NHRA Seattle engine rebuild on John Force's car.

Discussion in 'Sports' started by Robert, Dec 4, 2018.

  1. Robert

    Robert Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I am not sure any of you know who John Force is. John is getting to be an old man. John has earned a healthy living for eons driving and owning race cars. The kind of race cars few of you have seen yet. They started out as flathead ford v8 drag-racers and have progressed to some modern entertainment. Watch them build this engine and how fast they do it.

     
  2. Jonsa

    Jonsa Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I'm not a follower of drag racing, I'm a F1 fan, but I do know who John Force is. He's only won just about everything possible.

    That between race rebuild video reminds me of the service crews between stints in the WRC. A well oiled machine where everyone knows exactly what to do, when.

    cheers.
     
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  3. Robert

    Robert Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    And though it took his daughter time, she too is a winner. There is nothing wrong with a fan of F-1 also being a fan of Drags.
     
  4. Jonsa

    Jonsa Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I enjoy a good race regardless, its just that I faithfully follow F1, and casually follow NASCAR and CHAMP CAR and WRC.

    Way back in the day, I street raced a couple of tweaked muscle cars of the day. Dodge 340 Swinger and a 427 camaro. Won a few and lost a few but had one helluva good time.

    Funny how women have become world champs in drag racing (I was in mad passionate love from afar with Cha Cha Muldowney.) but haven't broken thru in any other format. A couple of novelties like Danica, but no real winners.
     
  5. Robert

    Robert Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I met Cha Cha at Fremont Drag Strip and she was so sweet. Rather than seem tired of the men being around her, she acted pleased. How much of that can a woman stand though. My daughter also raced but motocross and she got a lot of attention too. She never complained to me about it.

    Drags being so short seem to many not to be interesting. But the enormous power I guess makes it more interesting. Were else can you be around cars with 8,000 horsepower running down a track.

    Back in my drag racing days, the top fuelers had maybe 2,000 hp.
     
  6. Jonsa

    Jonsa Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Awesome that you met her and she was so nice. :smile:

    I can always appreciate the vicarious thrill of watching a machine travel a 1/4 mile in under 4 seconds, not to mention the sound and fury of it.

    OTOH, my wife thinks watching a 90 minute race in F1 is worse than watching paint dry. I think appreciation of motor racing includes the geeky interest in the technology, the appreciation of how hard it is to excel, the teamwork and precision, not to mention the glory and glamour of the best and of course the sounds and smells.
     
  7. Robert

    Robert Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I have seen many of the top hitters race. Met several of them. I met Don Garlits when he was racing in CA too. To me he was not a very talkative person. Shirley was way more gregarious. Not so you thought she wanted to date you, but just a very kind and down to earth lady. Dale Emery who drove for Blue Max and drove Pure Hell the roadster worked with me so i knew him very well. Dale died this year. I am about to lose another well known drag racer though in the slower classes, Ed Schuck. His wife told me on Saturday he has terminal pancreatic cancer. We have been pals since in our early 20s or late teens.

    In Dales case, we often roomed together on out of town jobs. Got to know him quite well. Back in my young days, i would go to different kinds of racing including Formula races. I recall in Germany seeing Sterling Moss and watched him kick something on his car as if that fixed the problem. Sterling was at that time quite famous.
     
    Last edited: Dec 5, 2018
  8. Jonsa

    Jonsa Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    sounds like you had a blast. Sorry about your friend. Seems we are of an age.

    And in F1 circles sterling moss is considered one of the all time greats to never have won the world championship. . In a seven year period he finished second four times and third three times - some bridesmaid. My dad was a huge sterling moss fan

    When I look back at video's of racing back in those days it always reminds me of how amazingly unsafe and dangerous it was. No barriers or fences, building and trees at the edge of the road, no divide between the race track and the pits, fans right at trackside.
     
    Last edited: Dec 5, 2018
  9. Robert

    Robert Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    In Germany i stood trackside at the Nurburgring and later at the Solitude Ring. Solitude is close to Stuttgart. They raced that track more for fun i was told than profit. That is where Sterling was kicking on his shifting levers I believe it was. First time i saw the Studebaker Avanti was at Nurburgring on display there.

    My major problem with races like NASCAR and even at Nurburgring is how long it takes to see cars again. True at Nascar they come quicker, another problem is rubber floating in the air and getting you filthy with tire rubber. Anyway, Drags do not cause that particular problem. Yeah in Sterlings day he also had to face Juan Fango. A hell of a Formula racer.
     
  10. Jonsa

    Jonsa Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Loved that avanti. Coincidentally it was in the early 60's at Canadian Grand Prix I saw the first prototype corvette stringray. It had a bubble top at the time.
     
  11. modernpaladin

    modernpaladin Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I couldn't watch it! Working that fast would COMPLETELY ruin the fun of mechanicing! I like working on cars, but I don't think I could work on cars like that for any amount of money.

    It is impressive to see others do it though.
     

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