Tales From the Drags: Episode 1

"Justin is driven" (justinisdriven)
05/12/2014 at 12:00 • Filed to: Drag racing, tales from the drags, corvette

Welcome to "Tales from the Drags", a (hopefully) weekly series that will document my life as a drag strip employee and all of the havoc that that entails. Names have been changed to protect the guilty. All images found using google image search and are not photos of the actual events depicted in the text, only similar ones.

This Week: Danger to Manifold.

I usually work all weekend at the track, but this week I was only on the schedule for Sunday.

Normally Sundays are pretty low-key. We run our regular weekly bracket race classes (pro, super pro, super pro bikes, and sportsman) alongside test and tune sessions. The bracket racers are generally our best customers - they know the drill, they show up on time for their class, and they rarely break. The guys you really need to watch out for are the test and tuners.

This Sunday is no different - our bracket classes run like clockwork, and because it's early in the season, the fields are fairly small. Even T&T is going well, as it's comprised mostly of a few street cars and some of our regular bracket racers breaking in their new setups.

There are two notable exceptions to this.

One is a top alcohol dragster dialing in his setup and learning the ropes. These things are seriously quick, packing around 3500 horsepower and running in the high five second range. This guy was definitely our fastest car on track today, and as a result, everyone perks up a little every time he makes his way into the lanes.

The other is a track regular who owns a street driven C6 vette that runs low 10's on nitrous. From the outside it looks just like a nice 'vette with some aftermarket wheels, but if you get a peek in the rear window you'll see the well-hidden bars of a roll cage.

On the street this car is a real terror, almost as fast as a Veyron. At the strip, though, it's just another guy running 10's. There are so many cars on any given weekend going that fast that we generally don't even notice them anymore. There are bracket cars running their third of fourth season on the same engine that run tens all day, hotlapping the whole time. This 'vette stands out only because it is a full interior street car on DOT tires; and because today he is looking for a nine second pass.

This means upping the nitrous shot, and on his first pass, he nails a 9.94. Everyone is stoked, even the hyper-jaded employees are clapping and smiling.

Next session he comes out again, lines up, and launches hard. When the nitrous hits about 60 feet out, the tires start to spin, and the car lurches sideways for a second before he lifts. No good.

On his third pass, he lines up, launches, and the same thing happens, except this time his tires spin a little bit harder than the time before. He doesn't lift but catches the slide and attempts to ride it out. It's no use - the 'vette refuses to hook and the tires let go completely. The motor zings to redline in an instant and finally he lifts; simultaneously there is an almighty WHOMP and a fireball shoots out from under the car.

I start moving towards the track truck, watching the 'vette, waiting for the flames to stop, but they won't, and now I'm running. The starter's voice crackles in my headset: "we got a fire guys, go go go". We speed to the scene, fourth in line behind the starter on a quad kept next to the starter's box for just this kind of scenario, the track ambulance, and another official on another quad.

A few extinguisher's worth of fire cap and halon later, and the fire is out. The driver got out as soon as the car was stopped and he's sitting against the track wall now, looking dejected and out of breath but otherwise OK. The vette's hood is open, and I take a quick peek inside.

The intake manifold looks like this, but worse. It's split in three or four places, and the culprit is obvious - a nitrous backfire. Too much spray and not enough timing blew the thing apart, possibly due to a sensor failure of the like. The 'vette leaves on a flatbed, a little charred and very dirty, but totally rebuildable. It will live to fight another day.

The driver has a positive outlook on the whole thing. "Better a new motor than a new car" he quips, and I can't help but agree. I'm just happy it didn't get worse, as it easily could have if we hadn't gotten to the car as quickly as we had.

DISCUSSION (14)

crowmolly > Justin is driven
05/12/2014 at 12:07

What track are you at?

Nitrous backfires are exciting and cool to watch when it's not your car.

jkm7680 > Justin is driven
05/12/2014 at 12:11

Sounds exciting! How often do incidents occur?

Justin is driven > crowmolly
05/12/2014 at 12:13

Ehhh, I'd prefer not to say out of deference to my employers and the people in my stories who might not want this kind of thing out in public. It also allows me to be completely frank, which is not something that would happen otherwise. Thanks for reading!

offroadkarter > Justin is driven
05/12/2014 at 12:14

Good write up. If you make this a regular thing, hopefully some of our less educated members here on oppo will realize not every motorsport revolves around driving a 80hp miata in circles in a parking lot. Drag racing takes a lot of skill and know how if you don't want to look like a jackass on the track. One of the editors on jalopnik found that out the hard way when he almost drove a car into the stone trap at the end.

This is going onto oppo facebook if you don't mind.

Justin is driven > jkm7680
05/12/2014 at 12:16

It really varies. Some events are more disaster prone than others. I'd say we have to go down track for some reason or other around once a weekend. That being said, we have had long droughts where nothing happens for a few weeks.

Justin is driven > offroadkarter
05/12/2014 at 12:17

Not at all! Thank you for the comment.

crowmolly > Justin is driven
05/12/2014 at 12:19

Gotcha, makes perfect sense. I'd rather here more stories than get the track name anyway! I know a guy who works at a track in PA and his are classic, such as:

1.) The guy who showed up to run a supercharged Mustang and brought along a bicycle helmet to use... and wasn't joking.

2.) The "run what you brung" race where all the import kids were talking shit only to have an older guy blow them all out of the water.. since he "brung" a fucking pro stock car.

3.) The running tally of rotary explosions which is staggeringly high. He says he hears "WHANANANANANANNANANANA BANG " in his dreams at night.

davlac89 > Justin is driven
05/12/2014 at 12:19

Looking forward to Episode 2!

fink stinger > Justin is driven
05/12/2014 at 12:20

Having run bracket cars for the first half of my driving career, I am very interested to read the rest of this series. I also lived very close (like "I can hear when there are open-header cars running" close) to a popular track and am friends with the owners, so I got a lot of perspective that most people showing up wouldn't have.

Justin is driven > crowmolly
05/12/2014 at 12:30

I have seen some variation of all of these, lol. Our "run what ya brung" class attracts mostly pro stock and pro mod guys, it can get pretty insane.

We dont get many rotaries, unfortunately. I think our equivalent is quys in SRT4 neons. Any time one shows up with slicks, we all sigh a little because we know we're going to end up pushing the thing back and likely sweeping up bits of axle.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Justin is driven
05/12/2014 at 13:27

This is awesome. I hope you write one as often as you can!

I'll read and star every one of them!

Justin is driven > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
05/12/2014 at 14:30

The plan is once a week, since I'm only generally at the strip on weekends. So expect a new episode every Monday or Tuesday as long as I work there . :)

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Justin is driven
05/12/2014 at 14:31

That's awesome! I'll be waiting anxiously early every week from now on.

T5Killer > Justin is driven
05/12/2014 at 17:19

Awesome I grew up going to the drags so I love this!.