:-D.. watta joke ! but not impossible, there's a chance, always. it just funny imagine if it could happen what the driver in this 28k hp car would think when he realize it (what the.. (?_?))
Almost cried here, his name still on my mind since 1976, I read it on a magazine called Jet Cars & Rocket Mania, I was a teenager in Brazil and just started to dream to come to America. Now I'm old and I'm here. Mission accomplished!
holy shit imagine being thrown back into the seat at like hyperspeed then immediately flung forward again when the chutes deploy, that shit is ridiculous
... and then have to steer the car left around the track after chute deployment, with that "my eyes exploded on me" feeling after the forward then reverse G force pull.
Feel very privileged to have seen Sammy run many times at the Pod and also side by side runs with both Al Airedam ? and Allan Herridge in the Oxygen car. Spent a few nights with him in The Hind having a few bevvies and listening to stories of his exploits. What a lovely gracious guy he was. He was well loved at The Pod and it was a sad day when we heard he'd been killed by a freak explosion at his work place in the states. Thanks for the wonderful memories Sammy lad !
Spent an evening with Sammy in the Santa Pod Cafe one Artic Easter. An absolute gentleman and someone who was happy to talk cars with a 17 year old and his mates.
@@shaiqbutt7871 in normal over the counter concentrations its practicaly harmless but in the concintrations used in rockets and such (50%? 10%?) It commands respect.
@@shaiqbutt7871 It needs to be a super high concentration, and then injected into an oxidizer pack in order to react and generate the thrust. They used to spray it through metal(silver?) mesh screens, which caused the chemical reaction.
@@shaiqbutt7871hydrogen peroxide at high concentrations is also known as a monopropellant. I like the last commentary above me mentioned you can spray it through Catalyst just like your catalytic converter and your vehicles and it causes the spontaneous reaction where it decomposes and releases excess gas which can create thrust which is why they use it in spacecraft for the correction end navigation thrusters. But nothing stopping you from using it as a single propellant exhaust in a drag car either
He blacked out constantly.. He talks about it in a few interviews.. He is absolutely reaching 8+ G's.. Pretty sure Top Fuel Dragsters reach close to 8 G's so, its probably even higher.
total and utter bs, oly about 5 maybe 6 g's at the max, but stopping at over 300+ miles per hour in a top fuel car is around 11 g's its fact people the most g's ever recorded in a drag car jet or top fuel at take off is around 5g's but stopping them is around 11 g's which is why the drivers have to close their eyes to stop them from popping out of their heads its a fact look it up people?
@@7071t6bro fighter jet pilots literally have to train w 10 g forces n they can’t close there eyes. The eyes popping out of head is bs otherwise we wouldn’t have pilots to fly fighter jets n there r many vids of them training w 10 g forces
@@DoomedBySociety I'm not an expert, but fighter pilots experience high positive g's doing maneuvers like turning or pulling back on the stick. They experience high negative g's pushing forward on the stick and diving. I don't think an airplane would ever experience high horizontal g's like a dragster popping it's chute, unless the airplane lands on aircraft carrier or hits something. I know F1 cars can sustain 4 to 6.5 g's in all four directions for an entire race, which must be brutal on the drivers.
Did some poking around because I didn't hear why the record runs weren't counted in the video (maybe I missed it?) but it seems like it's because they weren't backed up with another run within 1% which is required by NHRA and FIA rules from what I've found. Still a very cool pass.
the 1% rule did not exist back then, and the FIA did not set the rules for drag racing in europe until many years later, i was fortunate enough to witness the claimed 3.58 at the pod, it certainly seemed quick at the time, but as the years have passed you have to remember that back then drag racing timing data was pretty basic, no timing boards or slips, no 60 foot times or 330 half track times to compare a run, even as a spectator you relied on and had to believe whatever the man on the tannoy told you..........at a time when the track owners were keen to get the sport talked about, hype or fact? maybe both, but many years later i'm still not sure even after seeing it.
@@promodpromod with today's technology, and people having a hard time hitting 5's on regular car build, I dont see how 30+ years ago they were able to do it. If that were the case, 30 years of technology would put us in the "0.12" quater range. Shouldn't even take a second.
Well, think about it. There was so much safety built into the car. Even when he did crash, he survived it. The car was arguably safer than many more commonplace things in life.
