$55,000 To Win Race

[wagner]

All post more about this event later, but this race was one the most bad ass things I've ever seen.

 

Keith's car was not even running before round 1 of qualifying, they finished putting the brand new motor combo in the car at the track. He then starts getting quicker, and quicker, and snapping necks during eliminations.

 

This race felt like a heavy weight title fight, Wrestlemania, and a final battle between good and evil all mixed into one. I picked Stevie Fast to win, but he got caught napping on the tree an he could not drive around the wooooooo machine.

 

[SRTurbo04]

both cars are just nuts

[wagner]

both cars are just nuts

 

Every car in the class is nuts. Nitrous cars with 900 plus cubic inch motors, screw blower cars that sound so angry, turbo cars with giant turbos.

 

Big Chief almost made the field, but I was told that certain people complained enough to get weight thrown at his combo so he would not hit the 3's.

 

He ended up running a 4.10 on a single pass, that is flying for an all Pontiac small block with 88mm turbos....

[Chief8one]

what's with the woman in the fur coat at the starting line?

[wagner]

what's with the woman in the fur coat at the starting line?

 

That is Duck's girlfriend, and she is wearing his signature jacket.

[ShowHBK]

I blinked and missed the race

 

Awesome story to this video though

[-Alex-]

Woooooo TTFMF

 

It was a great show and an awesome final. Think they said Berry was ahead by 7 inches at the line.

[SHIEF]

Badass race. All of Stevie's lights were under .021 til the finals. Berry also made a response video after the win that's pretty good. Was watching online. Last year max was 6k people watching, this year I saw 24k watching online. Gets bigger each year.

[DSM1290]

So they are at the track using timers and all that. But it doesn't matter who has the fastest time? I have said it before this racing is stupid. I still don't understand why these lames don't run a 1/4mile.

[wagner]

So they are at the track using timers and all that. But it doesn't matter who has the fastest time? I have said it before this racing is stupid. I still don't understand why these lames don't run a 1/4mile.

 

In heads up racing the only thing that matters is who gets there first. You sleep on the line you can be a full second quicker than the other person, but they got to the stripe first so they win.

 

Its called a holeshot win, been around drag racing since forever...

 

As for this being "stupid", well that is a very uneducated statement to put it in a nice way.

 

1. 1/4 mile racing is dying, just accept it and deal with it. Insurance, safety, and lack of tracks is killing it off.

 

2. These cars are on the total edge of sanity and really are not meant to run a full quarter mile. Unless you have ever driven a small tire car that makes this kind of power you would not understand.

 

3. There is an event where they run small tire cars the full quarter mile, Import vs Domestic World Cup. The problem is that most of these cars are not certed to run full quarter mile, the safety requirements are crazy.

 

4. Small tire racing is the only really exciting thing going on in motorsports right now, period. The big series pull in droves of people, but its corporate racing and you can't hold a candle to this.

 

I've been to some of the biggest 1/4 mile races around and they are lame, corporate, and boring. Who wants to see a bunch of 8 and 9 second throttle stop cars, a few nitro cars make half-ass 1,000 foot passes, and the bad ass Stock and Super Stock cars get fucked over?

Edited March 1, 2016 by Wagner

[SHIEF]

So they are at the track using timers and all that. But it doesn't matter who has the fastest time? I have said it before this racing is stupid. I still don't understand why these lames don't run a 1/4mile.

 

Your win light came on in the stupid race.

[evil8]

Who really finds this style of racing exciting?

[Jewtoys]

Who really finds this style of racing exciting?

 

Middle America

[wagner]

Middle America

 

False

[evil8]

Middle America

 

Then I can find this locally?

[wagner]

Then I can find this locally?

 

I heard Kil-Kare LOVES to have heads up races :gabe:

[DSM1290]

to me 1/8 is just lame why don't you just make the race who has the quickest reaction time. what's next 1/16 mile or 60ft race? I think it would be cool to see mile races. Gives you a chance to race. Insurance, safety lack of tracks? For real it's racing its supposed to be dangerous that half the fun! And there are tons of tracks out there to run on. How many do you really need. and insurance i don't understand what you mean by that. And if you are doing "heads up" racing then turn off the timers.

[wagner]

to me 1/8 is just lame why don't you just make the race who has the quickest reaction time. what's next 1/16 mile or 60ft race? I think it would be cool to see mile races. Gives you a chance to race. Insurance, safety lack of tracks? For real it's racing its supposed to be dangerous that half the fun! And there are tons of tracks out there to run on. How many do you really need. and insurance i don't understand what you mean by that. And if you are doing "heads up" racing then turn off the timers.

