Drag racing is one of the most intense forms of drag racing. Two cars with 10,000 horsepower engines line up at a starting line, move into position, and then blast off, going from 0 to 300 miles per hour in just under 4 seconds. After each run, the engine is dismantled, most of the moving parts are replaced, and the engine is rebuilt, and tested before the next run.
When the race is on, a thousand things can go wrong with the car, especially the engine. One of the most common pieces of equipment to go wrong is with pistons. Top fuel and funny car pistons generate 1,250 horsepower each. If they aren’t aligned right, aren’t lubricated enough, or something is wrong, that can cost the driver a win or even a championship. This example is a piston head used and autographed by Brandon Bernstein.It was only used for one run, but shows some light use, and is in good condition.Now let’s look at an interesting Del Worsham piston from 2002.The story behind this piston is interesting. At the 2002 Checker Schuck’s Kragen Nationals at Firebird International Raceway, Del Worsham beat John Force in the final. Worsham temporarily denied Force his 100th event win. This mangled piston wrecked the engine block during that run. The piston chewed the block and itself up during that final run. Part of the piston arm is still wedged inside the piston, and one side is almost completely gone.Now let’s take a side-by-side look at a piston that worked well, and a piston that destroyed the engine.
Savagery and speed are one in the same. This kind of wear happens a lot on NHRA cars, and we will look at some more parts next week.
The NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series is renowed for their diversity in drivers. Such is the diversity that African-American, Hispanic-American, Middle Eastern, Asian, Jewish and Women have all had success in the top levels of the NHRA. When it comes to Hispanic drivers, one immediately thinks of Cruz and Tony Pedregon.
Cruz started in Top Fuel in 1991, and moved to Funny Car in 1992, winning the Championship, being the only driver to beat John Force for a championship in the 1990’s. Tony followed suit in 1993, but didn’t win his first Championship until 2003. They both ran the full schedule in 1998, Tony won 2 events, one at Texas, the other at Denver. During that season, he wore these Simpson Holeshot drag boots.These boots are unlike most racing shoes because they are designed to cover both the shoe, and the end of the leg of the driver suit. Why would funny car drivers wear such boots? Well, to answer that, let’s look at the design of the inside of a funny car. This is a Ron Capps diecast, but it shows how the car is set up. The driver sits almost on top of the rear axle, with the 10,000 horsepower engine, and nitromethane fuel tank directly in front. Should there be an engine explosion, which isn’t uncommon, the fire would blow back into the driver. There are firewalls in place, but those can’t always be counted on to protect the driver from the full effects of fire in the time it takes to get a funny car stops. That’s where these boots come in. They will give that little extra bit of help to the driver in exiting the car.
They are rated 15, not bad for 1998 standards, but would have a 20 rating in 2015. Both boots have been signed by Pedregon and he added the inscription “’98.” Both have Simpson warranty tags, and the right boot has an SFI tag 3/3 tag. To understand the degree of protection drag racing requires from driver uniforms, you need to understand the rating. NASCAR suits, both driver and pit crew have an SFI rating of 5, which means that they will protect the wearer from 2nd degree burns for 10 seconds. NHRA top fuel, funny car, top alcohol dragster, and top alcohol funny car have ratings of 20, which means that the suit will protect the wearer from 2nd degree burns for 40 seconds.
It’s amazing the risk that drag racers take. It’s also amazing the amount of damage a mistake in the engine can cause, and we will examine that much closer next week.
There are two big changes coming to the NHRA in 2016. The first change is the engine and wheelie bar changes to Pro Stock cars, but I’ll get to that at a later date. The other change hasn’t been discussed at all, and I see nothing but good things with this. After this season, The NHRA will leave ESPN and move to Fox Sports with their television contract. The president of the NHRA called it a “game changer.” and I agree.
