Fox is running Radirs I think. They're not recaps and look right. I'm still thinking the old M&H spec tire is a good start for me, but might be too big for a lighter, 4 to 800 hp car. They're stiffer in the sidewall than the new 13s and might at least make a good baseline for my 1500 lb. 165" nitro set-up. These are the tires I'll be using and I'll relay the info I gather along. Hoosier's slicks are pretty flimsy, but there's that video of Jim Davis in the '80's smokin' 'em hard and going fast on 14" wrinkle walls. With this gig who knows? A current tire with a different compound might be just the thing to spin/hook on these new glued tracks. Hopefully one of us will find out soon...
I'm gonna try to stay down to 8 or9 in. Oh, BTW, I just bought some wire front wheels and some chrome moly. No turning back! Did you hear me Brian and Tim?
Ok, even though no one is watching this thread, I am building a 150 in wb car, 3.20ish gear, 8 3/4 rear high gear only, no reverse, push start dragster. Spool rear, welded torsion front tire smoker. 427 BB chev on at least 90%. Vertex mag hopped up, and a five point cage, and a five lb fire bottle, (cause I have to). Lippy
Five point cage and a fire bottle. Golly , Lippy. You must be a pussy. Ha, Ha. Just kidding. The Ghost will migrate that dirrection real soon. My head might not be real pretty but I like it. ha,ha. Glad to hear more people wantin to smoke the tires. The Radirs I run are made by Mickey Thompson. I want to talk to them about a softer compond but stay with the hard side wall. But always forget to call. Lets get this wagon going. EVERYONE NEEDS TO CALL MICKEY THOMPSON ABOUT THIS TIRE. A RADIR TIRE BUT WITH THE STICKY COMPOUND. Kerrry said something about point float. Whch reminds me. At the HAMB Drags while talkin to Lippy. He said that IVO and GARLITS and such. Smoked the tires and the motors lived , because they figured out to do it with controled valve float. And I said "yeah that is what Im doing". And Lippy replied, " I dont think yours is controled". ha,ha. Anyone that has seen/heard my car runs. Knows Lippy is right. Front Motor Tire Smokers Forever. KING
Brian, If I could get away with it, I'd run a three point cage, trust me. What's with the stickier slicks deal? The fire bottle is just for THEM. I'll hide it under my legs and point two nozzles at the engine, trust me, you won't see them. I think the key here is a tall rear gear and some good hp so you don't have to wind it so high to keep em smoking, but it takes torque and wheel speed to keep the rpm liveable. I don't know where this will lead, hopefully to two cars blazing the tires side by side. I'm on the tire deal. Lippy (we'll see who's a pussy) in Ks.
Just found this thread and have enjoyed the read. Up here in the NW there is a group of front motored high gear only dragsters. Mid sevens at 200. No tire smoke though(except at Forks). The race at Forks is on their Airstrip. 1/8th mile and slick as hell. All of these cars smoke the tires at this place. If I knew how to I'd link the youtube of the beautiful injected nitro BBC that smoked them the whole way and then bite and barrell rolled after the lites. Type dragster crash at Forks,Wa. Oh BTW the name of the group is NW Nostalgia Top Eliminator.
The stickier slicks deal, is so it spins but maybe moves forward a little faster. Just a thought. You know im joking about the pussy part I hope.
Hi Ron, this should be interesting alright. Gotta try it once. I couldn't find the video, but did see some good racing there. Lippy
Yes it was. There is a cool story that goes with that car. Maybe for another thread. This group is right up your alley Lippy. That car had an iron block, iron head, Super Mag III, two disc Crower pedal clutch, high gear and 13 wide Goodyears. 92-94%, 45 degrees timing and leave at 3-3500. 7.40@200 on a good track. The little dragster in the other lane. 340 in. Desoto on 92% and 10 wide slicks. Old school Jr. Fuel!
