Wheelie Bars are not needed for Safety on Stockers!

[Ed Wright]

Might be time for Ford, GM and MOPAR to release rear bumper covers with notches for those cars. They could say they are for tail pipes.

Notice the experts have 1320 in their screen names? LOL

[Notch1320]

Originally Posted by Jack Matyas

Shawn - Seems to me you're against anyone having them on their car - why is that ? And BTW , I'll bet the ranch the notches will be back .......................and i'm just sayin' .

I'm not against them per say, I just was calling out the folks earlier who went on about 1000+HP car scenario, bla, bla, bla. Having spent some time now in the Heads-Up world outside of Stockers, my views on wheelie bars have changed I guess. No one wants to hear, or discuss that here though. If you are allowed to use them, then you can set the car up one way. If you are forced to do without them, you have to adapt and change the suspension & ballast, etc. on the car. Ride height can also come into play if the car is so low that you are notching the rear valance. < (Just an option) The notching could also be avoided by changing the wheelie bar design. These are all things that everyone here or that runs a high letter Stocker is smart enough to figure out if it came down to a "must comply" ruling. A rule specification seems to be in order and as you hinted, it may already be in the works. I too have had my dealings with the way the rules are written, and have had a few "dead end" discussions with Pat and others, but in the end, I ended up making things work within the "rules", and suggesting clarification in the good book.

[Chad Rhodes]

Originally Posted by Notch1320

And you are within the rules to use them Jack.....without notches.

I would bet that all of you running bars now would find a way to make the car launch safely without bars if you had to. Just sayin......

Possibly, but some may slow down.

[Alan Roehrich]

Originally Posted by Notch1320

This original discussion was about "Stockers" and wheelie bars correct? I'm not sure how SS cars are now in the mix here??? My posts were directed at the "1000HP to 1200HP" car comment. Yes, what the 8.5 guys are doing is WAY different, but a Stock Eliminator car CAN Safely run without wheelie bars if NHRA were to instruct you all to remove them. I'm not trying to stir the pot here, just putting in my 2 cents. Carry on.....

Your $0.02 is WAY over priced.

[Rich Biebel]

If you slow down the front end travel on a small tired Stocker you always run the risk of spinning the tires.

So you run the front end loose and if you have a car that is prone to doing wheelstands in good air and traction conditions you might find your up too high on the launch......If you lift you will probably cause some damage.....oil pan.....front end.....If you don't you could unload one tire when the rear sheet metal contacts the ground and wind up hitting something........like the guardrail or even the tree or the car in the other lane....

You have a 3 speed trans with a fairly steep rear gear and that makes a very low starting line ratio....and anyone whoever raced a Stocker knows the biggest ET gains are in the first 100 feet or so.....

If all this wasn't true all the cars that had powerglides and are now allowed 3 speeds would not have bothered to make the change.,....

I drove my old car a couple years ago when the present owner offered it to me for a couple races. It was doing some pretty high wheelies......I asked for the wheelie bars and put them on as I really did not want to hurt the car. It did a very high wheelie at the Dutch with the bars on and might have been a problem without them on for that run.....

Late model F-bodied Stockers are well known for doing big wheelstands and I recall one set of pictures form E-Town of a car that popped the hatch open when the rear bodywork dragged the ground....NO BARS....and it was pretty sideways when it came down......

I think it is rediculous to say a high class Stocker can be adjusted so it does not need bars.....If it is a wheelsatnd prone car like many it needs the bars.....and it is for safety....

Oh and the present owner of the car I was driving told me the reason he BLEW the Tires off at the E-Town Nationals in his other car was because he went a little to tight on the front end.....and that the only way to insure the car would hook was to do exactly what I told him two years ago .....leave the front end loose and use the bars......

[Jim Wahl]

Originally Posted by Stephen Bell

I just don't understand why 1000 hp cars that run in the 8's at 155 mph plus don't need wheelie bars? I hope that this issue gets resolved... S.Bell

It's because most of them are programed to leave soft and then increase power down track. Most of them 60' @ 1.35 or so. Otherwise there is no way a 1200 hp Cobra Jet can run on a 9" tire. Put a 12" tire on then and leave wide open and watch them run 7.90. Jim


.

[SS Engine Guy]

I don't use wheelie bars on stockers or ss'ers as a suspension tuning device. That is what weight and shock adjustments are for. However, with changing track conditions and air they frequently save my car from excessive damage from uncontrolled wheel stands. There probably isn't anyone out there that hasn't spun in a time shot and loosened everything up only to go to the line a few hours later when the track started to come around and hooked and went way too high. Wheelie bars save cars, plain and simple. Comes back to the same old thing: These people making these rules and decisions couldn't build a sbc, ford or Chrysler v-8 that would get them back and forth to work, much less a competitive race car.

[Notch1320]

Originally Posted by Jim Wahl

It's because most of them are programed to leave soft and then increase power down track. Most of them 60' @ 1.35 or so. Otherwise there is no way a 1200 hp Cobra Jet can run on a 9" tire. Put a 12" tire on then and leave wide open and watch them run 7.90. Jim


.

I beg to differ........ Outlaw 8.5. ( 26" tall tire, 8.5" wide. Or in this case, the nova was on a DOT legal 235/60/15 Drag Radial. NO WHEELIE BARS!!! Short times are well below 1.35.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVD7LWVGYHY"]Ryan 'Toaster' Jones running 5.00 @ 150+ on 235/60/15 Mickey Thompson Drag Radials - YouTube[/ame]

[Alan Roehrich]

Congratulations on proving Jim correct. We run around 1.34 to 1.35 60' times running 10.1X at 129MPH. The car runs 6.35 or so in the 1/8 mile. So he's going 1.35 seconds quicker in the 1/8 mile, on a similar 60' time. Which is EXACTLY the point Jim was making. A car that runs 5.0 @ 150 in the 1/8 mile should be going around 1.20 60' times.

You said "well below" 1.35. Define "well below".

Oh, was that Chevy II using leaf springs and traction bars? How about a stock front clip with near stock front suspension? And around 51-55% of its weight on the front tires?

[Notch1320]

Originally Posted by Alan Roehrich

Congratulations on proving Jim correct. We run around 1.34 to 1.35 60' times running 10.1X at 129MPH. The car runs 6.35 or so in the 1/8 mile. So he's going 1.35 seconds quicker in the 1/8 mile, on a similar 60' time. Which is EXACTLY the point Jim was making. A car that runs 5.0 @ 150 in the 1/8 mile should be going around 1.20 60' times.

You said "well below" 1.35. Define "well below".

Oh, was that Chevy II using leaf springs and traction bars? How about a stock front clip with near stock front suspension? And around 51-55% of its weight on the front tires?

1.18 -1.21 on the car I crew on. 3500lbs...........Leaf Springs........Bolt on replacement style front clip. 52-53% on the nose.

Yes, these cars are different from Stockers.........But it can be done safely without sissy sticks.