My son and I went to Norwalk yesterday for the NHRA meet. Now, I've followed drag racing casually for 50 years, so I had an idea what to expect, but nothing could prepare me for the shear awesome noise and power from the Top Fuel cars. I thought the alcohol cars were loud and expected the fuel cars to up that a notch , or two, but nothing like THAT ! My son and I turned to each other after the first pass and just giggled.
Did you have pit access? Watching them rebuild the nitro engines really fast, and then test fire them (holding your breath is recommended) is neat.
Last time I went to the strip I think top fuel was still running the full 1/4.
The paddock was open to everyone, so we did see teams working on engines and starting them.Seeing fuelers going 3.80@ 318 is pretty damned impressive for the thousand feet. On the other hand Super Comp and Super Gas (I think those were the classes) are pretty dumb with their programmed throttle stops after launch. Sorry boys, but that isn't proper drag racing.
I would not be surprised if I donated a bit of my hearing to that sport.
My brother is out there today. My dad followed them From City To city as we grew up with us kids in tow. Between tractor pulls and drag racing we filled out The summers. I still can't get enough.
I saw my first top fuel race a year or two ago. Despite the noise that everyone told me about, there was nothing that prepared me for the wave of thunder that passes down the track with the cars. Simply amazing.
I remember back in the early 80's my Dad taking the family to Fremont to watch the drags. Just before the fuel dragsters were going to fire, I told my Mom you better plug your ears. My Mom says "they can't be that loud"...
I took my wife a number of years ago to Sears Point. We were walking around the pits and Tony Pedregon (sp?) was about to fire his car. I said to my wife we need to watch this. As some of you my know how tough it is to stand and watch (fumes and noise), my wife didn't. After they shut off the car I turned to my wife to say "that was cool!" No wife. I started looking around to find her several pit stalls away with a none to pleased look on her face. "Why didn't you tell me it was going to do that!" I said "do what..." Ha ha ha. I thought it was funny, my wife, not so much.
Another time I took a friend to a divisional race at Sears Point. We again were walking around the pits. An alcohol dragster was warming up. As we walked by, they blipped the throttle...my friend most have jumped six feet in the air. I was laughing, the race team saw it and they were laughing. It's nice to have a friend with a sense of humor because he was laughing about it also.
A friend of a friend didn't have enough hands to pick his jaw up off the ground after seeing a jet dragster.
It's always fun taking newbies to the drags.
I'm another closet fan. TV makes this sport seem tame. You have to see it in person. The sheer mayhem of a top fuel or funny car launch and the mechanical violence of the entire thing is cool. Need to experience it every couple of years or so. I told my wife that in the stands at the tree your vision will blur for a second and you'll feel your hear vibrate when they launch. She didn't believe me. Does now.
I like the fact that no one knows exactly how much HP a Top Fuel car makes. No dyno can handle them.
I always loved tractor pulls as a kid, saw a few in person when I was younger. Haven't seen them in person or on TV in years though.
As a slight deviation to this thread...anyone ever watch the rocket cars? Not the jet engined cars but the hydrogen peroxide things that would sit at the line all quiet and them disappear?
Some of the stats about top fuel are just great:
http://www.nhra.net/streetlegal/funfacts.html
One I didn't see there is that the spark is approximately equal to an arc welder and that the spark plugs are entirely consumed by the halfway mark and the rest of each run is done dieseling. The only way to shut down the engine is to cut the fuels supply.
I took my son to Bristol for the NHRA race on Father's Day weekend. We sat on the front row next to a guy who has been to every NHRA event there. When they staged the funny cars he asked me if this was my son's first race. I said yes, he looked at Nick, winked, and said "hold on". I hadn't been to a race in 10 years and it took me by suprise, but Nick about fell off his seat. We're already planning on going back next year. Those Pro Mod cars are nuts.
One thing not many fans do is go down to the far end during a run. Some tracks you can get pretty dang close to the lights. A car going by at 300+ mph is friggin' awesome. It's also amazing that everything the NHRA does to keeps speeds under control and the cars just get faster and faster. Estimates are over 8000 hp for a top fuel engine these days. Nitromethane is some pretty incredible stuff which makes it all possible.
My fiance went to the Phoenix races with her folks growing up, I've never been. I need to remedy this. I always watch it when I catch it on tv, come February I'm gonna have to get some tickets.
I love the smell of nitro in the morning.
It smells like ... victory.
ncjay wrote: One thing not many fans do is go down to the far end during a run. Some tracks you can get pretty dang close to the lights. A car going by at 300+ mph is friggin' awesome. It's also amazing that everything the NHRA does to keeps speeds under control and the cars just get faster and faster. Estimates are over 8000 hp for a top fuel engine these days. Nitromethane is some pretty incredible stuff which makes it all possible.
We watched a few top fuel runs standing by the fence on the pit side and that is a great perspective of the speed and power of these cars.
While watching the big boys is cool I always enjoyed watching cars that were streetable more. Then again I like that on road course cars as well (even if it is just by a streetable by a hair). We took the trip down to Woodburn a few times while I was growing up.
I live an hour south of Lucas Oil Raceway in Indy. I remember going to my first Summernationals. I had no idea what to expect. The easiest way to describe it is if you could imagine the gates of hell slamming open for 4 seconds. Incredibly assaulting to every sense you posses. From the incredible noise, to the violent shaking of the atmosphere, and then the blanket of nitro fumes/tire dust/burnt clutch dust to finish off each pass. I sat mid track, front row. I also would highly recommend it to anyone 
Indeed there is nothing like Nitromethane.
I saw the NHRA Nitro Harley's back when they ran them as an actual class. It was neat to hear that same Nitro cackle, but at 200 mph and 5,000 RPM instead of 300 MPH and 9,000 RPM. It was also cool watching the riders lean forward to push the front wheel down in the beams because the entire run was on the wheelie bars.
I need to get the kids out to hear them. They really are out of any reasonable league of noise.
Also, totally agreed that throttle stops have ruined those classes for the fans. They work great and make the car much more competitive, but are lame and annoying.
Night under Fire and Jet Car nationals is also pretty awesome. Just waiting for my 4 year old to get a little older before I take him. He freaked at the flybys at the air show, but finally had fun at the fireworks.
I really need to go to a top fuel event. Not a huge drag racing fan, but it's something I want to experience.
Many moons ago I went to quite a few drag races at Blaney Drag Strip down here (long since closed). Since I knew some people 
I could get into the pits and would scramble to be behind the start line when the Top Fuel and Funny cars were getting ready to launch. Yes, it was quite an experience.
The Force Racing team will be at my office next week, and the Mopar Mile High Nationals are on the weekend after. Seems like a timely thread to walk into 
i see a lot of people go watch drag racing... but how many people here have actually done it?
You'll need to log in to post.