To anyone who sees this as a bad thing, let me make this clear…ESPN HATES auto racing. When NASCAR was with ESPN, they were always the second fiddle. ESPN would move coverage to ESPN Classic, or ESPN news if another live sporting event took precedent over NASCAR. With the current television deals with Fox and NBC, this isn’t an option. Races are covered flag to flag, with no interruptions. Why is this important? Well let’s look at the 2014 Bank Of America 500 at Charlotte. This was a Chase Race, the second round of the Contender round, and the first 25 laps were sent to ESPN News because a Baylor/TCU football game ran long. This sent many fans into rage mode, and rightfully so. With the Fox Sports/NBC Sports setup, this won’t happen.
NASCAR’s fans and sponsors are sick of ESPN’s bullshit and the first chance they had to bail, they took. The sad thing is that unlike TNT, ESPN had a great crew they were working with. I hated the nonsense in moving the race because of another game, but at least the broadcast team was made up of a group of good reporters and broadcasters. NASCAR justifiably felt that their brand was being shit upon by ESPN, plain and simple. NASCAR won’t say that, but that is what they are thinking.
ESPN even proved my point about the NHRA for me with Sunday Night’s telecast. The start of the taped telecast was delayed by 57 minutes because a Little League game ran long. Are you kidding me? You are going to delay the start of a nationally sanctioned racing event that draws hundreds of thousands of viewers, and 20,000 fans to the track for a bunch of kids playing baseball? I guarantee you that there were more fans in hospitality tents at Seattle’s race than there were in attendance at the Little League game.
ESPN has proved to the racing community that they do not care at all about auto racing sanctioning bodies, sponsors or fans. In turn, ESPN is now losing contracts, some of which they have had for decades because better deals and better coverage is now a real factor. I’m not going to miss having to sit through Little League, Crossfit, or Baseball Tonight waiting for the NHRA to start, and I don’t think any of you will either.
Every year, I take a month-long vacation in the summer, which coincides with the NHRA Lucas Oil Route 66 Nationals. I love drag racing, and the Route 66 Nationals is the NHRA’s stop on the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series tour. I go with friends from work, and every year, we have a great time.
Mother Nature was not in the kindest of moods on Saturday. Friday Night Qualifying went off without a hitch. I did get to watch the Jeg’s All-Stars race their elimination races. After the Jeg’s All Stars on Saturday, it began to rain. The rain continued to fall for several hours, during which time, I wandered around the pits. I got to meet Driver Suit Blog favorites Tony Schumacher and Ron Capps. Every year, I get the chance to ask Tony Schumacher a question, and the video below is of how that went.
I got a #1 qualifier interview cap from The Thunder Valley Nationals on eBay, and I got it signed by Schumacher, Capps, Tommy Johnson Jr., Fast Jack Beckman, Erica Enders-Stevens, JR Todd, Alexis DeJoria, and John Force. The story behind these interview hats is interesting. Mello Yello gives these hats out to drivers at events, and there are a series of different colors. For qualifying and round winners who don’t wear a sponsor hat after getting out of a car for an interview, they are given either a gray, orange, or black hat. They are all of the same design. For the driver who qualifies #1, they are given a green hat, with a #1 Qualifier patch with their respective class. The drivers who win the event get a yellow cap, with a winner patch to wear, similar in design to the #1 qualifier hat. The drivers who win the championship get a white hat. Drivers wear these hats during interviews, except for John Force who prefers to wear his own hat for an interview after he qualifies #1 or wins.
Jack Beckman personalized my Infinite Hero Challenge Coin, and gave me a very heart felt thank you. I also got one of Cruz Pedregon’s valve springs from his engine, and a burnt hose cover. This is a perfect example of why Nomex is the go-to material for driver suits. This Nomex hose cover went through a serious fire, and was burnt. Nomex isn’t fireproof, it’s fire retardant, which means it will burn, but much slower than most fabrics. It will burn, but will protect whatever it is covering from fire damage for a brief time. The easy way to see if the material has been compromised is if the fabric is discolored. Notice the areas of light on the black fabric, that means that area of the fabric has been compromised. Driver suits, when burned, will show the same discoloration. Should the driver wear the suit, and suffer a similar fire, the suit won’t protect them, and serious burns can and will occur. It may seem like a waste, but countless drivers are alive and well today because of this property of Nomex.