RIP to all the great legends of the jet cars. I wish I could remember the year it was,but my memory fails me. I was at the U.S. NATIONALS, during a break in rounds, they had a jet car make an exhibition pass. It was the red LAVA car. Each time he burped it,the control tower windows would fluctuate...bad! We kept waiting for them to blow out,but thankfully they didn't! It's tragic when a racer passes away, but to do it working in a oil field...❤😎🏁💔😯😔😥
I’ll never forget Sammy….Great Guy. Winner of the Funny Car title at the 1971 NHRA GrandNationals in Sanair , Canada At the Custom Car Show @ the Coliseum in NYC, in I think 1973 My friend Norman Blake took a photo of me in Sammy Millers Wedge shaped Top Fuel Dragster….great memory… Another one was at Raceway Park in Englishtown NJ. 21 Funny Car Racers came out for a benefit race to support fellow Funny Car racer Arnie Swenson who had been injured in a Funny Car fire. They ran, I believe 2 rounds and in I think the second round? Sammy ran a 6.72 second pass which at that time was only .03 hundredths of a second off the NHRA National Record. Sammy Miller is a true legend of racing and it’s an honor to remember this great gentleman! Thank You Sammy for great memories! 👍🏻😎
Not only was it the fastest pass ever, but has to be one of the most planted and least sketchy passes I’ve seen at those kinds of speeds too! Thanks for sharing.
Never saw Miller back in the day but I did see a hydrogen peroxide rocket (same type of engine Miller used) rail dragster make a pass in the early 70’s. It was at Fresno Dragways outside of Fresno, CA. It was a 1/4 mile track with only a 1/4 mile shutdown. I will never forget the total silence followed by a sudden deafening shriek from the engine. As I recall the car ran around 300 which was WAY faster than any nitro powered rails ran at the time. We were all convinced that the car couldn’t stop in time and was going to end up in a field beyond the track. Well, we were wrong and he did stop the car in time. I was so bummed when the No imagination Hot Tod Association outlawed rocket cars. They were really unique and cool.
Raisin City Dragway. Nice! I grew up around drag racing but they had already outlawed rocket cars by then. Never got to see Raisin City or Baylands either. Damn it. Were they louder than Top Fuelers? I can't imagine.
Same here. Vega H2O2 funny car in Sacramento in about 1982. Deafening shriek is a good descriptor. It blew vapor rings out of the titanium combustion chamber and nozzle just before launch. Got to see it from the loud end. 😀
“Slamming” Sammy was a friend through my auto parts business, he lived in Ft Lauderdale and ran with us at Hollywood Dragstrip out in the Florida Everglades. He eventually had to go to Europe to not be harassed by NHRA. RIP my friend, you were a great guy that I miss.
I was thrilled to see this pop-up on RU-vid. I was close with Sam and still think of him often. You got it right, he was a gentleman, and a genius, a fierce competitor, a self trained engineer, and did the best Donald Duck voice I’ve ever heard, even better than Donald duck himself. You should hear about the rocket street car he made. That will be a story for another day…
I personally saw a twin engine rocket car exhibition run once. It was pretty wild. The announcer said the car exceeded the track speed limit. I didn't even know the track had a speed limit. You learn something new every day.
Beyond amazing! I'm a road racer and dry lake racer with little interest in drag racing except for the technical aspects. I've never heard of this run before, but I find Sammy Miller and this video particularly interesting. Thank you for creating this important production.
I saw him in Vanishing Point in the late 70s (or was it a few years later?) at Santa Pod. I’ll never forget it. There was a godallmighty bang as the thing (allegedly powered by a rocket from the lunar landing module) took off. Virtually every window in the overhead control bridge shattered. I swear that Sammy had passed the quarter mile post before the glass landed on the tarmac! What a fabulous event to witness.
Sammy Miller was a genius, a guy that saw promise in a couple of local kids who were as dedicated as they could be on the money they had. Tom " Tip " Donahue and I were regulars at Sammy's shop to try to help out and to learn from the master. Sammy could spend an hour with someone and tell if they were racers or should stay with " STICK AND BALL " He saw something in us and he spent a lot of time teaching us. His teaching methods were very basic. When he taught me how to build a 6-71 blower, I stood back while he built one and explained what and why. When he finished he took it all back apart, put the tools away, said " Now you do it. " and walked away. After several hours I came out of the shop and told him i couldn't do it. " There is one spot where the feeler gauge fits very loose and I can't find any damage. " He just about busts a gut laughing. That is an old blower that is for training and seeing how good these "blower experts " are. You won't see any damage because one lobe was hand sanded to be .003 loose in the middle. When you run into that, the first thing to look for is a bent rotor. You did good for the first time. " Sammy was a major factor of our evolving from a pair of motorhead kids to finishing my drag racing career with a B/FD that was Sammy's A/FD in the early 60s. We bought it from a guy that bought it from Sammy, so who better to find out how to run it. One of our first questions was " how do you monitor the engine without gauges? " Sammy said " You don't. After the second yellow, you mash it and go as the last bulb starts to dim, you don't need to be distracted by a tach or temp. The only gauge you need is that oil pressure sticking up from the block. " I asked, " what does that tell you ?" His answer was classic Sammy Miller. " If the needle hits zero, LIFT AND DUCK "
Sammy was a sweetheart of a person he was married to my cousin God bless him God bless her I love her so much with all my heart and all their children what a beautiful family. Sammy was just a super super cool guy. People need to know who Sammy Miller is he was unbelievable and what he did. One of a kind Father, husband' true gentleman
I got a hunch that he was something special by the way that car went down the track looking like it was on rails. Insane acceleration and speed, yet the car looks like it's just chillin, out for a Sunday drive ;-)
I remember some news story on BBC Look East, late 70's early 80's, when Vanishing Point (great name!) appeared at Santa Pod. They quoted, as I remember, that this rocket car did Zero to 100 miles per hour in 0.4 of a second. That is not a typo, I've checked. Sammy reckoned he experienced up to 8g in that admittedly quite brief time, but hey, I believe him! What a hero! Thanks for sharing this crazy stuff. Love and peace.
