Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: hblair on July 28, 2003, 01:05:49 PM
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This board seems to more and more gearhead-ish, so maybe a drag boat post will be ok. The 3rd anual IHBA southern thunder nationals came to Gadsden again this past weekend. My son and I spent the whole weekend tooling around looking at the boats. We made some friends in the process. Rafael Caleca from missouri had brought "going for broke" (his boat) and his crew. This boat had a broken throttle pedal, and some other aluminum piece but there was no TIG welder at the drags, so I took the mechanic to our shop here and we TIGed her up, and we got a free dinner out of it, and a signed burnt piston! ;) (anybody need a burnt piston?) Here's the dudes we helped...
(http://www.blairautobody.com/MVC-105S.JPG)
Thats my boy in the green cap, other son is in the cockpit lol
Pro mods lined up on the ropes ready to go to staging rope..
(http://www.blairautobody.com/MVC-091S.JPG)
Here's something called a nitro-methane firebreather. I think they come in stock new mini's....
(http://www.blairautobody.com/MVC-060S.JPG)
230mph top fuel run...
(http://www.blairautobody.com/MVC-108S.JPG)
Rafael launching his pro mod boat just before burning a piston..
(http://www.blairautobody.com/MVC-052S.JPG)
Yours truly around 1990 with brother on passenger side. man I had big hair. Boat is sold now. :(
(http://www.blairautobody.com/hbbb.JPG)
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Originally posted by hblair
Here's something called a nitro-methane firebreather. I think they come in stock new mini's....
(http://www.blairautobody.com/MVC-060S.JPG)
That's bigger than my car.
MiniD
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BTW... how's your dad's car coming along? Or is it still stalled out due to retirement apathy?
MiniD
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That is one dangerous sport..but awesome. Hard to really appreciate the speed even when watching it live. Sitting in the boats is the only place you can fully understand just how fast they can go.
We have a big powerboat community here and once a year they do the "Round the Island" race. We had one guy killed last year.
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Hey, is that GREEN INDOOR/OUTDOOR CARPET I see where they are working on a motor!?!? :D
I FEEL VINDICATED!
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I know for a fact that people that race boats are nugging futs..
U GOT TO B NUTS.
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They do offshore powerboat races here every year and I've yet to go to one, but I've seen them on television. Seems to me like a good way to get yourself killed, other than motorcycle racing.
You sure that pic of you was taken in 1990? Looks more like 1980.
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drag boats scare the crap out of me.
lazs
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Yeah, but can it hold the corner going fast on a round-about??
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Wow. You must have some really fast fish if you need a boat that fast to troll for them :) ;)
Geezus, where ya put a beer cooler on a power surfboat like that?
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...working on an engine...ON CARPET....yes, thats CARPET! :D
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That isn't hblair in that pic....it's Classy Man...the Classiest Classy Man on land or water!
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I read somewhere that the real high powered (read expensive) drag boats are using either f-16 cockpits or a facimile thereof. I'll try to dig up the article.
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Cockpits or canopies? They went with a tub style cockpit (more like a capsule) for the high end stuff... and the canopies are from fighter jets. Don't know if the tubs are or not (A-10 is only fighter I know with a tub style cockpit).
MiniD
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miniD, its stalled, he's been hittin the RV.
About 1990 gofaster.
Lazs is skeeeeert.
Rip, that's green concrete. :)
Target, the capsule is made of tubular steel, don't know about the lid. Looks like some super thick plexiglass or something. The driver has an air tank in there with him and I think has the mouthpiece in in case things go awry during the run. The capsule is made to tear away from the hull if the boat peels or whatever.
These boats are much safer than what they used to be. In the alcohol class there are two types of hull, hydro and flat, hydro being a hydroplane, flat, being a traditional hull with a flatbottom.
Well, twenty years ago, before the capsule was around, these guys were racing in hulls like our '77 sanger. If things got bouncy, the driver would come out of the boat and go skipping across the water. I think they had a chute to slow them down, but they were in danger of getting hit by the boat, etc. Also, the "top fuel flat" class was done away with I think in the early eighties. That's the class a lot of people were killed in. Imagine a boat like I'm sitting in with a top fuel engine sitting in it. They were a recipe for disaster.
So anyway, drag boats are much much safer these days.
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Hblair...when you say "Boat Drags" do you mean that these guys litterally drag race..on a straight course?
In my limited experience with powerboat races...most of the accidents happen on corners..hitting a wave wrong etc...A straight course would probably safer.
Just curious.
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Originally posted by hblair
Rip, that's green concrete. :)
Nope, see the border on the top edge? Its on asphalt (white line on asphalt) and note the wrinkles on the upper left portion. One of the stool legs for stepping up in the trailer has the carpet bunched up a bit.
CARPET! I'VE BEEN VINDICATED!
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When I was in the Coast Guard in Seattle, we got to be on the water as Security during the Hydroplane races. I've been to the drag strip before, but it was NOTHING like watching Miss Budweiser skipping across the water at over 200mph. Also saw the Atlas Van Lines turbine powered boat get airborne and auger. :eek:
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Curval, yep, 1/4 mile straight line acceleration. Just like the land drags. That engine in the pic above is a nitro engine. They don't work on a circle course. :) Five thousand horsepower :) The engine has to be completely taken apart and rebuilt after EVERY pass. Hugely expensive to operate. Until you've seen/felt a nitro engine run whether on land or water you just haven't lived. Standing 30 ft. away as they fire it up then switch over to nitro, the sound, your chest and clothes vibrating, the tickling in your ears. Then they goose it, instant throttle response. The newbies crowd around trying to prove their manhood. Then they get an eyeful of nitro fumes and cry like babies. :)
Drag racing is a true spectator sport. Walking around the pits is the best part of it. Drivers and crew are always friendly. Several offered for my kids to sit in their boats with the lid down. Try that at a winston cup or CART meet. Can you tell i'm an enthusiast?
;)
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I admit it hblair... drag boats scare the crap outta me. Course I haven't been in one in 15 years but I rode in one that did 110 in the quarter and it was friggin freightening! He was trying to impress me and admitted that he allmost lost it.
lazs
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Oh ok, now I understand. When you're not driving they ARE scary. Even the boat we had was scary if I wasn't driving, especially if I was skiing behind it. :) Did he let you drive it?