The Golden Years
Discussion
I guess most people have got their own ideas of drag racings golden years, mine happen to be 1969-1972, as much of what we take for granted on the drag strip today, evolved or was introduced during that period. Let me give you some examples I have come up with;
Aluminium TF engine blocks
Slider clutches & wrinkle wall slicks
Rear engined TF dragster
Clip-on starter motors
Burnouts
Track grip juice
I'm sure there's a few more that I will think of during those years. I fully realise that front engined dragsters have been around since the dawn of drag racing, but it was Don Garlits and Connie Swingle who made the concept work safely back in the early 70's.
Aluminium TF engine blocks
Slider clutches & wrinkle wall slicks
Rear engined TF dragster
Clip-on starter motors
Burnouts
Track grip juice
I'm sure there's a few more that I will think of during those years. I fully realise that front engined dragsters have been around since the dawn of drag racing, but it was Don Garlits and Connie Swingle who made the concept work safely back in the early 70's.
Edited by CRR on Thursday 4th January 10:11
Yes, you are correct protemporum, I meant to say mid/rear engined dragsters. However, not sure about Nancy's Wedge being the first really successful mid engined dragster. After all, it did crash here in England in 1964. Admittedly, it wasn't driven by Nancy on that occassion but by Dante Duce.
I think it suffered from the same problem that most of the mid engined cars had done, ie it was unstable at speed. It was only when Garlits was testing his original mid engined car and facing the same high speed problems, that this problem was eventually overcome. Swingle suggested that the front steering ratio was changed and that simple alteration changed everything.
I think it suffered from the same problem that most of the mid engined cars had done, ie it was unstable at speed. It was only when Garlits was testing his original mid engined car and facing the same high speed problems, that this problem was eventually overcome. Swingle suggested that the front steering ratio was changed and that simple alteration changed everything.
I've just done a bit of research protemporum, and I stand to be corrected. Yes, it was the front engined "22 Junior" that Duce was driving and crashed at Chelveston when the car hit the top end timing lights. Yes, I remember that Nancy had all sorts of problems with his mid engined "The Wedge" including liquid getting under the slicks on several occasions as you can clearly hear on the recordings that were made at the 1964 Dragfest.
However, going back to your original statement that "The Wedge" was the "first really successful mid-engined car", I'm going to have to disagree with you there. If it really was as sucessful as you think, why didn't all the TF cars of the time change to that configuration? Within 18 months of Garlits debuting his mid engined car, the vast majority of TF cars were mid engined and the front engined TF car was virtually confined to the history books.
Not sure how long Nancy stuck with "The Wedge" and its mid engined design, but he fairly soon went back to front engined cars and only switched back to mid engined in the early 1970's after Garlits had made them work safely.
However, going back to your original statement that "The Wedge" was the "first really successful mid-engined car", I'm going to have to disagree with you there. If it really was as sucessful as you think, why didn't all the TF cars of the time change to that configuration? Within 18 months of Garlits debuting his mid engined car, the vast majority of TF cars were mid engined and the front engined TF car was virtually confined to the history books.
Not sure how long Nancy stuck with "The Wedge" and its mid engined design, but he fairly soon went back to front engined cars and only switched back to mid engined in the early 1970's after Garlits had made them work safely.
I think the main (only?) reason why drag racers are so conservative in this day and age is that there is very little that they are allowed to do in the way of innovation because NHRA rules and regs are so very restrictive. Everything has to conform, there's a minimum and a maximum for just about everything in a race car today.
Just about the last true innovation introduced by a racer that I can remember is when Joe Amato turned up at a meeting with an ultra tall rear wing on his TF dragster and promptly became the first person to go 280 was it? Innovations such as a triple magneto set up that Kenny Bernstein experimented with in the 1990's were banned by the NHRA presumably on cost grounds.
Just about the last true innovation introduced by a racer that I can remember is when Joe Amato turned up at a meeting with an ultra tall rear wing on his TF dragster and promptly became the first person to go 280 was it? Innovations such as a triple magneto set up that Kenny Bernstein experimented with in the 1990's were banned by the NHRA presumably on cost grounds.
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