Ron Johnson sent me these photo's today while ordering another pair of our slicks for The "Chizler" T/F Rail. He has been very happy with our product HURST RACING TIRES
Yeah man, it was great! All this time has passed (since I was 6) and I never sat in a fuel car running until last saturday. I've been near cacklefest cars as they ran, watched newstalgia cars run and watched it on TV too. I had my ass handed to me. On saturday, we were running my 6.0 NTF Donovan on 84%, with a "simple" Hilborn fuel system by Gene Adams. Mr.Adams used a Hilborn barrel valve and set it up to have a slower "ramp" for smoking the tires. That means it revs a fraction smoother and slower than the new NTF cars. The boys said the motor sounded a bit "lazy" because of this, and Jensen had 'er a bit fat to cut down on heat (read save Conder money.) From where I was sitting (31+ inches back and 8 inches lower than the injector) it felt like a bomb went off in my face. I simply had no idea anything on earth made this much power. I fucked up and gulped a huge lungful of nitro through my mouth instead of breathing slowly through my nose. I thought I had fluid running out of my ears. The only thing I actually did right was figure out Pete's eye and hand signals and then did what he told me to do...I whacked the throttle twice. Hard. When I did the concussion wave blew everything away from me and for a split second everything got smooth, calm and almost quiet, then BOOM!!!! she'd drop back into that freakshow explosive idle, blasting me in the face with everthing she had. I was in a t-shirt. No ear plugs or fuel mask. My buddy Chris handed me a wad of those blue shop towels but by then it was too late! I had both lungs filled with the stuff and the car was literally trying to take the whole building straight to the ground.. Jensen was leaning against the motor like he was waiting for a bus. Jesus.
Tim- So cool to see things working out for you after so much time and effort. I didn't take time to read through all 12 pages of this thread, but from the chatter on the Standard 1320 and Cacklefest Groups, it's my understanding that the underlying problem with replicating the old "smoker" runs isn't so much power, tires, and technique (although those things are important) as it is finding dragstrips that aren't saturated with ultra sticky traction compound. I'm sure you've walked out on some NHRA tracks and noticed that you can barely pull your feet off the surface. I've seen it literally pull the shoes off guys feet. It's like trying to walk through superglue. I know this has even been a problem at MoKan, although Carl works hard to "de-prep" the track prior to the HAMB drags each year. I sure hope your able to figure something out, and wish you the best of luck. If anyone can do it, my money's on you.
I appreciate all the fine comments. I agree, that traction compound is the mystery. I've heard some encouraging insight on it from a couple of serious (as in mega-successful current nostalgia guys) on this subject...They say the tires want to "dry-up" on the stuff. They start spinning, then the tires start shaking while trying to dry up and hook. These new guys don't want to smoke 'em, so the second they break loose they get out of it. The new chassis and clutch set-ups these guys run are simply not set up to spin the tires. I'm hoping we can actually tune the clutch, chassis, tires and motor specifically to smoke the tires as a RACE CAR. We have a lot more ideas since we fired the car on nitro. Now that it actually looks like I might make it to the track, the boys are all excited now trying to figure out how to keep me alive - er, go fast. Suddenly folks are calling me with bitchin' theory and ideas...It's great! Why now instead of ten years ago? I think the "cheerleaders as my crew" idea might've scared 'em a little. Or maybe it was my whole end of the world as we know it God/Devil/metalflake/nitro/jiggly girl apocolypse marketing plan. Now I'm just a guy with a dragster. It does seem a bit more "do-able"...
Got my stack hilborn's today, more stuff on the way. M/T valve covers from Ron Tikiman. I have a crank, block, front cover, pump, heads, rear end ,rear wheels , front wheels, fuel tank, magneto ,working on a simple chassis jig. Smoke em Bobby!!
Hmmm, here is my two cents worth. M&H was "the tire guy" back in the hey day (early 60's to late 70's. No, they no longer make the older stiff side wall tires, but they do know the compound and side wall secrets and I am sure would intertain re-maiking the old "White Dot" Racemaster tires if the demand was there. These tires were mostly either 15" x 9" x 28/29/30 inch or 16" x 10/11" x 29/30/31 inch. The real problem is not the tire or car so much. That can be corrected for. The problem is the track. All tracks use some kind of sticky for the surface which wants to stop the tire spin. This is dangerous for the older cars which were designed to spin the tires. Every time we have done burn outs on the newer tracks, we end trying to stand the car straight up. We start out smoking them hard, then at about 200 feet, BAM, she strats gaining altitude. Not good folks.
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