 

Anybody who knows anything about drag racing understands that the front half of the track is the most important, after the 1/8th mile your pretty much along for the ride.

 

They do mile racing in Russia, its all street type cars, becaues a full blown race car of this level would eat itself in a mile. There is also standing mile time trials here in Ohio.

 

Tracks are closing all the time, we are lucky in Ohio to have so many so close.

 

Tracks need insurance to run, just like any other business.

 

I really don't think you understand how racing works, but in heads up racing the light turns green, first one to the stripe wins, so you kind of need the timing system for that.

[Geeto67]

Anybody who knows anything about drag racing understands that the front half of the track is the most important, after the 1/8th mile your pretty much along for the ride.

 

They do mile racing in Russia, its all street type cars, becaues a full blown race car of this level would eat itself in a mile. There is also standing mile time trials here in Ohio.

 

Tracks are closing all the time, we are lucky in Ohio to have so many so close.

 

Tracks need insurance to run, just like any other business.

 

I really don't think you understand how racing works, but in heads up racing the light turns green, first one to the stripe wins, so you kind of need the timing system for that.

 

don't feed the troll.

[DSM1290]

i'm not trolling i'm trying to understand and express my opinion on the subject, kind of the point of this site. I know they do mile races thats what i'm saying those are a little more interesting. Those cars might blow up if they raced that far. That's why you build better cars if they can't handle the race. And i still don't really understand the point about the ins. like you said pretty much all business need ins. so yeah. Also the timers are not needed light turns green you go first the cross the lines wins. No need for time.

[evil8]

I heard Kil-Kare LOVES to have heads up races :gabe:

 

Never heard of her.

[DKilbourne]

Never heard of her.

 

Only issue is some fruit cake runs it.....wtf?

[Geeto67]

I know they do mile races thats what i'm saying those are a little more interesting.

Ever been to a mile event live? it's more interesting in the pits than watching it because you can't see the whole track from a single point like a 1/4 mile or 1/8th mile. The cars are also way more diverse but the focus is different. You don't see a lot of "hard" drag strip launches at a LSR even because it's unnecessary, you aren't beating another guy to the finish line, you are racing the radar gun. In the 1950's they used to run side by side mile drags, and there are 1/2 mile drags in Texas, Indiana, and Georgia, and there just isn't as much interest for these types of events to justify the costs.

 

Those cars might blow up if they raced that far.

you setup the car to the track. 1/4 mile cars run much different setups than 1/8th mile and 1 mile tracks. You don't see a lot of streamliners at ATCO or Englishtown, and you don't see any Top Fuel Dragsters at ECTA wilmington events. You will see pro-stock and pro-street style cars at an LS event but the gearing and aerodynamics setups will be vastly different.

 

 

And i still don't really understand the point about the ins.

Racing is a business. Tracks are not a public utility like an airport or a fire station (in most cases, I think Lyons being the oddball). The owners of those tracks have to carry insurance and it is one of the many costs involved in running the event. Under the laws of premises liability if someone dies on your property doing something they could be reasonably expected to do but the property was not really safe for, you can be held liable. Hence why a track has to carry insurance for an event, since the track can't really underwrite your death and pay your widow.

 

The insurance companies get to dictate the risk they are willing to underwrite. After Scott Kalitta's death the insurance companies that underwrite NHRA events said the tracks are not setup for the speeds the top fuels cars are now going so we are not going to underwrite an event at that track unless you do something. In this case that something was to run then 1000 feet instead of 1320. Sure a track can underwrite that risk itself and run them 1320 but one incident could bankrupt the track and the governing body.

 

 

Also the timers are not needed light turns green you go first the cross the lines wins. No need for time.

That's one kind of straight line racing. Not the only kind. Also that kind of racing costs a fortune and isn't accessible to most people looking to drag race. Bracket classes are the meat and potatoes of drag racing at the grassroots level.

 

I guess it all comes down to what is it you are really competing for. Bracket racing has a different strategy than heads up racing. Brackets tend to reward the driver - it's drivers competing with the cars handicapped for equality. Heads up tends to be more complicated, the focus is more on how well the car is setup and built, although the margin so error is so small the driver is still an extremely important factor. LSR is something completely different where you are looking for outright speed, car setup is most important, driver not so much and you are competing against yourself and the record books, not necessarily another driver.

 

Just because YOU like one type of racing doesn't mean that that type of racing should be the only one to exist. People hear "Drag racing" and they think it is only one type of racing - going A to B, but it is actually more diverse than that.