After the rain subsided, and the track was dried, I got to watch round 3 of qualifying, which was supposed to happen at 1 pm, but took place at about 4 pm. It had a lot of good rounds, including TJ Zizzo’s explosion. We decided to go home after round 3, and as we were leaving, we saw the storm clouds were beckoning. Round 4, which started after we left was canceled due to another rainstorm.
Sunday’s weather was much better. After the first two rounds, I wandered around the pits getting hero cards, and autographs. I got pictures with, and autographs from, Driver Suit Blog favorite Vieri “V” Gaines, JR Todd, Courtney Force, and John Force. I filmed one of Antron Brown’s engine tests,
filmed some slow motion video,
and got to see Solid Rock, a 1971 Ford Mustang funny car.In the end, Tony Schumacher, Tommy Johnson Jr, Allen Johnson, and Hector Arana Jr. won their classes, I got a sunburn, and had a great time, and I can’t wait to go back next year.
Last week, I discussed the eureka moment that lead to the new parachute design that led to the creation of Simpson Race Products. This week, I will discuss the eureka moment that helped the purchaser of the first Simpson parachute, Don Garlitts, design the current dragster design.
Don Garlitts was born in Tampa Florida in 1932. He built his first car in 1954, and instantly took to the sport. Since many of the drivers were from California, and Garlitts was from Florida, he was given several nicknames, before accepting the nickname “Swamp Rat” after the giant swamp rat, or Myocastor coypus. He adapted the Swamp Rat name for each generation of dragster he designed and built. This was not a time of multimillion dollar teams, with special development programs. This was literally a group of guy building dragsters in rented shops.
The eureka moment for Garlitts came at the 1970 AHRA Grand American Nationals. That day, he was racing Swamp Rat XIII, known as the Wynnscharger. This was a front engine rail dragster. The transmission exploded, severed the car in half, and took off part of Garlitts’ foot. Again, while you are recovering from an accident like that, you have a lot of time to think, and as Garlitts thought, he realized that he could design a safer dragster, one with the engine behind the driver. In the 1970’s, this was unheard of. Garlitts designed Swamp Rat XIV in the hospital and started racing it in 1971. Publicly, it was mocked at first, until it began to win, and prove the design effective. Since then, this has become the standard design.
One incarnation that Garlitts worked with before he settled on Swamp Rat XIV was Swamp Rat VIII. Swamp Rat VIII was built in 1964. Swamp Rat VIII was designed to use the Dodge 426 Elephant Hemi engine. The 426 was a lot harder to tune than the old 392, so Garlitts did not have a good year, though once he figured it out, it was an impressive car. The 426 Hemi was such a good design, it is still the car used by the NHRA to this day, in Top Fuel and Funny Car. Garlitts cut the car in half, and used the front half to make Swamp Rat X. In 2005, Garlitts rebuilt the car, and in 2006, took it to a few vintage races.
This is a set of spark plugs pulled from that recreated car. The set of 8 plugs comes in a Styrofoam case, which has been autographed by Garlitts. Each plug shows some wear, some more than others. I often look at it, sitting on my coffee table, and think about the legend, the greatest innovator in drag racing history picking up these plugs, one by one, putting them into the rebuilt engine, taking the car to the track, and firing it up. He takes the car for a pass, and then adjusts the engine, with the care and detail of a Swiss watchmaker crafting a timepiece. Once these plugs have finished their lifespan, they weren’t just thrown away, but kept, and sold to a collector, who sold them to me. It really is holding a piece of history in your hands.
Next Friday, we will take a closer look at Spark Plugs as memorabilia items.
Everyone has a moment that shapes the rest of our lives for the better. For me, it was joining the TV crew in my sophomore year of high school. For some people, it might seem like the worst point in their lives. Sometimes you have to hit bottom to rise to the top. It might be horrible in the short term, but great in the long run.
