Why we love drag racing

Today being Friday I thought to send you off into the weekend with something different. Our home is this tiny little island in the Caribbean with a small population of around 150,000 which is no where near enough to support much motor sports. Luckily for us, we had some visionaries in the 1980's that truly loved the sport of drag racing who decided to build a state-of-the-art drag racing facility in Curaçao.

To many of us, drag racing is the only form of motor sport we know. And though we do not have the nitro-methane burning Top Fuel or Funny Cars competing at the Curaçao International Raceway, nor is our stage anywhere are big as the NHRA drag racing series, we do share a great deal in common with those professional racers. Our passion, determination, and love for the sport is equal on many levels. To illustrate this watch the short video below.





Source: NHRA

John Force hooks Capps by accident

Generally, the sport of drag racing is known to be full of heart throbbing action and an occasional high speed crash. But very seldom does something funny happen!

I guess they forgot to mention this to 15-time NHRA Champion John Force. During the eliminations round at the O'Reilly Auto parts Route 66 NHRA nationals, after defeating his nemesis Ron Capps, John Force turns early onto the return road right into the path of the still fuming Capps. The latter tried to evade Force's chutes but it was too late.

Below you can watch a short video put out by NHRA. Too bad it ends before Capps get's to talking to the old man Force!



Thanks for reading.

Video: Courtesy of NHRA.

Top Fuel Dragsters , by Sports Science

Top Fuel dragsters are some of the most mind blowing and physics defying vehicles on the planet. Here are some of the stats compiled by ESPN Sports Science:

- It travels to the 1000 foot mark in less then 4 seconds,

- the engine uses the equivalent of 100 gallons of nitromethane fuel a minute,

- the supercharger forces the equivalent of 50 cubic ft of air into the engine every sec,

- the engine's pistons fire up to 150 times a second,

- the engine produces more than 10.000 horsepower,

- 17.5 inch wide tires are made from a special blend of adhesive rubber that creates 6 times more friction than an average tire, and are inflated at just 7 pound of pressure,

- the cars accelerate up to 100 mph in just 0.8 seconds, twice as much acceleration as a fighter jet being catapulted of an aircraft carrier; speaking in Gs, the driver experiences 5 Gs, which is almost twice what an astronaut experienced when taking of with NASA's space shuttle, 

- to stop the car, a set of parachutes are used that cause up to negative 6 Gs of stopping power.

Below is the short video clip by ESPN Sports Science.

Thanks for reading.

Source: ESPN Sports Science, via Braggenrites.com.

And we have touchdown!

This picture of pro mod driver Chip King at Englishtown reminded me of the space shuttle touching down at Kennedy Space Center. 

And just a few days after I initially drafted this piece, Haskett Bros. Racing posted similar photo on Facebook, which I just could not deprive you off. The second picture below is of Todd Lesenko driving Jim Dunn's Funny car.

So graceful, yet so dangerous, is the job of both driver and pilot [of the now retired flying brick]. Ok, that might be a stretch but you can't deny the similarity in the pictures.

Thanks for reading.

Photo credit: Mark Rebilas, second photograph right's owner unknown, scenic reflections.com

Why I love Super Slo-Mo

One of the things that I like about watching racing footage, any form of racing for that matter, is the super slow motion you so often get to see. In this year's running of Le Mans, the French-ies showed some pretty good clips. Luckily for us, NHRA drag racing has incorporated super slow motion into each of their televised events.

As an illustration, this 1 minute video highlights two Top Fuel engine explosions in super slow motion.

In the first one, as Lex Joon starts on his pass, a cylinder goes out sending the car into a tire spin resulting in a massive explosion. Super slow motion footage captures the moment when the engine spews out two spark plugs. Pretty wild stuff!

In the second highlight, shortly after leaving the starting line a fuel hose came loose on Steve Chrisman's top fuel's engine, which causes the engine to lean out and consequently push out the head gaskets.



Thanks to ESPN and crew of cameramen and announcers for capturing the moments we knew existed but were never able to see before.

Thanks for reading.

Source: ESPN/YouTube

Great Shots

Living on a paradise island has its pro's: the beach is just a couple of minutes away, it's white sand warm while the clear blue ocean is always cool and refreshing.

However, being so far removed from large scale motor racing events, of any kind, is my biggest con. Photographers, the internet and cable TV do their best to bring us what we missed. And boy, do we owe them a great deal of gratitude. Well, maybe less of cable TV!

