1000' for alky in Pomona?

Will,

Can you post some of the 1000' times for some of the teen and low 20 runs by BADs? Having those numbers should solve the parity equation.

Pat

 

I don't like to get into controversies on the internet but since Will used
me as an example I feel I can have a say.
I no longer race a car, but I am NOT in favor of the 1000' racing @Pomona.
In my case I blame the condition of the sand (it was mud) that tore my
car up so much. Maybe that should be adressed??
Mert

 

What Is The Difference

You Know, After Having Watched The Fuelers At Seattle And Sonoma In Person And On Tv, And Reading Countless Posts For And Against It, I Wonder What Is The Difference. I Like Drag Racing Because Of The Rush Of Driving The Car, The Challenge Of Tuning It, The Competition And Comaradarie With My Friends In The Pits, The Whole Package. So If We Are Racing To 1000' Or 1320' Or 1500' Doesn't Really Make Any Difference To Me. The Rush Is Still There, The Intense Close Competition Is Still There, And My Friends Are All Still There. I Am Not Scared Of The Quarter Mile, And I Have Not Been Off The End Of Any Race Track. I Have However Had A Couple Very Close Calls At Pomona And Tend To Agree That The Safety Factor Goes Up Exponentially When You Get The Extra 320 Feet Of Shut Down Area. Seattle Is Long, And Two Tafc Cars Went In The Net There At The Divisional Race This Year. Last Year There Was At Least One, And It Was Basically A Total Loss. How Many Alcohol Racers Can Afford To Just Ruin A Race Car And Come Back? What If They Ruin Themselves And Can Never Come Back? There Are A Lot Of Factors Involved In Why The Chutes Sometimes Fail. I For One Have Had Very Good Luck, We Don't Run Junk Chutes And Replace The Pilots When They Need It, But There Are Still Those Times That For Some Reason They Don't Blossom, Or They Get Sucked Under The Car. At Pomona (like Woodburn) You Also Have To Deal With A Very Bumpy Shut Down Area. The Brakes Don't Work When The Tires Are Off The Ground, So This Makes Stopping There That Much More Difficult. I For One Would Not Oppose Racing To 1000' At Pomona, Or Anywhere Else For That Matter. What Difference Does It Really Make? And Before The Jackass Who Called Will Out For Not Being A Current Driver Jumps My Ass, I Race 16 Or 17 Events A Year And Generally Run Fairly Fast For A West Coaster ( Hi Randy) Lmao

 

A 1000 thrills in 5 sec.....

Goddam Russ, I've been trying to forget that one also. Its amazing how fast one of those things can happen. Thanks for being a watcher

 

I have a timeslip that has these on it. My last race in a TAD
Mitch Myers' incremental times: 60-ft/0.916 330-ft/2.336 660-ft/3.399/234.13 1,000-ft/4.313.

TA/FC here we came..

 

Clint, This is a most impressive use of the CAPITAL letter, im not busting your balls, I am just bringing this up, as I am impressed. (and you do run VERY well for a west coaster with a TRACTOR motor.)

 

tHAT wAS aLOT oF wORK iS wHAT tHAT lAST pOST WAS

 

dragracing is farout

whether its 1/8 or more, I do it for the rush, and the fun I have. for those that say just dont race, we will. let me ask you this. how many deaths will it take for you to feel that the shorter distance could "help"? would one death a race start to change your thinking? I admit there are few, would it help if it was somebody you care about? do you wear a seatbelt just because they make you? for the record I enjoyed the races at seattle, 1000ft for the fuelers.

 

Hey Clint:

As you know the two cars that went into the net at Seattle are/were very near and dear to me. Russ was driving Greg's car with the TORCO Firebird body I sold them on it, and the other car was my Monte Carlo. Both would have been avoided if two chutes were deployed. I'm putting DT's chute launchers on ours before it goes out again, and the two levers will be screwed together.

7 years ago was the last time I made a blast at Pomona and I went just short of 250. The sand trap is pretty close out the windshield when it starts bouncing. I still don't know if I would favor 1,000 feet, though.

FYI, Just to compare numbers, the quickest my TA/FC has run to the 1,000 foot mark is 4.666.

Randall G.

 

BADs, not AFDs. I'm sure we can dig up a lot of those types of timeslips for AFDs.

