It has been 20 years since I ran a car or truck at the drag strip, and just found out that if you run 10.99 or faster you have to have a full roll cage (not 9.99). That means, that I will be running the 1/8 mile and shutting down and coasting to the finish line. Oh well, I guy has to do, what a guy has to do.
I am to old to crawl over roll bars.

 

Lloyd I think depending on the sanctioned track....you only have to ahve a 4 point roll Bar and not a cage in the car....and it can even be a bolt in....But Its your Azz!! I prefer to keep my head! both of them!! LOL...

I havent running with my buddies Mustang all that long on and off...But we have run a 5.70 in the 1/8th..and they were cool with an 8 point..and below that it is a 10 point..and then it goes to a 25.2 section funny car cage with head/helmet bars in the cage!!

 

Since this is a 1/4 mile track, I don't think they care what you do in the 1/8th. They only care how quick and how fast you are in the 1/4. The time slips show what you did in the 1/8 mile as well as the 1/4, so that will work for me. I will have to contact a roll cage installer and see how it would work with me trying to get in and out.
Below are the rules for Redding Dragstrip.
BTW Redding has the title of being the longest continuously running race track in the USA. Interesting bit of history.
10.99 and over 135 mph and you need a full roll cage. It might be better for this old man to run the 1/8th anyway. One problem, is the crowd will wonder why I hit the brakes half way down the track all the time and lose each race.



Redding Drag Strip - Street Legal, High School Dragsters, Jr. Dragsters, Top Fuel, Funny Cars

Here are some local street legal cars running down the track.
http://www.reddingdragstrip.net/home.htm

 

Can you use a swing away side bar? Would that be legal in class? If not have you tried to climb in anyones car with a full cage to see how it is for you?

 

Thats a good point G about the swingout bar....I know alot of guys running them...

 

I will check that out. This weekend if it is not raining they will have the last race of the year, so I will go and ask a lot of questions, and look at other cars cages.

 

What class are you going to run in?

 

I don't think I will be running in any class. I just want to run and have fun. I talked to the track owner today and he also mentioned the removable side bar. I have a call into a roll cage installer now, and waiting for a return phone call. The track owner told me that I could run as fast and quick as I wanted for the 1/8 mile, but when going across the finish line at the 1/4 mile, I could not go faster than 135 nor quicker than 11.00 without the roll cage. He said that if I went faster than 11.00 it was not be a big problem, just that the next time I run down the track back off to get above 11.00
I do not want to run a full schedule where guys are running for points in different classes. I just want to be able to go out on a weekend and do some racing when I feel up to it. They have ET bracket racing here, where you give or get a head start depending on who's car or truck is fastest.
It would be nice to have a roll cage, so I do not have to worry about going to fast. If you go 9.99 or faster, here you have to have a NHRA license, full fire suit, etc. etc. Not what I want to do. With the new drag slicks, higher hp engine, MSD electronics, the car should go in the very low 10's depending on how much nitrous I use. I ran 10.79 20 years ago with the old setup.

 

Well I hope the swing out side bar works out. I know you were saying you still have the stock interior too. But I'm sure your fab guy can work around that. I've seen some pretty slick cages where you can barely tell there is one in the car looking from the outside. Reason I asked about class is I was reading on another site about a guy who runs a 67 S code Cougar 390 4sp. He ran 10.54 in D/Stock Elim class for the NHRA title. Iron C6AE-R heads even.

 

Hmmmm doesn't sound right. My 69 cougar with a 427 did not run near that quick. Either he is a miracle worker or he is fooling us. That is quicker than our 3000 lb. Falcon, with a 428scj and nitrous and auto trans. D/Stock, should be a weight limit, no nitrous, or blower. We always hear of the kids with the stock chevy's that run 9's. It's amazing that these 9 second cars run 16's at the track.

 

Well, according to the NHRA it's true for the D/Stocker.

Stock Quarter-Mile Record Holders

 

He must also be able to walk on water. Everyone sure it is a 390 engine? The mph is the same as our Falcon back in 1989, so he must be hooking up really well, and putting out around 660 hp. Shifting gears should be slowing him down a little bit. I think our 69 cougar was around 3500 or 3600 lbs. so he must be putting out over 660 hp. It has been a long time ago, but I think our Cougar with a 427 ran low 13 seconds at 108 mph on street tires. Back then, tires were lame compared to today. Drag slicks were normally good for around one second, so that would put our Cougar at low 12's ,,,, no where near 10's.

 

It's been awhile since I did any of this stuff, but NHRA is pretty careful about records and teardowns after you set one. There have been some major improvements in tires and that can make a lot of difference in an E.T. I know that when I set records while boat racing, the minimum they checked was CID and port sizes. On the first record the engine was down to a bare block and they even check the venturis and throttle bores in the carbs.

 

It looks like this guy is for real. He must be a chassis guru, and to run the mph at 125 he is making big hp. He has found something big that the rest of us have not found. Makes me want to go out and shoot my Falcon.


It is great that he is doing it with a FE... Congratulations...

 

Using my speed calculator, to run 10.5 seconds it would take 750 rear wheel horsepower for a 3600 lb. car with everything perfect.
He's the man....