SOmeone asked so here: GOOF UPS AT THE TRACK

Funniest thing i ever saw happen at the track was when i was helping my brother-in-law with his dragster. We were in West Virginia at Kawanna Valley i think it is called. A dragster running in the sportsman (IHRA) class had made his run and proceeded to the turnout at the end of the track. They had a quick 16 weekend with a 2000.00 dollar payout so there was a lot of people there, so much to the point that they were actually pitting in the outside parking lot. Save one guy that decided he wasnt going to be way out there and pitted right on the turnout lane. Well, with the very short shutdown area all the dragsters were using thier chutes. As the dragster went around the turnout his chute swung out and wrapped around the back of the guys car (a 73 Chevelle) and the pilot chute went right between the the rear tire and the wheel well and started to drag the car sideways. Well I talked to the driver of the dragster later and he said he just knew he had a good pass and felt the dragster start to run hard and couldn't figure out what it could be so he goosed the throttle and felt it pulling hard so he decided to shut it off. But what he didnt realize is that he had drug the chevelle behind him for about 50 feet! Needless to say the owner of the Chevelle was irate but the track decided the dragster driver shouldn't have to pay for damages because the guy pitted on a turnout and should have known better plus it tore his chute and that cost more than the crushed quarter on the Chevelle. Either way it was the funniest thing I had ever seen at the track.

 

can you imagine seeing your car being towed by the chute of a dragster....too funny!

 

ok ...last night....
i got in to staging.....did my little burn out to get the crap off the tires....

went to put it in neutral to flush the heads....and it was in drive.....stalled the motor....

yellows started to go.....the guy next to me takes off and i am still starting the motor...
get ti started......and spin tires and take off....r/t was 8.34 LOL

what a noob...

 

here's a good one

i have myself an 86 mustang bracket car, it runs 9.00;s in the thousand on a cold day, but anyhow in the process of building this car i decided to paint a 2 inch border around the windows to kinda help cover up my not so good sheetmetal skills, take into consideration this is on all the windows, plus the roll bar and the a-pilllar in the way, makes a giant blind spot, well class call was being called so i hurridly got in the car and made my way to the lanes, all the while a fellow racers's wife and daugher were walking down teh middle of the lanes when i made my turn i didnt see em and ran slap over em, luckily no one was hurt except my pride, and there were no hard feelings but i sure felt like a dick

 

you were very lucky....i lost a friend in oklahomam due to a nitrous overdose....he was installing a nitrous kit late at night after everyone in the speed shop went home.....they found him the next morning in the car.... no ventilation.....died from asphixiation

 

Back in '84, I used to run at Sears Point in a 72 Comet GT. Daily driver, 13.6 quarter but lots of fun.

As I was staging, the last car from the pair in front of us had a mid track fire. In the lane next to me was a Chevy Luv with a 350 shoehorned in. For some reason the safety crew grabbed a couple of extinguishers and jumped in the back of this truck and told him to go. And go he did. With about 500 LBs extra weight in the back, he droped almost 4 tenths off his 60' time....and scared the daylights out of the two guys in back.

I also ran the timing lights for a local 1/8 mile drag program here in San Diego for several years. There, I think I saw just about every stupid thing that people could do. From running bald street tires and calling them "slicks" to having their nitrous bottle unsecured on the passenger seat, to having a soda can get stuck under their clutch and brake pedals to the top end. Lots of silly stuff.

The most fun was being the starter for races between blown fuel nostalgia dragsters at Banning for their inogural race. That is an adrenaline rush!

 

We have a guy at your track that has his NOS bottle like that.
If you want to ride w/ him, you have to HOLD the bottle.

 

Went to the local track last night just to watch. Saw a guy stage first, then took off when the other lane hit the first staging light.

 

Since Banning (Drag City) is just a paper track when did they have an actual race there?

 

Another fault at the drag strip today. Guy in 70'ish chevy truck, stages NEXT to the christmas tree... keeps pulling forward looking for the lights to come on... was RIGHT up parked almost next to it.
He had to back about 15 feet and restage