Tell Us About Setting A Record

[GTX JOHN]

I just finished our N/SA Dodge 150 Truck a couple weeks before
the Winters. about 10 years ago. My good friend(Dave Whitnack) and chassis builder/Crew Chief had just lost his son in a motorcycle accident. We had him go to the open in Vegas with us a drive the new truck and set a National Record. My son and I have set them before and we thought it might help him to do it.

The next week at the Winters....I drove it for the first time and I guess my
foot was a bit heavier. I got about 20 or 30 ft. and broke all the right rear
wheel studs of the axle and destroyed the Tree(And the Truck) and shut down the Winters!

And now you know the rest of the story

[Larry Hill]

1991 we and at least 20 or so more set 1/8 mile records at Ohio Valley. Inspection and verification was at an ambulance maintenance shop in Louisville miles from the track. No gps so we spent an hour trying to find the place.
Record C/SA was at minimum so it would be easy to set.......Wrong! See there was this Dick Simon guy in a 427 drop top Fairlane that had the same idea.

I dont remember how it happened but we went down the track three times together, side by side. Those runs were the best, first run I was quicker and barely got there first. The cars were complete opposites, mine was quick down low the Ford was a freight-train on the big end. Second run the Ford was best in ET and Mph. Third and deciding round whoever went fastest would own the record. Nobody Iced, heck it was cold, but I did have this thing called a 2 step it was a few quicker but it made me way early. I went red and got out of the way, it was a good thing, the Ford crossed the center line just past the tree and ran head on into the wall. I saw it in my rear view mirror. Dick was ok but the car needed lots of parts and work. We got the record on the last run and set both ends. The Ford ran better MPH but you had to set the ET record first. My last run was fast enough to be quicker than the Fords second run.

That was the year tech looked real close at the Qjets. Steve Haulman took his apart in tear down and did not run the same after reassemble.

10/5/91 C/SA 1/8 mile ET 6.88 MPH 97.69

1971 Cuda 440 6pack 385/390 3680 min wt.

About as fast as a good K, L, M car now.

[Stock4106]

I decided to set my first record at the Belle Rose national open in 2016 after noticing SS/MA had gone back to a minimum. I knew several guys were faster than me, so my goal was to set it low enough to make them have to put in a little effort to get around me if they wanted it. That didn't happen. Every run was a different problem and the car never made a full pass, so I only went 11.00(.85 under).

Here's the fun part. The open was run in one day, so after qualifying the motor was sealed and we into eliminations with teardown after the race. After a couple rounds I'm down to six cars, leave the starting line and look up to see my win light on sending me to the semis. I gave a quick fist pump and BANG, #7 piston rod came out the side of the block. With a hole in the block and unknown damage inside it, we decided it has to come apart anyway so lets take it to the barn and see if it has enough good pieces to pass for the record. We started teardown before they finished cleaning the oil I put on the track. Somehow, one cylinder didn't have bent valves and the crank was still intact enough so everything could be checked.

We left that night with a disappointing record and no motor, but getting that certificate in the mail was like Christmas morning.

[Hacksaw]

Growing up and watching NHRA drag racing it always seemed prestigious to set the record, after all you were the quickest in that class. The GT/TB record was open and although I didn't run very quick I set it at Maple Grove and went through the tear down first hand. Couple weeks later it got bettered. I kept working on my stuff and set the GT/TA record at 9.69 @ 135 MPH+. that stood for two years. Deja Vu I now have the SS/AS record and hope to improve it,(before the west coast hitters) this coming season.

[Billy Nees]

The only record that I can honestly remember setting was the HF/SA record in the Sunbird from H&ll. It was early in the year at Delmar and there were loads of cars there just to set records (it was FAST!). I went out for my first run and just nudged the record a couple of hundredths. The "then current record holder" was there without his car and came over and congratulated me and told me that he would get the record back as soon as he got his car back together. Knowing that, I went out for my backup pass and went a few tenths quicker. As it turned out, I went too fast to use my first run as a backup and was going to have to make a third pass to use as the backup. The "then current record holder" comes back over while I'm waiting in the lanes and tells me that he'll still get his record back but he'll probably have to "blow up his stuff" to do it. Third pass, I went over 1/2 a second under the existing record, scaled and fuel checked and stopped on the return road to show the "then current record holder" the timeslip and ask him if he thought that he could go faster than that, he said no.
After the third run, I went to teardown where there must have been over a dozen cars tearing down before me. I started taking the car apart and was told by one of the Tech Inspectors,"Billy, go get some dinner or take a nap because we're not doing you until last because we don't even know how to check that thing". I got done at after 2 the next morning.
HF/SA was a fun class. It's too bad that NHRA decided that it wasn't worth having around anymore.

[Bob Don]

Epping used to have its own track records. I had to teardown for Ken Barrett. He remarked that he was surprised at how legal I was. lol

[cmracing]

Originally Posted by GTX JOHN

I just finished our N/SA Dodge 150 Truck a couple weeks before
the Winters. about 10 years ago. My good friend(Dave Whitnack) and chassis builder/Crew Chief had just lost his son in a motorcycle accident. We had him go to the open in Vegas with us a drive the new truck and set a National Record. My son and I have set them before and we thought it might help him to do it.

The next week at the Winters....I drove it for the first time and I guess my
foot was a bit heavier. I got about 20 or 30 ft. and broke all the right rear
wheel studs of the axle and destroyed the Tree(And the Truck) and shut down the Winters!

And now you know the rest of the story

I still have that picture. THAT is the way to hit the tree! Just kidding. That day had to suck for you. I heard NHRA was pizzed at the Stockers after that happened, screw them!