Bill Simpson is one of those people. His moment came in 1958. He was drag racing at age 18, and broke both his arms in a crash. When you have both arms in a crash, it gives you time to think. Simpson began to think about a design for a parachute. He came up with a cross design for a parachute, and designed the cross parachute. He tested it on a public road, and was arrested for the stunt. The chute proved effective, and when “Big Daddy” Don Garlitts called, and that’s how Simpson Performance Products was founded.
This is the design that led to the first Nomex racing suit being invented in 1964. After this design proved effective, Simpson was brought on to NASA as a parachute consultant. It was there he met Pete Conrad, Apollo astronaut, third man to walk on the moon, and Skylab visitor. Conrad was also an avid race car driver, and knew of Simpson’s devotion to racing safety, so he introduced Simpson to Nomex, a fire retardent Kevlar material. Simpson began developing racing suits with the material, and it quickly became the standard material for driver suits, which it still is, 41 years later.
The X design of drag chute is still in use today. It is so effective, that while there were some minor design changes, including size changes, the basic design hasn’t changed. This is an example used by TJ Zizzo from 2010 to 2013. Zizzo ran two of these chutes on the back of his dragster, and this example is 12 feet by 12 feet. It shows a decent amount of wear, with stains and holes.There is a hole in the center that allows the chute to be deployed, and there is an inventory tag placed here as well. On the cables connecting the chute to the car, there is some extra protection. This is necessary because on top fuel dragsters, the engine is very close to the parachute attachment, and in the event of a fire, the chute will still be able to function. TJ’s example shows some wear on the silver layer. Here is video of the chute in use.
One thing that a lot of non drag racing fans don’t realize is that many drivers pack their own chutes. Race car drivers are control freaks, and so this makes sense. The logic a few drivers use is that if I mess it up, I don’t have anyone to blame for it except myself. Here is a video of Jack Beckman packing his chute,
and pro stock driver Rickie Jones explaining how he packs his own chute.
Drag racing chutes are amazing pieces of equipment, and I’m always amazed how it takes only a few people to change the sport as a whole. Next Week, I will continue this discussion with something even more awe inspiring.
Editor’s note: I’m on vacation this week, so this is just a quick post, but it is an important one.
The crisp air hangs low, as the sun slowly rises. The employees scurry about their busy affairs, some cooking, some repairing, some preparing. The fans take their seat, as they await the sound that has eluded them since late November. The National Anthem is sung, the flyover happens, and then that sound echos throughout the land in an unmistakable signal. That sound is two 10,000 horsepower engines, the location is Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, the event that fans have waited so long to see is The NHRA Winternationals.
It seems like just yesterday that I was so bummed that the end of the drag racing had just happened, but here we are! Tony Schumacher, Matt Hagan, Erica Enders-Stevens, and Andrew Hines look to defend their titles. John Force Racing looks to stage a comeback after some 2014 woes had some impact on their overall performance. With new sponsors and a new manufacturer, John Force has high hopes. I also wish Don Schumacher the best of wishes, as it was recently revealed he is dealing with cancer.
The Winternationals history dates back to 1952, when a group of young drag racers, the “Choppers of Pomona” were able to convince LA county to allow a parking lot to be used as a drag strip, to avoid racing on the street and traffic fatalities. The strip itself was not ready until 1953, but that April, the first NHRA event took place, and with 15,000 attendees, it was a success. In 1961, the NHRA season was changed so that the first NHRA event took place at the place where it all began.
The first race of the season is always interesting, as while there is testing and practice over the winter, the first event of the year is the first chance the teams actually compete against each other. Obviously there is some rust, not with the cars, but with the teams. I haven’t heard any significant changes to rules this season, so that will help things.
This is one of a number of events where Pro Stock Motorcycle won’t be racing, so I’ll miss them, But Top Fuel, Funny Car, and Pro Stock will run. While I will be on a train from Tuscon to Chicago, the DVR will be working, and I can’t wait!
