Is Nostalgia Top Fuel Dying out?

I really like your idea.

 

Very easy statement to make when spending other peoples money. Also I the eyes of the High Sheriffs that there is no difference betweent the two - Pro$talgia Nitro Dragster and Vintage Nostalgia Dragster to make different safety and containment rules between the two.

 

Bruce,
First, hope you are doing well . One day still want you to put a different hoop in my car....
Anyway, I think it could be done. Of course, there would need to be cars to form a cl***.
If it could not be done under NHRA, then IHRA may do it. Tucson is IHRA and it could be done with more realistic safety rules. I am not against safety in any way but, when they require expensive upgrades for things that have not failed or caused injury, it gets out of hand.
We all want a safe race car.

If a real nostalgia AA/FD cl*** could be formed, it would be a good thing. Have rules, not only safety but, encourage using the vintage look.
Many of the fuel guys I have spoke to agree that keeping an unlimited percentage allowance but, requiring the use of a point mag and a cast pump ( 990, 1,100, etc as examples ) will help reduce wear and maintenance.
The mid to low 6 second, or even 6.0 and occasionally a '5' ETS had the fans very happy and it was a great show.
It could be done. I'll be in better shape, money wise, in a few years too. Am paying off my new property and going to build a shop. Then, plan the run the car more often, even if only in Az or, perhaps the midwest.
Too bad though because Bakersfield is the hub of nostalgia racing. For 20 years I genuinely enjoyed and looked forward to attending a nostalgia meet at the patch. Maybe it could happen again but, I think NHRA owns that track so, that will probably not happen.
Tucson and other tracks, could put something together.
We would need cars of course.
Setting up rules is always hard to do.

 

Hello guys

As the economy is down all over, could it just as fun looking and driving dragster making it in the 6's?
Nitro is way cool, but it comes with a price, more expencive engines and equipment!?

We have not been dragracing that many years over here, but it really starts to be fun again. We are just about making new guidelines/rules for an all out vintage racing cl***.
As of now we have just one Fuel Funny, but both we as drivers and the spectators have just as fun with the alcohol and gas cars!

Last years high-light was an alcohol blown 392 hemi in an old Tuttle ch***is, making a new record over here with a 6.61 second ET!

Also a team that have been racing from the early days here, making a new personal best!

We get more and more cars from the US, and people really likes it!

...........................
Taildragger&fenderless
making a new

 

NHRA should have made, and enforced,
rules to prevent this from happening.

 

No question, cars can make plenty of power on alky and go real fast too. The things is, that there is just something about nitro. It is addictive and very exciting for both spectator and racer alike.
It is just a different ballgame. it is what puts people in the stands, gets you heart t******* and your other senses quivering. Alky cannot do that.
There is also the unpredictable factor with nitro. You just do not know what is going to happen and that adds to the show and the excitment level.
Alky cannot compare in that way.
Nitro is stupid expensive to run and it can be very hard on parts. That is where the challenge is and why I am a nitro junkie. The flames, the sound, the feel, it is like nothing else.
I get to share that experience whenever I fire up my nitro burning Pontiac for a 'cackle'. People who 'think' they know what a loud car is are just blown away the first time they see, hear and smell a nitro burner.

What else can I say?

 

I agree

But lucky for us, most people have as fun with the alcohol.
We are lucky to have some vintage Fuel Bikes!
But you never know, in the hunt for a lover ET and higher speeds,
someone will probably mix in the fun stuff!

Check out www.svda.se


.............................
taildragger&fenderless

 

Could somthing be done at Tucson? Maybe, But you will need to get all your Nitro cars from AZ. because nobody is going to travel that far without a BIG payout. We could do somthing like that at SAC, but will you travel to do it?
This isnt the 60's people we dont have(at least in CA) 3-4 tracks within hours of each other and running a program weekly. Break somthing stupid, go home and come back next week. Now since races are to few and far between EVERY RUN must count.

 

It seems to happen in all form of motorsports. There are a few guys that can afford to burn money. They want to win and will spend whatever is necessary. I saw it in drag racing in the 60s and 70s I've seen it in local roundy round in sprint cars and late models. racing for a 1,000 or 1,200 to win against teams that have 250,000 in their car and hauler. Gets hard to justify after a while.

 

Maybe an event like the Bakersfield Nitro Night, last summer. Get a few cars to run in front of some people and start to build a cl***.

I think people would really like Top Fuel Dragster that look more like they did. The "tall, square" cars just don't look as nice.

 

Roo Man's cars are nice. So is the Mike Cross car.

 

So many excellent points and a lot of "what if's". But it is the nature of the beast. Any true heads up cl*** will eventually turn into whoever has the most money wins and if you want to be competative (and if you didn't you wouldn't be a drag racer) you will try to keep up. The same can be said for the nostalgia Jr Fuel. When I built my car an 8.50 would get you in the field and there were a handfull of cars running mid 7.0's. I believe the current record is 6.7 something. I am seeing more groups that run on an index, but have a decent car count and booked in shows. About the only way some of us can stay active and not break the bank. I would love to race heads up in a nostalgia cl***, but just can't spend the money.

 

Wouldn't it be cool if there was a "Nostalgia" Top Fuel (and a Jr. fuel and/or gas) cl*** filled with cars UNDER 160" with good looking cages, no wings and full chutepack bodywork???

I'd bet you'd get the same feeling as Civil War re-enactors.....problem is, car guys get too HUNG UP on winning.....

 

come on guys do you really think billet heads and billet blocks are bad. were talking nitro here things break. with the iron parts you throw them away. with aluminum you at least have a shot at fixing it several times. so in the long run you are money ahead. with the old mallory mags if you shook the tires the mag was dead now the msd won't do that again money ahead in the long run. there is a reason why these parts exist. its to replace the previous parts that could be improved upon. do you think garlits wished he had a ***anium clutch and can right before his foot got ripped off. i think the money part of this ****s but to run as fast as they do the parts are necessary. I'm all for two cl***es a unlimited modern cl*** and a true nostalgia cl***. same for the funny cars. racers being racers they will always find away to go faster regardless of cost. were do you draw the line? so if billet parts are outlawed and we go back to iron what do you do for the guy that can't afford iron parts. iron parts are no longer cheap. with that kind of thinking we will all be running flat heads and sbc. the new parts are here they are not going away. those that can't afford to run with the big dogs will have to make another cl***. its just the way it is as much as we don't like it.

 

IIRC, the nostalgia Funny Car, and nostalgia Top Fuel,
cl***es have different engine rules.

One is thriving, the other dying.

Coincidence ?

 

You can run your old outdated stuff here.......

 

there are lots of nitro cars there is no shortage you are just looking in the wrong place. you are looking for them to be racing on the track. silly you they are all in that newer bullish** cackle cl***. the cl*** is called cf/bs you go to bakersfield or kentucky and see cackle cars outnumber real compe***ion cars 2-1 sometimes higher. i know some won't p*** tech but you can make it p*** tech or make a new car that will. or clone the one to p*** tech. there are lots of options.

 

Correct, however; look at the transmission and tire size allowed in FC.....

 

Dude-- Its been forty years and the story told a million times

The two-speed transmission exploded and took half his foot, not the clutch.

 

My sentiments exactly, Unless you are willing to melt the thing on most every p***, You wont go late into elims. I think there should be a new rule allowing each team to melt one set of pistons at the big end per weekend, so the rest of us wanting to do this for fun have a chance without murdering our wallets!

 

There was a time when NTF had a max wheel base of 150 inches.

 

I'd LOVE to see that, and thats what it should be, but there isnt anywhere that would let them run.

 

That's a bit short. for those who have followed this cl*** since its inception in the late 80s, there was a 175" rule.

My first real nostalgia race was at Firebird in Phoenix in 1990. I say real because this was the first nostalgia race that had fuelers. Saw Dan Horan with his car and others. I was hooked and remain to this day.

 

Yes, I would travel to Sacramento. On another thread here, have a build up of my '61 tow wagon. Am going through it bumper to bumper with improvements including extending the range 200-250%.
Also building a '59 F350 dually with a ***mins turbo and od 5 spd primarily for heavier towing.
With these 2 vehicles, my travel expenses will be less. I don't work anymore so time is an issue. Getting crew may be a problem but, think I could handle that.
It'll be interesting to see what can happen in the coming years if a real , vintage front motor Top Fuel cl*** can be formed with reasonable rules.

Keep me in the loop.

 

Keeping a reasonable minimum weight rule would also keep the cost down. I'm getting close to finishing up a Jr Fuel car and I've spent a ridiculous amount on ***anium, magnesium and carbon fiber to meet a 1300 lbs minimum. Also, saving dollars by running cast iron blocks and heads is a joke. Aluminum is a way better value. I'm thinking that a cool cl*** would be a FED, 180" wb max, 1800 lbs minimum, legal cage but chutepack body, no electronics, stack injected, nitro.

 

You have a point but, with nitro, you can control things with fuel pump, mag and blower restrictions. Also, require the M&H spec tire, direct drive and 3.90 gear.
I do not know who or how NTF originated, as I said earlier, I was not introduced to in until 1990. By that time, the main sanctioning body controlling it was ANRA under Frank Fedak. Bruce may be able to add or correct if I am wrong.
I remember him being interviewed by Steve Evans on NHRA today about this cl***.

He was quoted as saying something like this. "We are recreating the fun of the 'old days' of the 60s when a couple of middle cl*** guys could put a top fuel car together and have some fun.....
It really did work and was a great show, I remember it quite well. I traveled to Palmdale and the patch countless times to watch and learn and meet some of them.

 

And remember a lot of things have changed also for safety reasons..... Strap your *** in a 150-60 inch fed and run 200 + and then tell me how short they should be

Dont get me wrong...Im the first guy on the fence to watch a fuel altered and those guys have balls of steel ......and
there are also a lot of guys who made history back in the day that didnt live to grow old....just as the sprint car guys before cages

 

Dan's dragster was a 1970 Don Long. It was cut down to 150 to run NTF in the 80's then put back to I think 200. I crewed on that car right up until it was wrecked.

You could run that type of car. Guys would just have to get group of cars and run them. That's how NFC started off. Guys like Gaynor, Horan Jr, and Randy Walls just raced each other. Now look at it.

I feel that if two cars approached Bakersfield or Sac and asked to run each other for a match race type deal during another event, you could do it. My guess would be it would be on your own dime, but it would be a start. But this would be a way to start a cl***. When you talk to fans they don't care about super slow et's or speed. They like the sound of the nitro cars the look of the old school dragsters and side by side runs. We ran a NTF dragster all day in the 6's and never took off the heads. Oil, fuel, spark plugs, and check the mains.

 

You obviously have the same opinion of manyof the current NTF car owners. Your statements have some validity to them as well and I understand that.
However, when you are trying to recreate a nostalgia cl***, the use of billet parts is one of the things that modernize the cl***.
It is not a matter of cost, it is a matter or being more perior correct as is possible and practical.

I have purchased 2 rare block forgings myself.


One day, i will carve out 2 nitro Pontiac blocks for my use. May go with billet heads too but, could use those mainly for match racing.

 

I was crewing for Dan when he did wreck. Were you there then? If so, I must have met you already. After he did his burnout, we watched his wreck from the starting line. Then, rode in the truck with his son. Saw it in the sand, etc. Not a good day. Dan is a good guy and he was influential to me.