. I would kind of like to see how fast they could go (safely of course, and 200 mph may be it for all I know). I would also really like to see them return to full bodied cars that look exactly like the car you buy off the showroom floor. I know for safety reasons, this will never happen, but it would be cool to see the same car racing that you can buy at the dealership.
 

I SO agree with this. At least have a different league of racing where they do run the actual showroom cars. Put a rollcage in them and let the racers go. NASCAR cars are hardly even "cars" anymore.
 
Scott McG said:
I SO agree with this. At least have a different league of racing where they do run the actual showroom cars. Put a rollcage in them and let the racers go. NASCAR cars are hardly even "cars" anymore.
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This is why I have next to no interest in NASCAR anymore. When they started basing the bodies on fwd cars with transverse engines it no longer made sense to me to call it "stock car" racing. I'd rather watch the trans am series or the European sedan racing series; at least those cars have something in common with real cars. And those cars can turn right and left.
 
sometimes things just evolve beyond their original names. the teamsters union has nothing to do with horses anymore. most people refer to the cars as to which series they run in - cup, nationwide, arca, etc. a return to old style race cars would be sweet, however, there is no way they could be made to safely hold on to the track. in the big leagues the manufacturers are really just sponsors, not a whole lot different from lowes, home depot, mcdonalds and the rest. on a funny car, other than decals, you're unlikely to find anything ford, gm or toyota. perhaps nascar could promote a nostalgia series, much like there is in drag racing.
 
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