Live steam of Saturday night racing starting at 8pm CST. https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=GzkZgU9wJ1Y (Pin up contest starts at 7pm)
I met Brian today at the Meltdowns and had a brief casual chat in his pits. I definitely got the impression he is a great guy that would be very cool to be around especially in his element(making***** go fast). It was no secret I drove a good distance to see his craftsmanship and smell the Fuel. Sadly he had a mishap but is safe After starting the car in the burnout box they shut it down. The crew from where I was standing appeared to be messing with the top of the engine. The track announcer said they might be having throttle linkage issues but I never put stock in those guys. They got it restarted, he began a burnout, I pissed myself a little, and bam he tagged the staging light box in the center. It seemed that he shut it off like really quickly on impact which leads me to think he may have been attempting to shut it down before that. Maybe the throttle was stuck? I don't know I'm sure he'll fill us in soon. After that I sure as hell wasn't going to go ask him questions. But from our meeting I bet this is a guy who will have her back up and running pronto. The car is simply incredible! It's a beautiful beastly combination of hot rod and top fuel dragster. Best of luck Brian Wyatt Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
He was safe and the car can be fixed. I was wondering about stuck throttle too. There was also a very large number of cars having trouble staying straight with burnouts in that lane.
Without getting close I would guess it took out the axle, right hair pin, shock and mount, and maybe the spindle. Unless it just snapped the spindle? Oh and two or three tubes of his favorite new Zoomies. He was walking around the car quickly and scoping it out right at the scene of the crime. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Hi Brian.Sorry to hear of the accident.Glad to hear that you are ok.Wishing you all the best in the future. Good luck.Have fun.Be safe. Leo
Im fine and the car suffered a flesh wound. We had three go pros on the car. All recorded the event. There is no guessing as to what happened. I will post the video soon. We need to first go back to the first pass. I left at a idle running to about 900 feet. It spun a little off the line 60 foot was a slow 1.26 the 1/8 mile was 5.19 its fastest to date with a 1/4 mile et of 8.31 at 130 mph. Not bad for a 3/4 easy pass. At the end of the shut down there was some fuel that got on the windshield. Back at the pits a full service showed the engine was perfect. Every fuel line was checked to make sure it was tight. We found nothing out of place. We went over several ideas as to were the fuel came from. On the second pass at start up there was a leak at the barrel valve. This can happen on nitro cars and is ussually no big deal. So we fired it up and at the hit the spool inside the barrel valve shot out bushing and all making the engine go lean with the rpm at 8 grand. I had my hands full for sure. I thought the throttle was stuck. I was pulling back on the toe loop and pushing the fuel valve closed while going 3 turns to the left on the wheel. The car caught the armco with the wheel. Everything could have been avoided with a simple snap ring or set screw to hold the bushing in the valve. The axle; hair pins; bat wings; some steering bars and a wheel are junk. The frame and body are perfect. For a nitro powered fuel altered its a minor flesh wound. This kind of thing happens every night with sprint cars. We think we will still be able to make all of the events we planned on attending. The car will be racing very soon. No need to start another thread. Thanks everyone.
Glad you're ok, Brian. I don't know what a barrel valve costs, but it's a damned expensive part when it fails. Sent from my iPad using H.A.M.B.
Glad your okay. There was a guy at the swap meet selling the same Anglia spindle mounts you have. If you haven't grabbed them already. Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Brian, First of all the best news is that you are OK. You have a great at attitude. You access the issues, solve them and move on quickly. I hope the parts needed are readily available, knowing you if the parts needed were in the trailer the car would make a run the next day. Keep us posted. Jim
When i rebuilt the car the first part i bought were the wheels. They were a aglia design hub. To use these wheels created huge issues down the road requiring a hand made axle to fit them. I didint know at the time no one made a axle to fit them so we made our own. This time i will get a ford style axle. The parts are on the shelf at super bell. One call will get me a axle; hair pin; and bat wings. I can get the shock and tank bracket with two more phone calls. It looks like the only fabrication will be new shock tabs and a drag link. I dont know whats going to happen with the brakes yet but im sure they would be a stocked item. Im going to try to be ready for woodward. I have three weeks. I think it can be done. The only big issue i foresee is the wheels they are not cheap or readily available. To me thats the worst part of this.
I walked by and checked things out, you were busy tearing apart the right front of the car so I left you to your business. I watched the 8.31 run and it seemed after the run the car was idling really high at the turn around at the end of the strip, was that a normal kind of thing ? Glad your okay !
Glad to hear you are ok and the damage isn't too bad. Love the car, love the thread. I also was going to stop in and say hello but, didn't feel it was a good time with what happened. All the details are just gorgeous got to get a good look while you were at the end of the staging lanes.
My wife and I were able to hang out with Brian Saturday and had front row seats for the mishap. He sure had a lot better attitude about what happened than I would have. This is directly after. Hard to see, but the bucket says "Go Fund Me" Good luck, Brian. Sent from my SM-N910V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
This is the barrel valve. The spool goes inside. As you can see there is nothing that holds the brass bushing positively in place. Some valves have a snap ring groove this one does not. The second pic shows the spool and bushing. This meters the fuel. This blew out when the pressure came up. I have talked to several fuel racers and not one ever saw something like this. A call to hilborn is certainly in order for monday. Im home now. The car is is the shop on a lift. The chassis is so strong and balanced it rolled out of the trailer on three wheels. The pan never dragged.
Its on the lift with the front end off. A list of parts needed has been made. The chassis is square. We are moving forward. Driving something as unruly as a nitro coupe you have to be mentally and physically tough. I understand these things can and do happen. I respect the power and inherant danger. People that dont you might not want to spend much time around. I am looking for another set of five spokes if any one knows of some. Heres some damage pics.
I'm almost positive that I saw a mag set of your wheels in the swap before the crash. This does nothing to help you but say they're out there still. Now I'm going to quit hogging up thread space, thanks for getting me hooked, good luck. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
its funny on the way home we were talking about if someone got a shot with the wheels off the ground.
Brian, I'm very sorry to see this. It's good that you are taking it so well and regrouping. That axle is impressive that it didn't snap. good luck with the repairs. I'm buying you a beer at drag week!
Brian, I do not want to sensationalize a tragedy but I fount this on Utube. Maybe if you watch it you might see a detail that will help you understand what else went wrong. Jim
This the the view from the front. As soon as the throttle opens, fuel starts spraying out of the barrel valve at the top of the engine.
The Jalopy Journal
