Man I don’t know what I live better the loud agile f1 cars that I’ve been into for 6 years now or the nhra drag races with the pure speed and rumble of the engines
You can't appreciate how violent these machines are unless you have visited a race. Wearing the best ear plugs I have found while working in construction only lessened the noise to a little more comfortable level while my body still shook noticeably from the noise the dragsters generate while racing. I strongly recommend wearing the best ear plugs you can find while wearing over the ear protection as well to compliment them. I can't explain enough how violently loud these cars are. If you visit one of these races you will experience something you will never ever forget. The cars are violent! I will assure you that you will never regret attending one of these top fuel drag races, especially if you bring good ear protection to help you enjoy the experience.
@@fish_R_stinky69 they kinda have to be disposable they just would not put up with the power. They are making the power of smaller ship engines out of 500ish ci. Also there is nothing wrong with pushrod engines
Basically it's 660 ft. Half track(half of 1320) which they don't run any more. N.H.R.A. shortened the distance to 1000 ft for safety purposes, to answer your question they average 286-290+mph in about 2.8 sec.
@@raymondmasse5577 Yep, Thats when I stopped watching and the local track closed. They tried to race the 1/8 but there is no real interest in the short trackers around here. Takes much more car to run 1320, my generation would say a real car, and much more driver.
First time I stood next to the starting line of one of these races I could not push my fingers in my ears hard enough! My clothes were shaking, I thought my eyes were going to shake out of their sockets. The smell of the unburned fuel burned my eyes, it was just an unbelievable experience. And I was a master engine builder! What an experience.
My brother raced at a 1/4 drag strip for years, his Class he raced in was Super Pro, on a Sunday he was basically only running to acquire more points, not too many people go every weekend to the races but he had to go to keep his points up high enough. I might not be explaining it right but either way the parking lot was near empty. I’ll never forget when I took my younger brother-in-law to his first drag races. He never heard a car run before with open headers, when my brother started his car and revved it my brother-in-law took off running across the parking lot as fast as he could go. I had to run after him to stop him from keeping his distance, he had never heard that before and he thought the car was going to blow up! He was around 12 at the time. 🤭
@@Zzzzzz-ns7lg i was really young when i saw them like elementry school lol, one of these days i need to see them live again. last year i went to don garlits musem and they got a lot cool rails to look at
Just the clutch is 10k a piece. The engine block complete is about 58k. A complete built Dragster is 500k. True power has it's costs, which is why I am happy to just be a witness.
I always loved watching the funny cars, when they’re doing their burn outs every fender and piece of metal on the body is shaking and flexing! Even the tires curl under the force of the take off! Remember to take earplugs or hearing protection you’ll need it!
If you’ve never seen top fuel in person it’s a MUST when they launch it pounds your chest you have to wear ear plugs the smell if you’re close burns your eyes they’re absolute beasts
Honestly, it's better if you watch about 1/2 track when the clutches really kick in. Your whole body shakes. Plus you don't have to choke on nitro and burnt rubber on each run.
Harley D Yeah, you’re right ! It’s something that can’t be described really, you HAVE to experience it. I was lucky enough to get to stand behind the starting line one time. Thought it would be the best view ever, BUT, got showered with rubber and the fumes were choking. But the “feel” was beyond description ! Always wanted to sit close at half track or so.