It would be really interesting to do a side by side comparison with a split screen between a modern fuel dragster and Sammys rocket car. The difference would be startling. The NHRA AA/FD record is 3.623 seconds to 1000’. Their 1/8th mile (660’) ET is actually pretty close to the 3.22 ET Sammy ran here meaning Sammy crossed the 1/4 mile (1320’) about the time the fastest NHRA AA/FD crossed the 1/8th mile marker!!
To give people a “street car” comparison... Sammy’s rocket car vs a Top Fuel would be like a Tesla Model S P100D lining up against a stock 2020 Corolla SE.
I as actually off a little on the estimated 1/8th mile of NHRA TF cars. They typically run the 1/8th mile in 3.0’s. Best ever 1/8th mile by a TF car is around 3.90.
@@danmyers9372 ok, but imagine being in a nitro car, on what feels like a good pass and watching that little rocket car get smaller and smaller. I wonder if it would have been quicker in a rail.
I saw him run that car at Englishtown New Jersey when I was a kid,,, I remember the whole crowd counting down to zero...total silence then it was gone....I'll never forget it, that car was awesome....
Remember seeing him at Santa Pod a few times. I may even had been to this event. Great bloke, always willing to talk to everyone wandering in the pits. I remember him replying to a question about the g forces and he said " it goes a little grey". Balls of steel
Cool. I know it's not G based greying out but the grey comment reminds me of Joey Dunlop's answer to a question about how he could maintain the stupidly high speeds they run on the narrow 'bumpty' A roads at the Isle of Man TT. "I keep the grey blur between the green blurs"
Very good job👍👍👍👍👍👍 Thank you for clearing up this misinterpretation for someone whom was a friend of mine... ...Lots fans had confused the two passes for years but yes, the 3.22 was NOT recorded at Santa Pod ! I still get teary-eyed today when watching, Kinda hard to fantom Sammy's been gone from us almost 20 years now! Still pains me but this sure helps...Total thumbs up to you sir !
It's insane to think you could pass the starting line at top speed in a Ferrari and he could still take off from a dead stop and pass you, lol. That's absolutely mad.
For anybody wondering, I believe this rocket setup is a high test peroxide engine which essentially sprays high pressure, high test, peroxide through a catalyst pack, typically silver, where the hydrogen peroxide decomposes into heat and steam creating a strong thrust
In 1976 on July 4th I saw the "Age of Aquarius" rocket car lay down a 4.44 at 298 mph in Puyallup. I was standing beside the track about 60 feet from the start line and I'm certain that it left the ground for a second.
I watched him at Santa Pod in 81. He ran 2 rocket cars side by side. One was Vanishing Point driven by him (I think). The other was a completely different design like a torpedo with 3 wheels which was driven by a stunt man (who else!). Both set incredible times, from memory well into the 3’ and 350mph. To see these things fly down the track side by side was a sight I’ll never forget. I remember there being no build up. No burn out like a fuel car and no build up of thrust like a jet car, just total silence and then the scream of the rockets when they blasted off. It was one of my first ever drag meetings and I thought what I was watching was normal!
That acceleration truly looked like a jet being launched from a carrier. Maybe faster. Not sure what min flight speed of fighter jets is but wow. And to see this was done 40-50 years ago...
Can you please give a detailed explanation of that day please? This looks insane and would definitely like to know more of someone who were there...and never heard of this record.
@@JUNIOR43950 Detailed explanation? It’s over 40 years ago! All I really remember was some strange music being played over the PA system and I think they had a tipper truck with the bed up for a blast shield. There was a lot of vapor like a cloud then this loud pop and 3 seconds later this great whoosh noise as he went past 1/4 mile.
@@andrewstoffel1170 yeah that was long time ago...guess you forget the details...thanks anyway for taking your time and explain it a bit more, this just boggles my mind how fast it is by just watching a video can't imagine how it was to spectate it in person as you said 40 years ago...and sorry for my English is not my main language.
