Tech Inspection stories?

[Billy Nees]

So, anybody got any old Tech/Teardown stories that they'd care to share? Controversial would be OK but can we not make it inflammatory or personal?

[GTS340]

Many years ago and I do mean many when I actually won races. I was at Sonoma tech line. The official opened my right door, got his head under the dash. I asked what he was looking for. ( I was running Superstock). He told me he was looking for a double firewall to hide electronics. It might have been my proudest moment since I just footbrake. I believe he did find a cobweb.The good old days of tech.

Paul Haszlauer

P.S. I always wondered where the firewall idea came from. Tech person didn't have that answer.

[BTR69]

Not a Class Racing event, but NHRA sanctioned nonetheless. Think it was 1991, our local brackets track was NHRA sanctioned and I ran the points for the 1st time. Had raced for a couple years already, so I thought I had my mess together. No one really inspected the footbreakers, at least I never got checked. I footbraked in Pro with my 70 Barracuda street car. The week before the NHRA bracket finals, (sponsored by Craftsman as I recall), They had everyone who qualified to go, come out for an inspection. I ended up with a list of things to straighten up, which had me scrambling all week, and I, (22 yr old know it all dummy), screwed up. Some of the list were, driveshaft loop, battery disconnect, firewall in rear (battery in trunk) and a proper battery hold down. My mistake, was the battery disconnect. I wired it incorrectly, and the engine still ran off the alternator when shutting off the switch. Found that out when NHRA tech guy checked me at the race. I pulled the alternator, got rechecked, passed, then went and found someone to show me how to unscrew my screw up properly. Got my rear end whupped early, but had a great weekend with our team.

[stage1scott]

Indy 1974-our B/S L78 Chevelle failed due to the debris screen that should run across the windshield base over the wiper linkage was missing (no idea why or where it went). We were towing with an Olds Vista Cruiser wagon so we robbed the one off tow car and that is how both cars stayed for as long as we had them

[Bob Gullett]

A few years ago at our local track in Calgary we had a national open. S/SS combo. We were teched by the local tech guy as the Nhra tech person wasn’t there yet He asked where’s your jackets? Said didn’t need one as at that time they weren’t mandatory. He didn’t believe it even though it was in the rule book. Said it wasn’t right and because of that we didn’t pass. Was pretty much ready to leave when the Nhra tech guy showed up. The local tech guy was told to go home and study up on the rule book and keep his personal opinions to him self. Last time that guy ever teched a sanctioned race.

[Rich Biebel]

I bought a '69 Nova from Lloyd MacKay around 1996
Raced it without doing much to it and the engine was pretty weak
Went to a Points race at Etown and I'm pretty sure me and Mr. Nees rode back home one day at that race
Tech guy comes over to me and says they want to look at my carb ?
Ok....I take it off and hand it to them in the tech trailer and tell them maybe they have a better one in there so give me that one instead of mine.....It got a chuckle....
When I get mine back....I'm told they don't like it.....The base plate is to smooth, it measures fine and I need to get another one on there next time I race it....
I was running around 12.0's in H/SA.....IIRC
I thought that one was funny....
I have other stories but they are not so funny.....so I'll skip those....

[Mike Graham]

Here is one for you.
They used to tear down at the Winternationals. We were torn down almost every year with our H/S Mustang. They musta figured that we weren't smart enough to make that car that fast. This particular time they decided that they needed to see a piston and rod too. We have the car apart waiting for verification and I am talking to another racer.
NHRA is lookiing in the interior of his car and pull out a bag of shot. They point to him and say "You are out". Then point to me and say " Take the complete interior out of yours. Keep in mind we had a piston and rod out already.
Needless to say, It was a very long night.

[jimmyparker]

At an IHRA points race back in the seventies i was bounced by tech for driving two cars, a stocker and a bracket car. Sad part I was in the final in both classes with the stocker already at the head of staging when i was called to the tower and Ted Jones himself threw me out for driving two cars which was a rule but news to me. My only argument was the track put on the bracket race as a bonus, he didn't buy it. Surprisingly they paid me runnerup money for both classes.

[Bill Ringer]

My experiences included 8 teardowns across divisions 3, 4, 5 & 7 from 1987 to 1994. However, 3 of those were self-imposed from National Record certifications. I understood that this is just part of Class racing. It is what we signed up for so like it or not, all of us had to deal with it.
Most memorable was Indy, at Paul Harvey Ford. As the rigs left the track at sunrise to go into town there were two guys at the gate mocking everyone singing as loud as they could- "Paul Harvey Ford!!" Thanks a lot guys. Lots of cars at teardown and it went faster than I expected. My crew chief, Dwayne Scheitlin was there and his help was crucial to get me in & out on time since a second group was coming in the afternoon.
Pomona in 1988 also had a good building for teardown at the east side of the complex. D6 tech director, Jerry Valentine politely pointed out some things I needed for the future, plastic trim in the front valance was missing and the fog lamps too plus, the grills in my shaker scoop. Tech was not going to accept shakers without the grills going forward. At that time they weren't disqualifying anyone over this but telling us to get the grills back into the shaker scoops ASAP.
Quickest teardown was a points meet after the finals in Denver, winner & runner-up both. They were on time and the weather was really nice so why not? Done in just over 90 minutes since we didn't have to put things back together, just button everything up enough to stay clean and put it back together at home.
One issue came up during a National Record certification in Division 4. I got to know Red Anderson and yes, he was a thorough tech inspector but me and others feel he was always fair. The issue they questioned was sent to the national tech office and after some communication with Dave Danish I did get my National Record cert a couple months later. After getting to know Red Anderson I really liked him. More like him would be good to have today.
My experiences with the NHRA Tech officials were good, all were professional, reasonable and courteous. Back then there were stories where that wasn't always the case but fortunately all my encounters were positive.
I wish that after successful teardown we would have been given a little 2" sticker indicating the certification, the NHRA emblem with "tech" a wrench and a caliper would have been great to have on the fender or hood.
I am happy to see the push for more teardowns in the future. Teardowns give our classes credibility. Performance based sportsman racing is an essential part of the sport. I am happy to see that there are still many that feel that way.

[Dan Bennett]

Not a stock or super stock story, but might be of interest due to the circumstances.

We were running pro stock at indy and after the last qual session tech rode up and told us we needed to go to the barn. We all needed to be wearing depends when we heard that. As far as we knew, we were 100% legal but the thought of tearing things apart and getting them all back together was scary beyond belief. Seems like the other ps car was Yates.

Jenkins was building our engines and the team owners always paid for him to attend races to keep the engine tuned. It was a huge relief to have him there during teardown.

Luckily, we were only asked to do things we knew how to do, like pulling the engine. Lots of attention in tracing wiring went on. But I was totally confused that Jim Collins spent close to an hour inspecting our mid plate with a magnifying jewelers' loupe.

At the time, the news had not come out that the Gliddens had just admitted to the NHRA that they had used nitrous - and that it fed from a pinhole in the midplate to the supports for the hood scoop. When I learned that, the "we don't need to go into your engine, we just want to look at other things" approach became clear.

Yes, we passed. It was something we were proud of since it was the beginning of the nitrous fiasco. We were one of two cars who could absolutely state we were legal in every way.