I am a retired law enforcement officer and worked for years and years iin that job full time. Since police officers have families and bills just like everyone else, we had to work par time to make ends meet. I worked for my last five years part time at our local drag strip. Not a big venue, 6500 people total, but it drew many drag racers from all over. My job was, of course, security and I worked in my police blues, gun belt the whole nine yards. I never had so much fun at at part time job. I not only didnt have to pay to get in, they paid me and my fellow officers decent money for a fun job and the department I worked for had take home cars and allowed it's officers to drive to their part time jobs.. Sure there was alot of drinking there going on, but most people we had to talk to were respectful and didnt get out of line too much. It was cool to wander the pitts, return road, line up area, starting and finishing area. I was 62 when I finally pulled the plug and couldnt work security anymore. I sorely miss that part time job. I went to the oval races too on the smaller oval track. I am 75 now and still a big kid when I get a chance to go to these races. I went to Vegas five years in a row on Halloweern week end for the NHRA finals there. My buddy and I had seats just 25 or 30 feet from the start line. We would get to the Vegas Race Park at 9am on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and leave at 6pm. What a blast. You have to experience a 11,000 HP dragster or funny car from that distance. The ground shakes. I know, I know, we were over the top but we loved it. I never had any desire to drive one but they are fun to watch. Thank you
@@willpark7483 I am fully retrired now, so I drive a Chev Equinox for my pov. I drove Crown Vics and for seven years two 5.0 Ford Mustangs from 86 to 93. I had a test car once as a Highway Patrolman, a Pontiac 4door car. Was not a very good car.I also drove Chrysler products for a few years but the Mustangs wer my favorite cars. Thanks for asking.
@@TheBanjoShowOfficial Thank You. I was a Law Enforcement Officer from 1969 to 2007. I worked in California and Utah and have POST Certificates from both states.
Idk where I read it but once a top fuel dragster racer was asked how does it feel to take off in those things and he answered it feels like your on a regular sized sedan in a stoplight and then all of the sudden getting rear ended by a semi truck with its long trailer at 160 mph
3.7 seconds, which means the average G is almost 6, which means the peak G the driver experienced can be way higher than that average number (almost 7G), fyi
@@NguyenNguyen-th2eo 330mph is aproximately 528 kmh. That means an accelaration of 528/3.8=139. Which is more than 14g. How did you get 6g? Oh i forgot the devision by 3.6, but that makes it 4g...
I went to one of these races. It is insane. The reason the exhaust is shaped the way it is is to give the car another thousand pounds of downforce at the rear wheels. These machines are incredible. If I'm not mistaken I understand they make 11,000 to 15,000 horses and burn through something like 12 gallons of fuel per run. I'm all for it! Nothing exceeds like excess. I just feel sorry for the poor clutch plates.
im not sure they have clutches, i cant say i have ever heard a top fuel change gear, just go from idle to full throttle, to cut-off edit: 13:06 i stand corrected, that looks like the bits of a clutch plate
The amount of manpower and preparation that goes into a 3 second race is astonishing. You know your on a different level when you need parachutes to slow down.
This type of racing pushes mechanical engineering to its limits; especially when you consider that the track is only 1/4 mile long, yet half the time the cars breakdown before they even reach the finish line.
1000 feet since 2008 ... See my other reply as to the cost too run 1/4 mile again! I wish they could go 1/2 mile, but we need an UNLIMITED series of races to just see HOW quick and fast in the 1/4 mile! Theres WAY to many rules slowing these cars down! And thats not what drag racing is about.. New super tracks withOUT concrete walls ,,,and energy absorbing , transparent, fire retardant filled , modular, Urethane panels , that dont kill a driver,, need to happen AND over a mile of shutdown area should be an average track now.. But to CHEAP out they use concrete!! ,, they cost too many cars and lives,, to track tech that is PRIMITIVE compared to the cars that race on them!!!
Unlike a lot of other motor sports racing, you can go right into the pits, get pictures of you and talk to the drivers. That’s what makes NHRA drivers the best.
ANY Drag racer is the best !!! NHRA $UCK$ the life out of drag racing! Ask your heroes what NHRA pays them too win ,,,and what they spend at an event!!! NHRA is a cash cow FOR NHRA.. If they gave the T.V. package profits to the racers it would make it worth doing! NASCAR is where the money is.. NHRA pure GREED !!!