They don't run the quarter mile anymore for the real fast cars due to safety concerns. Top fuel run 1000ft in about 3.6 at 330mph. So no, it will probably never be beaten. Not unless a special attempt is made.
@@radiocontrolsoul No, not NHRA, IHRA still does. It was for safety reasons to give more run off room to slow down as a few ran long and were killed. Most famously was Scott Kalitta.
There is a promenade near me that is exactly a quarter mile long, I find it hard to imagine something being able to travel that far in just over 3 seconds from a standing start - just unbeleivable.
Glad to see someone do a video on Sammy Miller. Would love to see something longer featuring all 3 Vanishing Point Cars and the 2 Oxygen cars. I was fortunate enough to see him live on a couple of occations. I'll never forget it.
I remember seeing sam at Maple Grove dragway in Reading PA even then they used to say that he was only allowed to go so fast but we all knew the car was going way quicker than what they said
I was privileged to watch a car powered by Hydrogen Peroxide do the quarter mile at 415mph, at St Louis international raceway back in the 70's. No flame no heat just speed!!! Also a Hydrogen Peroxide powered go-cart ran the quarter at 210mph the same day.
For some reason this was always low keyed in drag racing. I never knew why and this the first actual footage I’ve ever seen. All I knew was NHRA banned it and that was that. Thank you for sharing what I knew about for since the 70’s but was never able to see!
Another reason why I love the 70s & 80s what an amazing car imagine driving it on the street a rocket car and we think a 1K HP street car is extremely powerful.
It’s all relative… go drive your hydrogen peroxide rocket car down the street and see how many miles you can go all while there are cars running 6s that can drive from state to state. Using the word “we” means you think the same way as the super fast street car you think sucks. This video was cool to see but there’s no reason to compare apples to oranges lmao
I was at "The Pod" in 1984. I normally watched and smiled, calmly enjoying the spectacle. When Sammy went up in "Vanishing Point" I was up clapping and cheering my head off like a deranged schoolboy... Wow!!!
I know what you mean, it would leave so quick you couldn't always follow it, it was suddenly yards down the track & disappearing fast. I saw the 3.58 & also blowing the windows out of the tower, can't remember if they were same or different runs. I remember the flame shockwave diamonds in the exhaust appearing to chase the car down the track. Awesome.
I was there during Sammy Millers race,I think it was 1983 in Zandvoort.And it was a run on 1/8 mile.The firetruck in the back off Sammy had blown out windows.
Samy lived in my town of Wayne, New Jersey. I saw him drive (launch) Vanishing Point at Raceway Park(!) in Englishtown NJ. All I can say is that the human mind and all the physical senses can't easily comprehend how fast he flew down that 1/4 mile track. He was amazing.
Sammy was a very nice guy! I met him, in Ft. Lauderdale in 78 & 79. He was a regular in the auto parts store I worked at. He had a heck of a sense of humor and loved practical jokes. He came in one day drinking out of a Prestone anti-freeze bottle! We kind of freaked out until he laughed and said it was just lemonade. I got to hang with him in the pits and, yeah, I remember his 3.94 in Fla. Ah, the 70's!
My brother in law worked at Schiphol (Amsterdam Airport) and had seen the car during his work. The car was shipped in a steel frame and he'd been standing there for a while, looking at what he thougt was a massive exhaust 😁 When I played him the video (literally a video recording) he recognized the car and finally understood why the 'exhaust' was that big. I must have played that video at least a hundred times. I had another video of a drag show, with a.o. Sammy Miller, in the US and it had a guy in it that had built a 'Wild West' stage coach copy, but with a big V8 in the back. It threw a lot of flames and ran almost the entire track on it's rear wheels. Lost the video, searched the internet, but never found it again. Just realized how the meaning of the words 'drag show' can change in time 😁
The guy was still working in an oilfield. This illustrates the old saying of "if you want to make a million dollars in motorsports, start with 10 million and only spend 9".
🤩This man should be recognized in the drag racing world much more than seeing it for the first time on this channel. Wow what a legend with the REAL record‼️🏎
Great info on Sammy. We were at S/Pod in 79 when he want down the Strip HE Blew the Glass out all over the Track were they Comment on races. Wow what a site that Was .Happy Days and in 1/4 mile days Not like 2 days ?
I distinctly remember reading about this run and a few others In my copy of Drag Racing magazine as a young kid.(It was NEVER printed in National Dragster obviously, lol) When I shared these stories,I do not think many people even believed me at the times he ran. FIRST time I ever got to watch him run was this very video. DAMN THAT CAR IS MOVING !!!!!! lol
I would imagine that is approaching the physical limits of the human body: the G forces would be getting close to tearing the aorta off the heart, to say nothing of the rearrangement of internal organs and disruption of blood flow to the retinas... insane with a capital I!
