And you thought air/ electrical shifters in stockers was ?..

[55 Chevy]

Maybe we could put some flashing lights on it(LED of course,so we don't drain the battery). Change the name too. Call it a Lion Tamer.

[Jim Caughlin]

Originally Posted by JP1738

So, based on the ruling in Vegas, this is legal, right? I whipped this up in about a half hour here at the shop. I?ll run this by tech at Carolina Dragway at the double D2 National opens this weekend and we?ll all find out for sure.

I realize you did this to make a sort of sarcastic point but why not go a step further and have it protrude another two feet in front of the car? If you're going for the stripe, might as well do it in a big way?

[1700camaro]

Originally Posted by Jim Caughlin

I realize you did this to make a sort of sarcastic point but why not go a step further and have it protrude another two feet in front of the car? If you're going for the stripe, might as well do it in a big way?

NHRA General Rules 4:5

"the installation of a ?beam
breaker? in front of the body is restricted to extending no farther
forward than the body or bumper"

1700/STY/781L

[Jim Caughlin]

Originally Posted by 1700camaro

NHRA General Rules 4:5

"the installation of a ?beam
breaker? in front of the body is restricted to extending no farther
forward than the body or bumper"

1700/STY/781L

So the rule is it can look silly and ugly, just not really silly and really ugly?

[1700camaro]

We had one on our bracket Camaro & need to put it on the new front-end. It was there for a couple reasons & maybe more.

The way I had the car set-up I had the option of tripping the finish line with the beam breaker or the front tires.

I need to get another one made for the car. This time I will have it electronically controlled to stow it away for loading or other options.

As you can somewhat see both cars were equipped with one in the pic.

1700/STY/781L

[Cglrcng]

Originally Posted by Frank Bialas

The camaro,I couldn't believe it , I knew it was close but I also knew that I was out front.What stinks is I was told to tuck my wire in that was for a parking lamp in my bumper!?!?

I knew that by the finish line photo, but wanted to confirm it by asking. We race from a dead even start by front tires, and the finish is determined by a beam much higher and a million variations of front ends at the stripe, and a whole host of last move variables that are determined by both drivers due to that beam height difference.

His car in the photo is way out in front of your tires. And he already broke the stripe beam. Ty for confirming the photo view.

[Cglrcng]

Originally Posted by JP1738

I?m betting no because I built it to be as egregious as possible. 3 1/4 inches off the ground and mounted directly to the underside of the bumper. My only goal here is to have them ask me to remove it and set precedent for every other class racer that this is not considered legal.

Which was exactly why mine was in your face out there and blatantly obvious Mr. Pauley...wait until you actually look around a bit at the ingenious methods others have used them (and the rule set out in G.R. 4.5). See, the bumpers on mine are a part of the body, so I attached it to a frame member back behind the body and 4" behind the bumper.

I did not in any way customize the body in any manner (others have though to achieve the same purpose my investigation revealed), and I am getting famous for all the wrong reasons. As the recently deemed legal ruling showed.

Mine is coming off in 5 mins today. Will go back on maybe for brackets (mainly 1/8th mile as it allows for a full throttle consistency of beam break), maybe in Stock if the rule is not changed. Who knows...but it just may trigger a few to look around at some other front ends in the classes....some are going to be as shocked as I was.

It helped me a lot less than the theory (or math), behind it, it is really not a performance advantage. The faster mph cars will see more than the lower mph cars. Competition adjusted to it as it was right out there to see and adjust to.

As expected it was deemed legal, but in the end controversial and it gave the competition something to look at while they missed all the variations I saw in use before I attached it. I would much rather race against Mr. Pauley's version any day as I would see that straight edge coming up beside me and know where his front end will break the beam.

It would certainly take out all the guesswork of where I needed to be come the line...or not to be any longer, once that straight edge reached it if in front of me.

Getting you to look (and question the rule), may have just been half the reasoning of using the not so much of an aid in reality. Now back to guessing which part of my car will break the beam first (all of us). Points 1, 1.1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6. (Bumper point, bumper slope rearward below the point, lower part of lower spoiler, upper part of sloped lower spoiler, lower further back air dam, or tires?) Spanning 29". (All 6 points can be set into that beam break zone based on last move at the line).

With it on there was only 2 points bumper and beam breaker 4" apart.

Bumper and Body are 2 different rule sections. As is Ground Clearance.

My bet is there is a silent majority praying the rule stays, and a minority whose eyes are now opened. I was not shocked it was deemed legal, just that others did not question it sooner. Or approach me and ask why.

At least now I know why during a top end ( fluids warm up), I was asked to stop & roll up my driver's side window for a second right across from the tech trailer. He calmly said ok I looked, you can go now. He no doubt has seen for years all variations of what I have seen.

They can be ugly for sure. They can also be effective. But they are not a performance advantage. I can go quicker on the brakes with or without it.

A deep dive into the numbers showed me it actually gave my competitors an advantage. The same one Mr. Puley's would give me. A target to guage off of.

Grabbing my jack now. It may reappear, it may not...we shall see. My educated guess is (from the deep dive the controversy forced), fewer breakouts after better lights. I could certainly use more win lights and less controversy.

Couldn't we all? The slow guy is not going away, And he is not changing because he was deemed legal either under the current rule set, just changing his strategy because the deep dive says there may be a better way to turn on more win lights. Again, we shall see.

Don't hate the player...hate the game. Actually I love this game. And I would not trade it for anything in the world at my advanced age.

Dang...you would think it was a heavy flywheel pulled out from under the driver's seat after a pass. I saw that done in the mid 80's by a Stock racer at O.C..I.R. while standing on a return road while talking to a tech guy (long before I ever entered Stock as a category), and he saw it also and said excuse me, duty calls...now that was blatant cheating, and the guy was caught in the act and immediately punished.

It has been a bit of work anyway to keep it in the starting line approach area after my dry hop, up in the 3" clearance area which means "do not hit the brakes" and make the nose dip at all upon approach to the pre-stage beam or you get that pre-flash of the pre-stage beam, which will have someone waiting for you, or seeking you out later for "the talk" and warning. The fun part was when it happened once to both a competitor and I at almost the same exact time (the double wink of pre-stage beams), and we had both hit the brakes at same point in a bracket race staging up, causing both front ends to dip (both upper blue rainbows blinked almost simultaneously), and the starter let us both continue to stage up tire to tire (but I saw the look at both of us), and neithe
r 1 if us were warned when returning.

One fewer thing to distract or worry about, means more time to get the actual job done again. Getting better R.T.'s and win stripes by lesser marginal fractions.

[JP1738]

Originally Posted by MR DERBY CITY

Could get interesting loading and unloading car from the trailer ?..

It's going to get applied post unloading lol. It's just 2 3/8 inch bolts, takes like 15 seconds to add/remove. Yes it will absolutely drag on the ground, especially on my dry-hops. Again, no intention to use it, just trying to set precedent.

[JP1738]

Originally Posted by Jim Caughlin

So the rule is it can look silly and ugly, just not really silly and really ugly?

hey hey hey, this is some of my better fabrication work. Silly, yes. Ugly? C'mon now.

[Pat6868]

What in the hell is Stock Eliminator turning into?