IHRA warns FC Drivers!

After a lot of oildowns by the Alky Funny Cars at the first two IHRA national events, the IHRA management team had a drivers-only meeting at Rockingham to inform the teams that if the drivers and teams don't find a way to cut way down on the number of oildowns then IHRA will take steps to fix the problem. [4-27-2004]

Cortesy of DRO

 

After what I saw at Martin last year, it doesn't surprise me.

 

Tis true!!!!

 

But I thought that if you ran a roots blower you never hurt anything...at least thats what most IHRA racers say...

 

Doesn't Fred Tigges who post here say he was going back to IHRA cause a PSI causes to much Damage???

 

CAREFULL GUYS- A certain IHRA member will be letting you know how uninformed and out of the loop you are!

 

well lets just say we have of good friends that run NHRA, and they say 20 to 25 runs on a crank,once you can RUN 60s, you can push it more but one mistake and MAYDAY! MOST WHO COMMENT about screws VS roots never ran good with a roots and you dont need 4of them anymore.

 

Sounds like to me that when you are pushing the limits like both NHRA and IHRA racers are, they both are very expensive. The current oildown problem that IHRA has right now goes to show that "MAYDAY" is happening with roots cars too. Only 25 runs on a crank does suck, thats the first that I have heard that. Who have you heard this from?

 

20-25 runs on a crank is rediculous. He must have 13:1 compression with 45 degrees in the mag on 8 gallons of fuel. We had more problems cracking the front rod throw at the inside radius of the crank with a roots because a roots takes almost 3 times the power to spin. Couple that with a pulsing hotter charge...missing the tune up woulnd't be pretty.

I'd never go back to a roots. But that's just me.

 

So Marc and Randy, how many runs do you get on a set of Rods/Crank?

 

Rods, 15-18. Probably could get more but not willing to risk it. GRP's are supposed to get 25+/- but not mine. We run Brooks.

Cranks: Upwards of 60+ depending on how happy the tune-up is.

Last set of rods only got one run due to a split fitting in the fuel system.

 

Damn, and these guys are killing Cranks after 20-25 runs??? No wonder their Car counts are way down!

 

10 runs brooks b-2 50 runs max on crank, we went back to the roots because we know how. when we had the screw on it was cooking the ti hub, and bluing the crank gear against the crank,REALLY BAD. the first thing we learned with the screw was we needed to dump the comp, so we did 10.5 it went right out and went 247.

 

If you're stuck on stupid, you're gonna hurt stuff no matter if you have a PSI or Roots.

[ April 30, 2004, 05:43 PM: Message edited by: T.Smith ]

 

Instead of putting the screw on and trying to rotate the earth to show everyone what you think you can do, why not step it back and learn like most of us did???

 

I think you guys might be missing the point..If IHRA "will do something" to stop it, what in the hell do they know that we don't? I'm all ears! Let's hear it. What should we do? leave the oil in the pits or take the belt off after it starts?I'm sorry, there's probably some $15000 SFI, only lasts 1 year, cure they can mandate.I mean what the hell, certifying the oil lines made a real improvement!!And that $900 diaper that needs to be deshitted every winter has saved me tons of parts~!!Why not hand everyone a complete ignition system at tech that quits at 7000 rpm, That'll keep the fans on their feet!It's a race car. Even the Briggs and Strattons blow up. Give me a break

 

The meeting was not about catastrophic results or tuning mistakes that can and will happen . But rather to curtail the sometimes repeat offenders of worn or fingertight parts from making the same mistakes or poor preparation, new crew or ?? The down time was caused by small failures resulting in approximately 1.5 hours of cleanup time (of which one was caused by a f***ing wheelstanding bus that ran between P/S and F/C and was not cleaned in Melinda Green' lane. *NOTE* it happened on the way down in our lane and when DRIVING back up the track in her lane ! freaks )

The onus is on all teams In Both sanctions to improve our packages in the interest of entertainment value and fan perception. The TV time is too important to sponsors to risk losing it ,we all now the ripple effect and message it sends. 80 % of the failures were in fact new teams that may need help or direction to better prepare the car safely and avoid at all costs the risk of making a stupid mistake that could in fact hurt someone. The IHRA will not "Fix it" they will just stop it from getting any Sunlight for us to grow our programs. The mechanical failures and missed tune ups are the least of the worries they are gonna happen at times , lack of preparation and repeat offences that are preventable like pedalling the car 2 or 3 times after a 1.06 - 60' while blowing through the clutch until the car is smoking at half track with most of the oil on the inside of the body instead of the oil pan will not be tolerated at all. A very wise Funny Car legend Herb Rodgers once told us " The car don't know", "it is attached to your brain securely through the gas pedal but it passes directly through your wallet before it gets there, and the longer it takes to decide something the more it costs ! " The challenge now is to find a way to make every ones car DRY and then fast .


Mr Scary - Note : To my knowledge there was one motor (Ray Drew) on the first pass in San Antonio that broke a rod , other than that I have only seen a few burned hemi pistons and I don't think any of the guys got a black flag penalty ?

[ April 30, 2004, 11:15 PM: Message edited by: Les Mellows ]