vbob.
dino
maso
I said exactly the same thing in my own way right here on this forum, with my prose and my poetry ( well… it could be verse…! ) Go see: http://www.doverdragstrip.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=24&p=41&hilit#p41
Take a good look at the typical 200 mph 1964 – 1968 Top Fuel machine; the AA/FD. My brother had one, so I was there. And this is it at Englishtown through Brian Beattie’s lense:
If you follow the evolution of the Top Fuel machine then you come to the conclusion that it reached it’s simplest and most refined form at that time and that is a beautiful thing to me. First they ran their Modified Roadsters and Competition Coupes from the dry lakes with lower rear end gear ratios, and then found ways to lighten those up until guys like Scotty Fenn and Dode Martin came up with tubular chassis designs that could be bought. Then Emery Cook and Cliff Bedwell figured out how to tip the can for 100% nitro and that upset Pappy Hart and the track owners so Wally had to acquiesce on that one for a few years. That was understandable I guess, until Dietz and Mickey Thompson figured out how to make paratroopers out of top fuel pilots. They pulled blowers out of the yellow submarine school busses and put better bearings and seals in them. Then wheel bases grew a little longer. Then mid season 1964 somebody in the mid-west figured out that if he just aims the exhaust headers into the flat tire surface that he does two things. 1). he blows tire smoke out of his field of vision and 2). he throws heat onto the tire surface and that helps with traction ( which was the name of the game… ) Then you push start it after you roll it off a simple trailer that you tow with your station wagon to the track…! Then… once you learned how to feather the clutch…Wham…200 MPH…! Easy…!!!
You gotta’ love THAT…
It’s worth repeating, I said…YOU GOTTA LOVE THAT…!!
From that time onward, the Top Fuel machine just seemed to get more complicated. Wheelbases got wierdly long and guys put transmissions in them and got their feet blown off. ( not fun anymore ) Hummm…
That’s what happened to Big Daddy, who did something about it. … and the rest is just more history. Today’s Top Fuel machine is an emormously complex and expensive machine. Out of reach for sure.
I wish there was some way that we could reinstate the FED of those years into a viable class of it’s own and go racing with them again.
Comments…anyone…???
vbob
HEY
Ahhhhh did you ever get closer than at Dover????
‘V’
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dino
Here’s Mr Garlits in ’62 & Mr.Gommi in 1964 !
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randy-fish
Granted, there are times when evolution sucks, but it’s still inevitable. From the very beginning, drag racing had a class for everybody. You reached your own level and only those who figured out how to run, fund, and maintain a faster car did so.
I’m sure there are people who think baseball sucks today, because of all the non-Americans who are allowed to make a healthy income from it. Those people probably figure it’s no longer an American sport. Hell, every sport is prone to attracting those who are bigger, faster, craftier, or better funded. Case in point, Al-Anabi.
Drag racing became the animal we know it as despite the original plans of Wally Parks, who initially wanted his association to celebrate the Sportsman, or amateur. One of the biggest problems we have is the sheer number of people who think they know how to “fix drag racing.” If you don’t like 300mph “doorstops” with vinyl graphics, don’t go. Obviously this guy (Tim Conder) has saved the money he would have spent at national events and built a front-engine digger. Good for him . . . he’s chosen the level he could reach . . . just like the sport was always intended.
Life is like a garden . . . just dig it.
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CHECK OUT THEIR RULES…..”Interesting”
http://www.anra.com/classes_rules.html
Randy …I’m Sorry ,But that Mopar Funny with Camo lools like a tank….Must be getting Grumpy in my old age…But there’s nothing better to me than Push startin’ two full body Fuelers,wheels up out of the gate and and Smokin ’em the whole quartrer.
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