Looking at the whole season, I’m looking forward to it. One thing I have to wonder about dates back to what happened with V Gaines at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte in September, at the Pep Boys NHRA Carolina Nationals. The track was impassable, and the event had to be canceled. This is not the first time track issues have plagued events at zMAX, it happened in 2013. Is the track ready for racing? That is the $1,000,000 question. I would hope changes of some kind have been made. I know the fans were disappointed, and the drivers were upset. We can only wait and see.
This is a helmet worn by Kevin LePage in 1994. This style of open-faced helmet was worn by drivers for many years in NASCAR, and it was allowed because NASCAR did not want to restrict the vision of the drivers. They felt that if this helmet kept drivers from losing situational awareness and help prevent tunnel vision on some level it would keep them from getting into dangerous wrecks. Why would a driver wear a visor to help create tunnel vision? Let me explain the whole story…
So this last Sunday, I had the day off, no motorsports on TV. I had purchased a racing slick from Zizzo Racing. TJ Zizzo is the driver, he’s based in Lincolnshire Illinois, I’m based in Evanston, and my friend Matt and I went down to pick up the slick. TJ was kind enough to show me around the shop, as they prepare the car for The Toyota Nationals at Las Vegas. TJ was awesome, and I had a great time.
One of the things that I got was a visor. I’ve been wanting to get an NHRA visor from some time, and I got one that had the modification I’ve been seeing, as seen below.I asked TJ why he had this modification, and he said that he wants to focus on the task at hand. He said that drag racing drivers can notice things, birds, scoreboards, women in the crowd, etc in the car in the moments leading up to the race, and this modification helps the driver by giving him tunnel vision. Tunnel vision is seen by the majority of people as a bad thing, but in something like drag racing, where intense focus for a brief period of time is a mandate, tunnel vision is a good thing. Top fuel dragsters have 10,000 horsepower and can go from 0 to 325 mph in less than 3 seconds.When you are behind the wheel of a car with that much power, you need to focus on the race as much as possible. TJ wears this style of visor because, the less he can see out of the helmet, the more he can focus on the race.TJ even said that this visor is much less covered than his current version, which looks something like this…This version is not uncommon in this day in age, both Al-Anabi drivers Khalid alBalooshi and Shawn Langdon wear visors similar to this design.
I didn’t bring my camera with me, I wish I had, because I got to see the remnants of his engine from his blow up in Indianapolis. As I have a tendency to do, I’ll let the footage speak for itself…
He still has the blower drive seen flying in the video. I was amazed how heavy it was. He has one shelf in his new shop that has the pieces of the engine, and the damage suffered, from a fan’s stand point. The manifold that blew was made of solid magnesium and was heavy duty. The crankshaft in question was not only broken, but was slightly bent near the break. I wound up getting one of the rear tires from that race.
Rear tires from top fuel dragsters are 3 feet tall by 17 inches wide. I’m planning on getting a glass to and making a coffee table at some point. The level of wear on the tires is amazing, with large patches of damage from the explosion.
TJ also signed it and personalized it to me!
I also got a front tire, which is 22 inches tall, by 3 inches wide. I’m not sure when it was raced, but it does show wear and it has ZIZZO written on the tread. To give an idea the size difference between the two, here are the two of them together in my office…I’ve gotta thank TJ Zizzo and Zizzo Racing for this chance. They are a great bunch of guys, they were all very nice, GO ZIZZO!
This week’s episode features something that countless racing enthusiasts wore this Richard Petty Driving Expirence suit to race in real race cars on real tracks.
By David G. Firestone
It was only used for one run, but shows some light use, and is in good condition.
Now let’s look at an interesting Del Worsham piston from 2002.
The story behind this piston is interesting. At the 2002 Checker Schuck’s Kragen Nationals at Firebird International Raceway, Del Worsham beat John Force in the final. Worsham temporarily denied Force his 100th event win. This mangled piston wrecked the engine block during that run. The piston chewed the block and itself up during that final run. Part of the piston arm is still wedged inside the piston, and one side is almost completely gone.
Now let’s take a side-by-side look at a piston that worked well, and a piston that destroyed the engine.
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