Take for example photographer Mark J. Rebilas, who goes to great lengths to push the envelop each time he has a camera in his hand. Sometimes he goes beyond the call of duty, as is shown with the picture on the right, by renting a helicopter in order to get the optimal view (for us). Click on the pictures to see a larger version.

Ok, anyone with sufficient funding can get himself a helicopter. So one has to have an eye for taking pictures too... and quickly. Earlier in the year his shots of Pro Mod racer Mike Janis running into trouble down in Gainesville, Florida, were placed centerfold in premiere drag racing magazine Drag Illustrated.

Thanks to Mark and photographers like him around the world (yes, here in Curacao too) that fools like me can live happily on a paradise island, far removed from the racing action.

I didn't want to pass the opportunity to show Todd Robertson's great funny car paint job, which won the 2012 Detroit Autorama. Gotta love that creativity.

Thanks for reading.

Source: Mark J. Rebilas, Drag Illustrated, Todd Robertson

The zMAX Dragway

Back on October 17, 2011, I wrote a blog on "TV Tommy" Ivo, who brilliantly thought if two is good, then four must be much better and built himself back in 1961 a four-engined dragster. zMAX Dragway must have been created using the same vision...I think.

The zMAX Dragway is a state-of-the-art quarter mile drag strip, the only one of its kind with four lanes, instead of the customary two, and is the only all-concrete drag strip as well in the U.S.

Tomorrow starts one of the greatest spectacles in drag racing, the so-called Four-Wide Nationals, at the Bellagio of dragstrips. Lucky fans will get to see the fastest accelerating machines on the planet release a 30.000 horsepower assault on zMAX dragway. That's almost more than the entire starting grid of the Daytona 500!

Antron Brown, driver of the Matco Top Fuel dragster explained this event best.

"When you say 'a spectacle,' you're talking about 30.000 horsepower. Raw, ground-pounding, asphalt-ripping horsepower, and we are going to get it done all in one shot. When you hear that thing hit, you're hearing this percussion going, and everybody thinks it's a category 4 earthquake, and it's nothing but our Top Fuel and Funny Cars ripping up that concrete at zMAX Dragway."

Last year's winner, Jack Beckman, explained how he feels to be behind the starting line during the event.

"When we roll up to the starting line, when it's two-wide and the pair in front of us step on the trottle, it's pretty impressive, and I didn't think anything could top that. When you roll up there four-wide and the ones in front of you step on the trottle, our bodies are held up by these big metal poles; I swear it seems like that thing is going to snap in half and the body is going to fall down."

And it is not easy racing here. Tony Schumacher's second-round loss last year stands as a cautionary tale for why Four-Wide isn't so beloved by those in the cockpit.

"I didn't know what the car in the left and right lanes were doing, so I kept pedaling it, blew up, oiled the track down and lost 10 point,"recounted Schumacher. "[The format] forces me to do that. I'm glad it's not in the Countdown, but it's something different. I've got a lot of trophies on the shelf, and I don't have a Four-Wide yet. I want one."

For more information, please click here.

Thanks for reading.

Source: NHRA, Drag Illustrated

Farewell to the grumpy one!

The sport of drag racing lost last month a very special driver and innovator in Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins. NHRA called him a master of the internal combustion engine and a legend among the Chevrolet faithful. He was 81.

Bill Jenkins (1930-2012)

Grumpy played a leading role in lifting drag racing to the level of a sanctioned sport from its "dirty finger-nails" street racing days, according to Ron Watson, President of the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, into which Jenkins was inducted in 1996.

Back in 2001, the NHRA conducted a poll of experts and ranked Bill Jenkins no. 8 among the nation's 50 top racers, even though he only won 13 NHRA events while behind the wheel. He earned that position because no other individual has contributed more to improving engines that made the straight-line, quarter mile racing from a standing start more popular. 

Grumpy's innovations included a front-suspension system that improved performance of a stock car by transferring weight to the rear tires, and a "slick-shift manual transmission" that allowed the driver to shift gears without lifting a foot from the gas pedal (clutchless, planetary gears transmission). He also installed a so-called cool can, containing ice, along the fuel line to lower gasoline temperature, hereby increasing horsepower. I actually remember my father running a Moroso built cool can on his Chevelle Malibu called "Whathehell".

Bill Jenkins rose to prominence in 1966 when his 327 ci, 350 horsepower Chevy II outran most 426 ci, 424 horsepower Dodge and Plymouth Street Hemis in dozens of local races around the country. And then in 1972, he exploited the "giant killer" approach when he won 6 of 8 national events with his 331 ci small-block Pro Stock Vega called "Grumpy's Toy".

