FED/CHRR related question

So I was just taking a look at the pics KIWIKEV put up in regards to the ****erfly wheels in the dragsters. I saw one pic that caught my eye and have always wondered, why do some of the FED's have a shild over the pumpkin and some dont? How often did the rearends go haywire back in the day? Do the tires go up in smoke before the rearend lets go? It seems like a precarious spot to have the family jewels.

Heres a pic from KIWI that i was refering too.

 

Nobody?

 

At one point in time NHRA had a rule mandating a shield in the area of the ring gear. Might be that some of the restorations and/or clones built in the last 10 years just forgot about that old safety device.
There wasn't one on my '69 Woody car when I bought it, and it had a NHRA certification tag from the mid-90's. I'm going to run 9" tires and doubt the rear will blow with such little rubber on the strip.

 

Funny you should ask...my Salinas Dragster has a shield on the top of the Culver City Quickchange while the back where the gears are where your nuts are against there is no shield. This car was built in 1954 and stopped running in 1959.

 

I get that question all the time. I put a strap on mine just for the curious. I don't have a lot of hp,or tire , so i don't think its a problem. I haven't seen one blow. I'm sure they have.

 

Yes they do blow. If he were still with us, Jack Chrisman could tell you how bad it gets.

 

With the advent of better parts, i.e. Not Stock, the shields started to go away for the sake of weight savings in some cases and looks for another. Most restorations do not have them since the rear ends in most cases have been replaced sometime in the cars history.

A few Reunions back Nick Arias III was running Brendan Murrys blue car and after a pretty good burnout he shut down and jumped out. Someone forgot to put oil in the rear end and he felt the gears chewing themselves up! He now has some great kids!

BTW, Rich Guasco was the victim of an errand rear end.

 

Jack Christman was not hurt by the rear end blowing out a ring gear. He was injured by the rear end breaking loose where it was attached to the frame and it spinning in the ch***is. The pinion spun around (down) and ripped him open. ****, I bet thatbhurt. But, the shield would not have helped at all here.

I have raced since 1955 and have never seen a ring gear explode. However, the shield was in-fact a rule in both NHRA and AHRA as far back as the 50's.

 

As stated Chrisman wasnt hurt by the gear. it was the darn thing rotating. The rule book says there must be an antirotaion strp or device to keep it from rotating. Some use links going forward. I used the pinion snubber holes and put a crossmember underneath. Those diffs are awfully tough. Also remember a rail weighs about 1/3 to 2/5s of the car it came out of. it would take a hge amount of HP to bust it open. I sit on mine, no shield.I dont worry and you wont either. You don't feel the diff or any vibration or even think about it. In fact you wonder why anyone does after you drive it. At 1000hp I might put a shield on it but at 300 I dont worry.
Don

 

saw a front engine dragster recently at a race in Ohio.Tech guy made them put a ****** blanket around the casing.."just in case".. was an injected SBC..Olsmobile rear end.
It had no strap welded to the back.

1939fiat.

 

Again, in Guasco's situation, the pumpkin didn't explode ... the rear-end broke away from the frame ...


Rich Guasco is one of drag racing's senior heroes. Late in 1962, he was hospitalized following
an accident when his dragster's rearend broke loose, leaving him badly injured and facing a
two-year recovery. Here he poses with the dreaded rear he's kept for nearly 40 years that did
all the damage.

 

I've never seen go through the back of a diff even 10 and 12 bolt the planetary and side gears just punch holes in the tin cover but have seen them tear holes in front wheel drive aluminum trans cases

 

Good info, thanks fellas. I got a FED thats sitting across town that i have my eye on. It had the strap on the case. Anyone have info on drag racing on the central coast? Preferably in Santa Maria back in the 50's and 60's?

 

if your going to run it at all, cover your nuts,you only have two!

 

I believe the former "Surfers" driver Mike Sorokin was fatally injured after the housing spun in a FED he drove later in his career.

 

They weren't called knacker plates out here for nothing

 

There actually is a lot of info on both tracks; Jerry Gaskill, who lives in Santa Maria, ran both tracks, one as a club effort, one as a business....many of the racers of the '50's-60's still live in the area, and many photographs are available to be seen as well.....fuely32

 

Sorry, the one track was in Santa Maria, the other was the Pride of The Pacific, San Luis Obispo, at the airport.........

 

Try talking to Don Garlits about it .He is not that hard to get a hold of thru the mueseum computer. He didnt have a rear end explode it was a clutch . But it was enough to change his mind and make dragsters safer