Zapato Grande 3 in NMCA

Last weekend the NMCA kicked of its 2013 season at Bradenton. I usually stick to NHRA and ADRL reporting, but as the Venezolean team of Zapato Grande 3 was competing I thought to pass this along to our local drag race fans, who probably saw the red Ford Mustang in action here at Ronde Klip last December.

Danilo Nammour is participating in his first Kooks Custom Headers Pro Street race this weekend.
Unfortunately, he hurt his main engine, a 864 cubic-inch engine, built by Miami-based EIC Motorsports and outfitted with four nitrous systems. The team worked late into the night installing the backup engine, a 780 cubic-inch engine, also by EIC.
In the last year's "Battle of the Best" race in Curacao, Zapato Grande 3 ran the quarter mile in 6.35 e.t. with the 864 c.i. engine on three nitrous systems, and went 4.03 e.t. to the eight mile.

They use a Rossler Turbo Glide transmission to put the power to the ground.

Nammour's weekend turned from bad to worse when during qualifying on Saturday, Danilo Nammour’s ’08 Rick Jones-built Mustang made a hard move to the right just after launch and impacted the wall. As reported in Friday’s race coverage, this had marked Mammour’s first NMCA race.

We hope that Zapato Grande 3 will rebound quickly in time for the next round of NMCA, the All-Star Nationals, scheduled for April 11-14 in Commerce, Georgia.

For more info on drag racing in Venezuela, please click here.

Thanks for reading.

Source: Drag Illustrated
Photo credit: Drag Illustrated

Burnouts in drag racing

The other day, while doing some research on Greg Anderson's engine mishap at the Texas Motor Speedway earlier this year, which video was quickly removed from YouTube, I came across an article on "Burnouts: An Appreciation", by Car and Driver.

A pro stock doing a fiery burnout

Below some thoughts on the subject along with some quotes from the Car & Driver article.

Burnouts are a function of our modern day selfish society, for there is nothing more antisocial then doing a burnout in an inappropriate place, especially in your church's parking lot or while on tour with your old timer's club (WABI). But we all understand why it is done, for it is arguably the most fun you can have with friction while keeping your ants on!

"Tires will smoke when you reach the point of volatility or vaporization of the materials in the thread compound," says Goodyear race-tire engineer Robert Bethea.

"It is important to remember that one purpose of a burnout is to remove foreign matter [such as might be collected while rolling around in the pits]," explains Bryce Jones, Goodyear's sales-account manager for drag racing. "There's no standard optimum temperature for the surface of the tread to reach during a burnout.....You could safely estimate the tread's temperature at about 400 degrees immediately following the burnout but even that depends upon the length of the burnout. john Force, for example, prefers a long, hard burnout."

After the burnout the tire temperature will drop quickly so its important to stage for the competitive run as quickly as possible. "We don't have a set temperature," says Greg Anderson, the four-time NHRA Pro Stock champion. "We're usually in the 120-140-degree range."

"We try and repeat the same burnout and length every time," explains Anderson, and depending on the tackiness of the track and weather conditions, that means performing the burnout between 7000 and 8000 rpm. "If it is really sticky, you can get away with 7000 rpm. We get the tires spinning to the rpm we want, and then we'll release the line lock.

Finally, a goal of drag racers is laying down a fresh coat of rubber on the track for their slick [tires] to bite into. "Everyone leaves with their tires in the same spot," continues Anderson. "It's more important now that every car has the same 105-inch wheelbase. There's a bald spot right there where everyone launches. We try to put rubber over that bald spot."

Thanks for reading.

Source: Car & Driver.
Photo credit: Whathehell Racing Team (Pontiac Firebird)

Drag race track prep & safety equipment

If you've ever wondered what it takes to prep a good drag race track, other than know-how, just get out there and talk to a good event operator. Or better yet, purchase the entire line of track prep and safety equipment from a proven operator.