He later opened an engine-building shop in his hometown of Malvern, PA, and dozens of top professional drivers took advantage of his technical skills.

About his nickname "Grumpy", he knew that almost everyone knew that his gruff front was just that. He relished the name.

Grumpy helped Dave win his 1st Wally

I never got to know him, but Dave Connolly did, as he was Dave's engine builder in 2005, the same year he won the WinterNationals and briefly led the "Powerade" point's series.

In Dave's own words on Facebook:
"... Lost one of the greats today. Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins was one of a kind. He was one of the funniest and smartest guys I know. And I'm honored not only to have known him but got the pleasure to race with him. I'll never forget those times or the things he thought me..."

Personally, I remember him from his days with Dave, standing behind the rookie at the starting line whilst listening to his engine's performance. 

The short, stocky, gravelly-voiced man who often chomped cigars will be missed. Godspeed Grumpy, the father of Pro Stock.

For more information please click here. If you're a drag racing fan, please check out NHRA's Dragster Insider for numerous great short stories and anecdotes on Grumpy. They're great fun. Click here.

Thanks for reading.

Source: New York Times, NHRA, Wikipedia

What happened over the weekend

In NHRA:

The Arizona Nationals came just one week after Pomona and already one can see a glimpse of the future...or shouldn't we put too much stock in repeat performance or strength in numbers. Fine, let's not get ahead of ourselves.

In Top Fuel, Antron Brown made a 3.7793 et,  319.82 mph pass to win over teammate Tony Schumacher. An all Don Schumacher Racing final and it was Brown's 32nd win career win, with 16 wins in Top Fuel and 16 in Pro Stock Motorcycle.

In Funny Car, for a second week in a row it was an all John Force Racing final. This time Robert Hight raced his teammate Mike Neff and defeated him with a 4.139 et, 307.07 mph.

In Pro Stock, as was the case with Top Fuel and Funny Car, a pair of teammates lined up in the finals, with Jason Line going up against Greg Anderson and beating him. Our friend Rob Downing has it going on!

John Force with daughter Courtney

I particularly loved the fact that a rookie upstaged the legend. Daughter Courtney forced legendary racer and father John to stage first. For those who don't know John, he likes (read always) to stage last. And to everybody's surprise, she beat him off the line and got the win (though he had to back off when he broke loose due to dropping some cylinders). She made to the semi's but lost to teammate Hight.

In each of the pro categories, teammates raced each other in the final round. For the fan's sake, I hope that at the next race we will have different drivers going to the finals. But then again, it is up to the other teams to step up to the plate and do a better job! 

Next race will be the Gatornationals on March 8, where the Pro Bikes will join the rest of the group.

Alexis brushes the wall in practise

By the way, Funny Car rookie Alexis de Joria is improving with each pass. In Saturday morning's qualifying session, her "Camry" put out a few holes on the right side causing it to make a hard left (similar situation to John Force's). From the picture on the right you can see how the car veers hard to the left (look for the tire tracks) and causing her to have her hands full. She did caress the wall ever so gently.

In NASCAR:

Nascar kicked off its 2012 season with the running of the Bud Shootout. This also marks the start of its week long run up to the biggest race of the year, the Daytona 500. Most championships end their season with their biggest race or game (take for example American Football with their superbowl), but Nascar does just the opposite. And in a way, it works for it forces everyone to focus on starting the season at their very very best!

And so I tuned in Saturday night to watch the Bud shootout on Fox (click here to see a recap).
If you're not a fan, you must see this for yourself. Nascar is synonymous with close racing....eerr bumping and grinding.

This race has a peculiar format which we won't get into, but needless to say, it assures for lots of excitement. There were three large wrecks (as they call them) and a couple of close calls. One in which Kyle Bush was nudged from behind causing him to loose control going at 200 mph and somehow (he is awesome driver) kept it without going into the wall or other cars. On the other hand, Jeff Gordon who bumped Kyle did crash and put his #24 car on its roof. That is what some call "karma."
Kyle Bush had two tremendous saves and went on to win the race.

Kyle is a polarizing driver but also an undeniably a great driver. After the race, even his harshest critics admit that the boy can drive. I believe that with this outing, he has single-handedly ensured for increased viewers for the coming races, if not for the entire year.

Source: Dragillustrated.

Photo credits: NHRA, toyotaracing, autoweek.