Tech Inspection stories?

Mark Yacavone · 02-09-2024, 10:49 PM

Okay, here's one:
If you ever got teched by Marty Barrett it was worth the price of admission, alone.

We're out at Amarillo for the 73 finals, with the 66 Chevy II SS/J car.
Tech was in some God-forsaken vacant lot they picked out.
Marty comes walking up , pulling up on his pant legs,,,"gotta watch for the snakes" he says.
He goes around to the back of the car, still on an open trailer. He's looking underneath but not saying anything. This was before weight boxes, ballast bars, etc. You had to run your natural class, only. No dropping down a class...Spare tire, jack ,full tank of gas...whatever it took.
We had moved the springs in ,which was legal. We took a 3x3 piece of angle iron and ran it from one side to the other, and hung the shackles off that...Finally Marty says " nice way to add some ballast back there".
He then puts his hand on the big SS plate on the deck lid.Glad you've got that in place
We told him..of course...Nice and heavy too.
Marty says.."well, you boys have a nice day" We told him to watch out for the snakes,...and off he went.

The good ol' days...

John Winslow Jr · 02-09-2024, 10:58 PM

Almost got tossed in St Louis for bumper brackets and dash cluster my first year in super stock 2006, was not a fun experience, had to get Danny to let me back in. Lots of drama not gonna mention names but all worked out in the end. I got to race, main thing after a 2,000 mile drive. John

Mike Schwartz · 02-10-2024, 12:41 AM

A new bracket racing sanctioning body with its own bespoke rule book held a "national event" at Atco Raceway. You had to pre-enter and pay by mail if you wanted to race. On the morning of the event I drove the 100 miles from my home in North Jersey in my 1969 Mercury Cougar.

I had never had tech problems at any of the other tracks where I had raced the car previously. However this group's tech inspector bounced me because a portion of the car's slapper bars extended below the rear wheels' rims. I had never heard of such a thing, but it was in their rule book. I never thought to look, because NHRA had no such rule that I was aware of and no one ever questioned the setup before.

Mind you, the car was running stiff-wall DOT tires. The bars wouldn't touch the ground even if all the air was let out. Nevertheless, I didn't want to waste the trip and entry, so I unbolted both traction bars and left them in my pit space. The amount of squat in the rear on subsequent runs was unnerving. After the race I put the bars back on and drove home. I never had problems with tech again, and I never raced with that organization again.

02-09-2024, 10:49 PM	#1
Mark Yacavone Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Miles From Nowhere Posts: 7,818 Likes: 2,909 Liked 5,126 Times in 1,954 Posts	Re: Tech Inspection stories? Okay, here's one: If you ever got teched by Marty Barrett it was worth the price of admission, alone. We're out at Amarillo for the 73 finals, with the 66 Chevy II SS/J car. Tech was in some God-forsaken vacant lot they picked out. Marty comes walking up , pulling up on his pant legs,,,"gotta watch for the snakes" he says. He goes around to the back of the car, still on an open trailer. He's looking underneath but not saying anything. This was before weight boxes, ballast bars, etc. You had to run your natural class, only. No dropping down a class...Spare tire, jack ,full tank of gas...whatever it took. We had moved the springs in ,which was legal. We took a 3x3 piece of angle iron and ran it from one side to the other, and hung the shackles off that...Finally Marty says " nice way to add some ballast back there". He then puts his hand on the big SS plate on the deck lid.Glad you've got that in place We told him..of course...Nice and heavy too. Marty says.."well, you boys have a nice day" We told him to watch out for the snakes,...and off he went. The good ol' days... __________________ "We are lucky we don't get as much Government as we pay for." Will Rogers

02-09-2024, 10:58 PM	#2
John Winslow Jr Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Prunedale Ca Posts: 197 Likes: 538 Liked 412 Times in 87 Posts	Re: Tech Inspection stories? Almost got tossed in St Louis for bumper brackets and dash cluster my first year in super stock 2006, was not a fun experience, had to get Danny to let me back in. Lots of drama not gonna mention names but all worked out in the end. I got to race, main thing after a 2,000 mile drive. John

02-10-2024, 12:41 AM	#3
Mike Schwartz Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Maryland USA Posts: 533 Likes: 129 Liked 248 Times in 89 Posts	Re: Tech Inspection stories? A new bracket racing sanctioning body with its own bespoke rule book held a "national event" at Atco Raceway. You had to pre-enter and pay by mail if you wanted to race. On the morning of the event I drove the 100 miles from my home in North Jersey in my 1969 Mercury Cougar. I had never had tech problems at any of the other tracks where I had raced the car previously. However this group's tech inspector bounced me because a portion of the car's slapper bars extended below the rear wheels' rims. I had never heard of such a thing, but it was in their rule book. I never thought to look, because NHRA had no such rule that I was aware of and no one ever questioned the setup before. Mind you, the car was running stiff-wall DOT tires. The bars wouldn't touch the ground even if all the air was let out. Nevertheless, I didn't want to waste the trip and entry, so I unbolted both traction bars and left them in my pit space. The amount of squat in the rear on subsequent runs was unnerving. After the race I put the bars back on and drove home. I never had problems with tech again, and I never raced with that organization again. Last edited by Mike Schwartz; 02-11-2024 at 12:33 AM. Reason: Traded droop for squat. :)