That is exactly what the new X-DRL did when they purchased Al-Anabi Racing USA's state-of-the-art equipment, which was used in 1/8-mile doorslammer racing the past two years and had drawn universal praise from drivers.

the tractor with sweeper brush

The track "prep" equipment includes the following:
- a John Deere tractor with tire rotator and sweepster brush, built by Larry, Cale and Cody Crispe.
- a tractor for scrubbing and washing the track,
- a Bobcat with a scraper, called the spray rig.

The track safety (aka Safety Safari) equipment:
- a Hurst jaws of life,
- a few ATVs and a John Deere gator.

the tractor used for scrubbing/washing

X-DRL Director of Operations Chris Bell summed it up nicely when he commented:

"The talented drivers in this sport spend a tremendous amount of money and put in an incredible amount of time working on the consistency of their car. We [as race organizers] want to make sure we provide an excellent surface so all of that work will pay off with amazing performances in front of the fans."

With track prep equipment no longer a mystery, the logical next step is procuring funding to buy these essentials, especially the "jaws of life". Ever wonder why they are called that?

Thanks for reading.

Source and photo credit: X-DRL

Crashes in Pro Stock drag racing

Accidents, however regrettable they may be, are a common in drag racing, especially at higher speeds.

Some two years ago I had an unfortunate mishap by slightly touching the right containment wall at the Curacao International Raceway. Even though this accident was but a minor one, it made me think about what else could go wrong, and boy was I in for a wake-up call. The more research I did, the more I realized that accidents are more common in the top flights of drag racing than I had thought.

Doing a 180 at about 180 mph.

These accidents happen for various reasons, ranging from mechanical failure being the least frequent, to getting outside the groove and the car snapping out of control. This happened to newcomer Lizzy Musi two weeks ago. Then you have those strange situations where the run appears to be going great when, all of the sudden, a freak gust of wind pushes the back-end and you find yourself going sideways at 200+ mph.

Almost every pro driver has put the car on its roof at least once in his/her career. Jason Line, the previous driver of my old car, recounted his first mishap to me when I looked him up at the Winternationals last year in Pomona.

"It was my first race in pro stock and we were competing at our main sponsors event, when on my very first elimination run the car got away from me and my race ended in a spectacular accident," said Line. "I thought for sure that then and there I had lost my ride [would not be allowed to drive again]. Instead, I was told that these things happen and that you will do much better at the next race."

Deploying the chute doesn't always help

To watch the video of Jason's crash, click here.

Naturally nobody wants to see someone crash, especially not at the amateur level. However, every time we go out there we run the risk of some mishap. The fact that each pass we make takes only 6.5 seconds, means that everything happens quite fast and that reacting just a millisecond late can have disastrous consequences.

The video below is a compilation made by ADRL and it is shown here not as a celebration, but as a normal part of racing.



See you at the races, and if you are behind the steering wheel, always think "safety first".

The pictures on the right side are just an example of what can go wrong during a pass.

Thanks for reading.

A long weekend of Drag Racing on Curacao

Traditionally, we have here in Curacao drag racing competition during the "Dia di La Reina" long weekend holiday. And this year there will be no exception. Mainly due to the efforts of a group race activists and enthusiasts, we will have no less than six days of activities, all taking place at the Curacao International Raceway, but brought to you by two organizers.

The main event is the International Drag Fest races, which will run for three days, starting on April 29 and running through May 1. On Friday, April 27, there will be a car and bike show held at the track.
Race participants will come from Aruba and Venezuela, to battle against the locals at this wonderful race facility. Besides drag racing, other activities will include fever, drift, and Pinks All Out races.
The International Drag Fest, and Car & Bike Show, are organized by Still Balling Productions.

The promotional video below, even though in Papiamentu, illustrates just a tad of what can be expected.

The other drag racing event, as important as the previous one, is the Operation Street Legal races, which will take place on Saturday, April 28.

This class is very popular with the fans and is always quite entertaining.
The street legal categories are: Street Bracket, Heavy Bracket Box-and No Box, and Street Bike. There will be testing between 17.00 and 19.00 hours, continued by elimination races.
This event is organized by Operation Street Legal.

Thanks for reading and see you at the track.

Source: Curacao Int'l Raceway.
Video by: Take One Media