 

1000 ft

One note here guys, as my tuner points out to me on a regular basis, nobody gives a rats ass if myself or anyone else doesn't race anymore we aren't missed, no racer has told me we miss you Guy, as stated i actually miss the atmosphere & gettin away from the everyday grind, and i want to race any length decided, it's about the love of the sport and the rush for me personally. Racing will always be dangerous thats a given!!

In Bama

 

I wonder about the guys who ride the short bus getting on here and jacking Will around? I have thought that maybe this site should be for guys who are racers? Real racers not wannabees. I have been off the end of a race track (Woodburn) and I can tell you the moments of terror that I experienced as the end of the track approached wasn't anything I ever want to experience again. My double chute failure was my own fault but an extra 320' might have kept me out of that farmers field.
I would just ask that the guys who are fans but aren't actual alcohol racers keep their non-counting opinions to themselves. Until you have stepped off the clutch of a 3500 horsepower alcohol car your opinions doesn't mean s%#@. Dave Germain

by the way all sorts of alcohol cars have run off the end of Pomona. I don't think the issue is what kind of car is racing it should be what kind of track they are racing on. There are lots of tracks where 1/8 mile is all the length that is safe. I vote for 1000' at Pomona and Woodburn.

 

I will respectfully disagree about whose opinions matter. People who post here, if not racers, are most likely hard-core fans. We need them to keep this sport viable. I welcome their opinions because we need to keep them happy with the show that we put on. The problem is with anyone who is critical of, or makes a personal attack on a racer when they themselves have not been in the seat. So please post your opinions, racers or fans alike regarding this 1000' issue.
Please note that this post did not include anything to do with Don Hudson....oh shoot, there I go again.

 

Jim Whiteley 5.26

I dont know if anyone has noticed, but Jim Whiteley and the Ynot racing crew put out a 5.26 @ 273 (fifth quickest run out of a blown car and the fastest ever out of a blown car) against Duane Shields at the Sonoma National. I dont know the incremental times but I would like to see what his 1000' time was. I almost bet that his 1000' mark would be faster than an afueler that ran the same time.

 

the more I try to get away, the deeper I get pulled in...

Russ, Now i'm LMFAO. That was funny.

personal attacks against racers not welcome.

 

Ynot,
These guys could be the 2nd funnest group in racing. And their car is badass!!
And Norm Grimes is alright also.

 

I would take your bet........, but it is pretty irrelevant given that you are talking about a stellar run by a BAD vs. a good but nothing spectacular run by an AFD.

Just to play your game though. Duane ran 5.267 at 274.78 at the Seattle Points Race. His 1000' time and Jim's were probably real close. Now look at Eakins' run of 5.262 at ONLY 266.90 at the same Seattle race, where the car was eating itself up on the other end, and I would venture to guess that his 1000' time was better.

The days of the BAD being real quick at the start, and the AFD storming from behind started going away quite a few years ago. Just take a look at the 1/2 track MPH delta for the two types of cars.

As for Pomona, knock on wood, we never had trouble there. Though a car or two always seemed to go out into the beach. Seems kind of stupid to just say, 'hey if you have a problem, you are going to wreck your car', just so you can run 1320'.

 

Although I have not driven Pomona in a Funny car, I have been on the "clean it up in a hurry" mode after a trip to the beach a few times. One thing everybody seems to forget is that not only are you adding 320 feet of stopping distance, you are eliminating 320 feet of accelerating. I'm not sure what the net effect is on time, but I am sure it would be safer..

 

So much of this goes back to being diligent and taking responsibility for your car and safety equipment. As Randy G. alluded to, my problem at Seattle would have been avoided if I was dumping both chutes there. At the 2000 Winternationals we only made one good run. On that run, which would have been good enough to qualify, around 1000' I reached for the levers (which were on the side tin, not the roof and they had been set too far back and the cage was in the way) and couldn't get them - so I lifted and stopped the car with the brakes...and did not qualify. First thing I did was to install a stop so that the levers would always be where I needed them. Again, that was all my fault. But at least I was reaching for the levers before I got to the finish line. How many times do you see a car travel well past the finish line before the pilot chutes even come out, let alone the full chute blossom. It's easy to get complacent, like I did at Seattle using just one chute. I think you will see the same items I have experienced happen whether you are racing 1000' or 1/4 mile. I think the emphasis needs to be on the equipment and the proper use thereof. I believe the best way to clean up an accident is to have prevented it in the first place.