They're going a hundred miles an hour by the time the back tires get to where the front tires were, and the first 0 to 100 miles per hour is in about 0.7 Seconds -- and in roughly 60 feet. At half track or the Eight Mile which is 660 feet, a lot of the cars are getting there in 2.9 seconds and going 297 miles an hour! Hell even the speeds are hitting could be way faster, they keep having to slow the cars down that's the insane part! Doing things to reduce power, adding rev limiters you name it. They could pull away taller rear end gear but they don't allow it because they would hit 350 just from going from a 3.2:1, to a 3.0:1
@@blaydv2242 there have been rocket drag cars (Kitty O' Neil went the fastest in a rocket funny car in the desert in a 1/4 mile decades ago) -- as far as fastest regarding top speed, those go to land speed cars, fastest accelerating via wheel-driven, etc. yup these are going almost 300 at the 1/8th mile (only 660') in less than 3 seconds! 😊 --- something you HAVE TO SEE IN PERSON at an NHRA NATIONAL EVENT! 😊
My first time to ever go was today. It’s the most insane thing I’ve ever wintnessed. Videos don’t do it justice. It physically shakes your whole body when they pass.
If you’ve ever been in the pit wall for top fuel/funny car dragsters. You know how mad the fumes are, I could not believe it at the beginning of this video, the amount of methane being burned, yet the mechanics aren’t batting an eyelid. Mad.
I'm really happy to see how many views you have after only a few days! Everybody should experience this sport! It is a bummer there's no real good way to truly capture how much of a sensory overload this is compared to every other Motorsport and most things in the world! Camera footage can do some speed Justice if it's taken right but yeah, nothing like the real thing especially at night! Thanks for the upload! :-)
I dragged a few to the track over the decades.. some are instant nitro junkies for life,!!! Too many cant handle it,, and some just go BLANK.. Dont even care, and Uninterested,, cant digest the whole EXPERIENCE !
00:23 that golf cart must be pushing serious HP to race a fuel dragster. 00:25 oh ok another dragster. I went from really happy to really bummed in 2 seconds.
These things are quite possibly the loudest things ever. It made me cover my ears, from half a mile away. I could still hear them even after I was about 2 miles out from the fragstrip
i used to work at a drag strip.. i was race starter most weekend days. standing between a pair of fuel cars as they leave the line is like being in a pillow fight.. with king size mattresses is the best i can describe it.. i was even race starter when the top fuel car got stuck in reverse and took off backwards during the burn out. hit the stack of containers behind the starting line.. driver was a quadriplegic as a result.. and i totally blame his crew..
Is anyone else fascinated by how the tires expand out because of how much force and load is put on them it’s crazy they even start warping you can see it in the slow mos
it has Something to do with the pressure in the tires. at the start they have more surface area but later they expant so that they generate more speed. the wheel pressure is basically a science itself
I cant get my head around it!!!. 4-6 psi !!! 7000 lbs of down-force from the wing, plus 5600lbs. from the headers, plus what ever the mudflaps add and the centrifical force trying too ripp them off the rims AND the HELLISH traction trying to wad them up! No wonder they want to shake! Add the fact they are SOO thin and light weight! Youd thick they'd be a urethane/cabon-fiber composite by now !!! Pretty good for something out of a tree!
These motors are started on what is essentially pump gas, and then the nitro methane is added. That's why the engine is running somewhat smooth at the start, and not quite as loud. Once the nitro methane kicks in, that's when the motor really comes to life!
I had a 74' Toyota Corolla 4 banger, and whenever I had a full load of passengers, could actually get 4th gear rubber. Even spun it under a tanker truck trying to pass on a hill. Cool car, flat black.
I have been to Santa pod and seen top fuels and jet cars IRL, the whole earth shakes and vibrates, like your vision goes fuzzy and your stomach wobbles when you are there, videos do no justice
9:17 those sparks were probably the values shredding apart. I’ve seen a red hot valve shoot out of a dragster at night. Way before everyone had a camera in their pockets. Back when if you wanted to remember an event, you better pay attention watching it.
Pay attention watching it and enjoy the amazing experience, especially at night! It is the greatest experience being at a national event on a Friday night!
I was impressed watching Garlits in 1966 crack 225...the idling noise was increible, and the launch took the air out of my lungs....cant imagine a 380mph machine...
Its like a Jet doing a low pass over and over again. TV does no justice. The eyes watering , body shaking, heart pumping thrill of it all. Ive been once and what an experience. If it goes back to 1/4 mile Ill go again.
Did the rear tires of these beats use to be bigger back in the early 90s? Or do i just remember them as bigger since i was about 12 last i saw them live?
