As you all probably all know by now, I don’t watch too much TV. Very few things on the tube possess the power to hold my interest for more than a few minutes. The wife, on the other hand, is a TV addict who watches more than her fair share of programming, quite possibly exceeding the number of hours two average Americans supposedly watch. However, there is a TV in the dining area off the kitchen and we usually have something on while we eat.
One of the shows that we both currently like to watch is the SPEED Channel program, Pinks.
If you’ve never seen or heard of it, the basic jist is that two guys each bring a car to race. Quarter-mile drags, with negotiations between each run. The guy who can win three races first goes home with two cars.
This show is a no-brainer that I’d like it, but the fact that the wife has taken a liking to it, considering her attitude towards me racing, is very surprising.
I personally consider drag racing to be overly abusive to vehicles and never really played in the short-haul game. I ran RWD imports, most of which had independant rear suspensions and low-to-moderate torque numbers, neither of which is very good for quarter mile runs. I instead preferred timed distance or just straight heads up distance runs.
In last night’s episode, it was two 80’s Mustangs, which is always entertaining as the 80’s Mustangs are just about the ultimate mass-produced platform for running quarters.
What makes me write about this is that during the second run, the dude in the newer Stang put up a full on wheel stand, smacking the rear bumper on the ground. When the wife saw this, for the first time, mind you, she said something rather unladylike.
I had to make a split second decision to not explain the physics behind wheelstanding, which would have probably just annoyed her, and instead opt for agreeing with her that it was very “Whoa!” and that if she’d come with me out to the local drag track, she could see something like that live and in person.
We’ll see where that goes.
And that brings me to a question: Does anyone here know where I can look up old racing photos and other minutae on this here interweb?
I remember as a kid, my dad having a poster of someone (I’m pretty sure it was a woman) who had one of those 1960’s Dodge vans that was factory convereted into a “truck” of sorts and took it around on the drag circuit for wheelstanding competitions.
It’s nothing important, just an itch I need scratched.
Wheelstanding was all the rage in the mid to late 60’s, and when show cars were built as attractions for tracks, there were usually a few. Nothing brainy about wheelstanding, you just take a goodly dollop of torque, add the sticky tires and refuse to slip the clutch when the front end rises.
Much more science involved in getting the traction involved with actually propelling the car, not seeing how close it could come to flipping over backwards.
The unlimited, nitro fuel hemis of today are producing close to 8,000 hp, and getting all that down on the asphalt to make the car git up the track in under 5 sec is real science and engineering, as well as driving, although they have eliminated most of hard stuff by having preloadable clutches on the tranny.
If you can find any of those old drag racing thrill VHS collections, they will have your wheelstanding stuff in them.
The problem with wheelstanding is (1) the danger of going all the way (the little rear preventers help), but more so (2) the issue of controlability while on two wheels.
Phil,
You are thinking of the Dodge A100 series trucks and the Little Red Wagon.
Look at this link.
http://www.sweptline.com/hist/lrw.html
Wikipedia has some info on the A100 series with some links you might be interested in as well.
Happy hunting!