As a motorcycle and V8 enthusiast, I remember my first visit to the top fuelers back in the late eighties. “Take hearing protection,” they said. “It’s louder than you’ll believe,” they said. “Pfft, how loud can a V8 be, I said.” How little I knew.
Those are absolutely incredible. If you're standing next to the return lane at the 50' mark, you can feel the organs in your body vibrate when they go by. I only felt that in one other situation. Under an F-4 at full AB
I remember when getting out of the 8's was a big deal. Then came 200MPH. Thank you Big Daddy for going rear engine and figuring out the steering ratio!
338.17 mph The fastest speed achieved in a National Hot Rod Association race in the Top Fuel class is 338.17 mph (544.23 km/h), by Brittany Force (USA) at the Dodge NHRA Nationals on 1 November 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Force's record-breaking run came during qualifying.
When I was young in the late 60's early 70's my older brother would take me to Oxford Plains Speedway drag strip in Maine. I'll never forget how loud the cars were and that fuel smell. They let you walk freely all around the pit area and I remember many classic cars like English Anglias and those big oval beautiful Willy's cars the most. My brother used to buy all the drag racing magazines and when I moved to Florida in 1998 I went to the Don Garlitts drag racing museum and right as I walked in the first thing that greeted me was the famous Little Red Wagon I had seen on the magazine covers 30 years earlier. It was a van/pickup known for doing wheelies the whole length of the strip and it was set up at the front door up on two wheels so you could see the entire undercarriage. Incredible.
What I wouldn't give to have seen Antron run 3.70 in person! TV does this sport no justice. Someone please invent some speakers that shake you like a Funny Car run.
If you like anything with a bit of power then at least one trip to an event with top fuellers in your lifetime is a must. It's not just the noise. It's the only time ever known the air to vibrate.
@@rbagel55 true. they launch around 5 Gs and it levels off going down track to maybe 2 to 3.....but goes around -3 when they hit hit the chutes. AND.......they're doing that without a G suit. talk about a backbreaker!
@@ciscoj33 Pretty brutal .I think being shot off an aircraft carrier is easy compared to this. These guys have to be conditioned for this, any ordinary person would black out. Only one sport I know is more brutal. I bet you are asking WHAT SPORT? Check this out. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-j8i04jBLI5I.html
@@rbagel55 I'd have to disagree. For pure guts IMO the Isle of Man TT is second to none. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-HuC1lcS2FlQ.html
I was there, it was a Monday early to finish the race because as usual Maple Grove had bad weather over the weekend of the race. It wasn't very crowded and the crowd was easy going (all real race fans), it was damp but not cold. I just knew someone was going to beak the record that day. After all its Maple Grove in October, records fall and are made. Antron's Top Fuel left the hole stuck like his slicks were made of juicy fruit gum and he seemed to hit the 330ft mark like it was the 60ft mark. When he crossed the 1/8th mile (660ft) with the clutch fully engaged, straight as an arrow, and continuing to increase acceleration it LOOKED SO FRICKIN' GOOD!!! What was weird about that run was the sound; it was noticeably louder and was just so short, I mean he was just GONE!!!
What have they done to these cars .they use to consistently around 4.4 4.3 seconds .now they can run 3.7 WTF. Are they running the full 1/4 mile or only 1,000ft .??
I ws in the pits at Island Dragway in 1964 when Don Garlets broke the 200 mph barrier but that was a quarter mile. These cars now are limited to 1,000 feet and they're still breaking records. Shoot Man, back in '64 we couldn't turn our heads fast enough :P
@@jogibajr Man, that's too much of a stretch on my memory but hey...here we both are fifty some odd years later swapping tales about that day on the Internet.
Wow that was wild being there the thunderous raw of that motor shaken the ground extreme vibrations through everything especially through the spectators amazing 3.722 fastest time in known history
I watched Antron Brown at the first New England Nationals held at New England Dragway in New Hampshire a few years ago and during a qualifying run his car had tire shake so bad that both parachutes came out and the car hadn’t gone 60 feet but Antron didn’t know it so he quickly got off and back on the throttle and made a full pass. I don’t remember the ET but he went 299mph pulling two fully opened parachutes it was a very impressive display of the kind of power those cars possess as those chutes were just along for the ride.
