Failed certification

[Fred Elsass]

I set my first record in the Spring of 1973 at a track that no longer exists. It was a super track that was North of Dallas and hosted national events. It was unique in that you had to drive over a bridge to get to the pits.


I set the record in R/Stock and Red Anderson was my tech inspector. Red was a real tech inspector and a straight shooter. He checked the TRW camshaft I had in the car and it had .003 to much lift. Even thought I was allowed 300 degrees of duration the cam checked 250 (Note; those were the days when a tech inspector was smart enough to check duration). I told Red that if he gave me the 50 degrees per cylinder and I gave him the .003 the car would run a lot quicker. He smiled, and held up three fingers. This was NHRA. Guess what, Red sent me a camshaft that was legal and had the correct lift and duration and I went back to the same track 30 days later and set the IHRA R/Stock record and, if I remember correctly, the car ran 6 tenths faster.


Oh, by the way, I set the T/SA record at Norwalk two years ago and Travis Miller bounced me because I was .007 short on head gasket. MY BAD. Travis is another real tech inspectors.


Any one else out there who has been bounced for .003 or .007???????


Sarge

[Billy Nees]

Yup!

[Frank Castros]

Me too.
Larry Wiggins bounced us at The Keystones because the camshaft lift was .003 too big.
When they sealed the motor in the lanes I knew it could be a problem because we thrashed to get the motor together before the race without triple checking everything.

[Alan Roehrich]

Travis Miller is a class act, and possibly the last of the REAL tech inspectors.


I/we have not been bounced. Then again, I/we have never been truly fast.


Oddly enough, a car I once drove, and Kevin owned, was bounced, over parts that were on it when we had it. And Wesley Roberson actually set them straight, NHRA issued an apology to the new owner. I knew it was legal, Wesley checked the carburetor when we had the car, and I had checked the other parts that "failed".


The knowledge that is leaving NHRA, as the good tech guys retire, is something NHRA has absolutely no interest in replacing.Those guys have what is known as "tribal knowledge" that should be passed down. But you have to actually pay people and treat them well, from the beginning of their tenure to the end, for that to happen.


I seriously doubt there will be more guys like Travis, Wesley, Redman, Dave, and Harry doing tech again. Especially after the way some of them have been treated. They never did it for money. They did it for love, and love is priceless. But you have to take care of love, or it slips away.

[GTX JOHN]

Finger Crossed:

So far so good for the last 50 + years!

Once at Arizona 30 years ago they insisted my
stroke was .050 too short! I tried to show them that they
had move a decimal point over on their pocket calculator
by they said that I could not touch their equipment
(5 Dollar Calculator?). Eventually another tech came over
and reran the calculations.

Since the it has been fine, but it has been a few years now since
we were torn down anymore.

[Robin Lawrence]

While running the NMRA race at Atco many years ago Travis was brought in to provide his expertise in Tech Inspections and Teardowns.

He bounced me for a combustion chamber that was 2 tenths of a CC too small.

From that point on I check my own heads before assembly.

Last 2 times my meetings with Travis have been deemed good to go.

Robin

[Alan Roehrich]

Originally Posted by Robin Lawrence

While running the NMRA race at Atco many years ago Travis was brought in to provide his expertise in Tech Inspections and Teardowns.

He bounced me for a combustion chamber that was 2 tenths of a CC too small.

From that point on I check my own heads before assembly.

Last 2 times my meetings with Travis have been deemed good to go.

Robin

Jimmy Bridges told me that there was a friend who got torn down at the Baby Gators, and had 3-4 chambers, or more, that were too small. Jimmy had the guy give him the heads, he took the valves out, marked them, and took them to a local shop nearby. Said he had the kid there chuck each valve up, and grind "x" amount, each valve being different. Then he reassembled the heads.The friend showed up at the Gators the next week, with his heads off, and passed easily, by around 0.5cc. Put the car back together, won class, and went a few rounds.


I won't mention the name of the racer, or the guy who originally did the heads.