BOATING IS A DROP IN THE BUCKET COMPARED TO PRO DRAG RACING, I KNOW ALL TO WELL, I RAN A PRO MOD/BLOWN ALCOHOL CAR FOR 7 YEARS, AND STILL BUILD THEM FOR CUSTOMERS AND HAVE FOR 23 YEARS NOW. OUR CAR COST WAS $400.00 PER 1/4 MILE PASS, ON ALCOHOL 6.80s@206, 2200 HP, Gs 3.9 OFF STARTING LINE. 0-100 MPH IN 1.03 SEC. THE LAST YEAR WE DID THE NITRO COUPE THING BUT NEVER GOT A FULL PASS UNDER POWER. NITRO IS UNREAL!! AND UNCONTROLABLE, WE WERE IN THE 3000 HP RANGE AND COULDN'T AFFORD ALL THE MAINTIANCE COST, BUT WE TRIED..

Bavk in the 70's I loved watching the Fuel Altereds run.
Especially Willie Borsch in the Winged Express. Usually he drove with one hand on the wheel, the other holding onto the body.

This is my favorite shot.
He's foot to the floor, boiling the tires, and sideways during a run.
This time he's got both hands on the wheel.

Yes it is a very expensive sport.
Never did the blower thing, but Pro Stock is jsut as out of control cost wise.
New car: $80k without paint
Motor 85k or 10,000 per race rental
Crew not cheap
everything else: not cheap either!

sure was fun though!

Steve Tanzy @ Erson who does a lot of the fuel cams stated that the exhaust valve must open against 12,000 PSI. This actually can "buckle" the valve. Seat pressure is close to 550# and on the exhaust lifters they run (2) 1" roller wheels so as the first wheel gets deflected (by crushed needle bearings) the second wheel helps take some of the load off. Ignition timing various throughout the pass starting at close to zero and can retard to
- 14 degrees depending on set-up.

You cannot describe the sensation of a TF car to anyone who has not seen a TF car in person. TV does nothing at all to give you anywhere near the full dimension of this awesome sport. I have been to many NHRA events over my life. The TF Dragsters and Funny cars alone are worth the price of admission.

back when I was little, I helped Don Garlits pick up his chut at the end of the runway, I helped out at the airport racetrack My uncle and my father plus a bunch of local mechanics ran this big saturday event, we had a track minibike that i used to get to the end of the runway. this only had to be done for the dragsters and the funny cars.
this was the 60's ya know front engine drag cars

You know, the air fuel ratio that is actually running is much closer to 1:1, with boost pressures running in the 50-60lb range, we've run our Horiba air fuel meters on them a few time. The RF coming from the mags are unreal, basically a mini welder! Heres some pics of my dads ol' ride.

Oh, and a few other things:

Since the fuel systems are empty when you go to start the engine (had to turn the fuel off to stop it, remember?), you have to feed gasoline or methanol into the engine with a squirt bottle to get it going while the fuel system primes itself up. Sound simple? Not!:

Too much priming fuel - engine can put out a cylinder at startup, load up that cylinder with too much fuel, hydraulic the heads off and blow up.

Too little priming fuel - engine can go lean as the nitro starts to come in, backfire through the blower and blow up.

Gotta respect something that will do that if you start it wrong....(Kinda of like getting the missus out of bed when she has a hangover.)

If a rear wheel comes off at 330 mph, converts all its rotational energy into linear velocity, and goes airborne at a 45 degree angel, it will travel 2.2 km (1.3 miles). No **** - these are numbers from a recent SAE conference on safety. And they don't take into account any "Frisbee" effects.......

In regards to the earlier torque numbers: 6,000 hp @ 8500 rpm = 3,706 ft-lbs. (Even an Arneson won't take that.)

Very, very cool. :cool:

They pegged the 5,000 ftlb TQ strain guage and had to recalibrate to 10,000 and they have yet to peg it.

Good point - my numbers are actually for the "best case" scenario where the engine is at max RPM. Let's say in makes "only" 5,000 hp at 4,000 rpm. In that case, torque = 6,563. Yowza! :eek: