Why bleach??

Been enjoying reading some articles on the history of drag racing and on more than one occasion they have mentioned the bleach box. What is special about using bleach? I fully understand the purpose of the burnout but what special properties does bleach bring to the game?

 

A lot of white smoke!!

 

During the burn out intense heat is created. The Bleach gets hot enough to decompose and release Chloride Gas. When the Chloride Gas reacts with the air it creates Hydrogen Chloride and this rapidly burns the "Skin" off the tire exposing the softer and somewhat gooey rubber underneath. As car made more power and could spin the tires faster, it was figured out that plain water would now work fine and save a lot of money - although the Burn Out lost some of the Pure White smoke that the Beach created.

 

At the little track we ran at everyone had their own bleach bottle and usually a wife or girlfriend would wet the tires

 

For whiter clothes of course!

 

Ya got something there seeing as it seems from photos the uniform of choice back in the day was a white t shirt with white pants or white coveralls. Never have understood that, I wear white anywhere near a car as i work on it and it's totaled in 5 minutes! Between burnouts and uniformes they must of bought bleach by the case.

 

This is a very correct answer.

In the '70s we used to use an electric windshield washer in the trunk with the squirters aimed at the tires through the fender well and hose them down with bleach on the street for the effect. You had to be careful that there was not a police officer around, it was a ticket getter back here.

 

Ha Ha!

You too!

My mother couldn't figure out where all her bleach was goin'

 

What was the deal about using "rosin" all about?

 

The same reason they used Coke or other syrup, it added a little extra stickyness.

 

Many racing organization REQUIRED that anyone in the Hot Pits or o the starting line HAD to wear WHITES! It had to do with trying to maintain a professional appearance in a time when so much of racing was thought of as a bunch of GreaseBalls. This was true with motorcycle racing as well, I think Speedway may still require it!

 

White coveralls or white chinos and shirts wrere real common clear up into the '70s by some crews. When I was tunning and riding for Hap in the '70s the pit crew was always well dressed, if not in white then in biege.

 

And attracted ants like crazy!

 

Why fenderless Roadster owners shouldn't use bleach... I have multiple burn marks on my skin as well as decomposed T's and jeans from that ****!

 

I'm glad they have gotten away from that practice, bleach smells disgusting.