As to not fubar lina's thread anymore...

Im not saying the guy with the drag car is wrong. Im saying that drag cars need something to stop the car from bouncing around and shortening its life as a fast drag car. New or vintage needs something while in transit.

The ride height in the center of a dragster can drop as much as 1" after 1 pass down the strip. My close friend drag races and the car will not roll back into the trailer after a race weekend.when it rolled out just fine.

The hole point is that cromoly is in all types of racing but for speed more then safety in most cases. So to want cromoly In a rally car where safety is the bigger concern I can see why its illegal. The current cages in rally cars can not stop you from being killed if you hit a tree wrong. The chance of survival in a top fuel drag car or a gocart is way better in this case. and you get thrown from a motorcycle so who cares if welds fail.

Question, on a drag car, is the saftey cage CroMo also?

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phlat65
Question, on a drag car, is the saftey cage CroMo also?

Typically, yes. You can run a CDS or DOM cage in drag racing, but the material needs to be much thicker per NHRA rules. Most guys investing in a certified cage (depending on their ET) go with chromoly.

My exact question was pertaining to the Top fuel type dragsters with the sagging CroMo frames.

My friends drag car is all cromoly. Im not sure about the cockpit of the newest top fuel cars but I assume they are still made out of cromoly.

A lot of top alcohol teams buy and shorten nitro cars and run them a few more years. If you ever get a chance to look at the cages under the body of a fuel car its cool to see. The motors are held in with hose clamps! I dont think that would pass tech in a rally car.

You think they ought to re-examine the materials and chassis designs
used in this sport...in every case these were cars constructed at the
highest level of workmanship, from chromoly. In some case the cars
snap in half from engine torque. wouldn't it be better to just bend
instead?

In the case of John Force's crash, the car snapped in half when a
tire blew, he deployed the chute and the front of the car kept
going. In the last example, a dragster folds in half and impales
(kills the driver) crashing at a speed at which would have been
survivable in any other type of vehicle, including street cars,
bicycles, skateboards, etc:























The first and 2nd are pretty interesting. All of these are cars going forward primarily. None hit a tree sideways at speed.

Above all else a roll cage is supposed to save your ass. The occupants are inside and supposed to stay inside. A bike frame just holds your ass off the ground for a period of time ..(varies with experience). No way in the world to reasonably compare them. Be like Derek telling us about carbon fibre sailboat masts on the America's Cup....

Unfortunately the front half of a drag car can not be made from CDS or DOM. The car has to flex and come back to its original spot or as close as possible. Like in the rally video showing the cromoly flexing and going back to where it started is the hole theory behind the drag car. If you watch from the side view of a drag car on the track there bent like a banana. DOM would not arch and it would bend when the car hits the ground after a huge wheelie from not arching. Also parts of the top half of the front section of a dragster are sleeved and not welded so they will slide out to arch more.

There are some things that just dont make sense in racing. Dragsters and Indy cars come to mind when it comes to safety. They seem to think speed first safety a far second.

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Reamer
Unfortunately the front half of a drag car can not be made from CDS or DOM. The car has to flex and come back to its original spot or as close as possible. Like in the rally video showing the cromoly flexing and going back to where it started is the hole theory behind the drag car. If you watch from the side view of a drag car on the track there bent like a banana. DOM would not arch and it would bend when the car hits the ground after a huge wheelie from not arching. Also parts of the top half of the front section of a dragster are sleeved and not welded so they will slide out to arch more.

There are some things that just dont make sense in racing. Dragsters and Indy cars come to mind when it comes to safety. They seem to think speed first safety a far second.

^^^^^^
Words of wisdom there....

Also those drag cars have rollcage "cocoons" around the driver with bare tubes inches from the drivers head. I've seen some that use padding and some that do not. It's no wonder that one driver said his helmet split open when it hit the rollcage.

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Doivi Clarkinen
Also those drag cars have rollcage "cocoons" around the driver with bare tubes inches from the drivers head. I've seen some that use padding and some that do not. It's no wonder that one driver said his helmet split open when it hit the rollcage.

No brain...
No pain.

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

330 mph is 200 mph too much...

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alkun
330 mph is 200 mph too much...

That's why a brick is so inherantly safe....