Magic in technology. Its fun to watch the top fuel bikes as well. I cannot stay seated when a top fuel does a run. You have to stand in awe at the energy of it all. Everyone here kicks ass for their interest in a dying sport. Folks the stadiums are getting empty for events. Get away from your computer and experience it first hand. It will change a person. Gods of the drag strip incline towards it.
holy shit, when I was a kid in the golden days of the early 70s, mostly Englishtown jungle Jim lieberman, gene snow, Don the snake Shirley chacha. the LA dart, hemi under glass. top fuel was 7 seconds and 165 mph. now it's 3 seconds at 350 wow mph...wow
So true! But I was watching the same cars and drivers on the west coast @ Orange County International Raceway and Lion's Dragstrip! Great times watching these legends along with the likes of Jim Dunn, The Mongoose and the Hawaiian !! Never forget the smell of nitromethane!!!!
Don't forget my all time favorite, Mickey Thompson's Mach 1..... the blue one. Ran a 6.96 in 1969 when the next best funny car run ever was a 7.35 by Big John Mazmanian.
Top Fuel and Funny Cars don't need Air that is Pro Stock bikes and Pro Stock cars. Nitromethane powered cars make their own oxygen that is why the engine is so powerful besides the supercharger and 34 injectors. YES that is not your standard V8 with 8 injectors folks.
They tried to slow them down by cutting the track in half and said it was impossible to do 300 mph. Well that didn't last very long. Now who will be the first to break 350 mph?
They didn't cut it in half they cut it to 1000 feet for Nitro cars because of Scott Kalitta getting killed. Some of the older tracks don't have ability to build a big runoff area which is what the NHRA required after Scott died. Crew Chiefs are engineers, they will find a way to make more power and in turn more speed. Part of that innovation was because of Austin Coil, Bernie Fedderly, Jimmie Prock, Dean Antonelli, Dan Hood, John Medlen and a host of others that I can't think of right now.
ericynot..... I honestly remember when they were wondering if they could top 150!! Seems to me that "Big's" name was attached to a Whole lot of those mph barrier records!! They can talk all they want about the T/F "stars" of today.... but, "Big" (DG) was, and always will be.... the "King" of T/F.... in So Many ways!! Top Fuel probably would never have survived the 1970s, were it not for him, & TC (Tommy Lemons)..... and lets Never forget his beloved wife, Pat... if it weren't for her and the way she Always supported him, and didn't let him quit (numerous times) when he tried to.... he would have quit after the Chester fire, and most definitely after the infamous trans explosion at Lyons in 70. Ahhhhh, those WERE, "the days"!! We were all So blessed to have grown up and lived during all those years and times..... this "world" and the country, really sucks in this day and age, and in more ways than one!!
@@Romans--bo7br Ah, that does bring back a lot of memories. I also loosely followed motocross and recall Bob Hurricane Hannah - just next level craziness. And the gear they used compared to today - just pedestrian by comparison. As far as a lot of the crap today, I just let it slide by. Life's too short to get wound around the axle for things largely out of my control. On a different note, I have a '19 ford raptor that makes over 500 ft lbs of torque out of a little V6. It pulls like a freight train. If you told me I would be driving in a truck with a 10spd auto and 450hp with 14" of suspension in 2019, I'd have laughed. Maybe out of a big block.
Weak? Wtf is weak? Anyways.... What Round was this? Because I saw Antron make a 3.70 run in the same Lane..... At least I think it was a 3.70 I saw! :)
That is 3.722 seconds to a quarter mile away world 🌎 record breaking muscle 💪 and speed and design and machine work. Everything worked without a hitch no problems no explosions no parts flying off no crashes. I love 💘 it when all that comes together to make a spectacular run. TAKE A BOUW you've earned it. Bravo 👏 bravo 👏 bravo 👏 bravo you deserve a standing ovation bravo 👏 bravo 👏 bravo!!!!!!!!!!
The presenter of this video should know the difference between "fastest" and "quickest." An NHRA drag car can set records in either category or both...but saying one when you mean the other is a cardinal sin in Drag Racing...
@@fdfsdfsvsfgsg4888 WRONG! The thousand of professional drivers that have made runs down a dragstrip monumentally care about the difference in Fast, and Quick. The thousands of sportsman drivers care. The 10's of thousands of local bracket racers across the country that race every weekend care. Every EDUCATED fan cares! Only imbeciles don't care.
These guys get around 5 G's, but nowhere G-loc for trained pilots. The g thresholds at which these effects occur depend on the training, age and fitness of the individual. An un-trained individual not used to the G-straining maneuver can black out between 4 and 6 g, particularly if this is pulled suddenly. A trained, fit individual wearing a g suit and practicing the straining maneuver can, with some difficulty, sustain up to 12-14g without loss of consciousness. The "Blue Angels"[citation needed] have to perform their maneuvers without the aid of flight-suits, and regularly sustain 3-5 second bursts of 10 g thresholds
