The world's first Four second quarter-mile run happened 22 years ago today !

[FourFather]

And I was there!  

4.990 second elapsed time to cover the standing-start quarter mile, and 288.55 MPH at the finish line.

4.990 @288.55 on 4/9/88, "the day that seemed to demand it!"

[Heywood-Yablowme]

You sir,are an inspiration. God Bless!

[Radowick]

I was there to see it.

That was my first time ever to a drag race of any level. I could not believe how loud it was.  What I also found amazing was a crew member would stand directly in front of the car during a burnout. That takes guts too.

I remember how the car would flex upward during acceleration, and then relax after shutdown. That was power! I think they said the cars made like 3000 hp. I thought who would drive that rocket/bomb? I now know .......Eddie.  

[FourFather]

[quote="MadMaxAtom and company"]
You sir,are an inspiration. God Bless!
[/quote]

Thank you, sir!

And He does!

Every day!

[FourFather]

[quote="Spanky"]
I was there to see it.

That was my first time ever to a drag race of any level. I could not believe how loud it was.  What I also found amazing was a pit crew member would stand directly in front of the car during a burnout. That takes guts too.

I remember how the car would flex upward during acceleration, and then relax after shutdown. That was power! I think they said the cars made like 3000 hp. I thought who would drive that rocket/bomb? I now know .......Eddie.  


[/quote]

The crew member lining me up in the groove by standing where i need to be when I get that far- is my lovely bride Ercie!

It probably did look a little scary, but she was always able to scamper out of my way in time-- I never came seriously close to running over her. She just now told me she never worried about that--'cause that wouldn't have left anyone to feed me---

[Heywood-Yablowme]

Top Fuel dragsters are the FASTEST ACCELERATING VEHICLES on Earth, quicker even than the space shuttle launch vehicle or a catapult-assisted jet fighter!

A top fuel dragster produces 8,000 horsepower (6,000 kW) and can go from 0 to 320 mph (510 km/h) in under 5 seconds.

A stock Toyota Corolla does the 1/4 mile in about 18 seconds at 75mph.

A stock Suzuki Hayabusa,one of the fastest bikes on the road today, does the 1/4 mile in 9 seconds at 150mph. Twice as fast as the Corolla..it's fast!

and....A Top Fuel car is TWICE as quick as the Hayabuasa...   I cannot even imagine it..

[FourFather]

Thanks for that, Max.

Even more impressive to me,  :wize: was that on my career best run in 1999, (three races ago for me), the 1/8 mile times were

0 to 272.45 mph in 3.056 seconds in 660 feet!!          


And the 1/4 mile times were

0 to 323.74 mph in 4.520 seconds in 1320 feet!!  :drool:

[NormLarson]

That is spectacularly fast!  I am jealous of you, that would be tremendous!  My Atom is still fast to me and it will have to do for the next few years ...

[MonsieurX]

here's a must read...

http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/forum/mi ... facts.html


* Even with nearly 3000 CFM of air being rammed in by the supercharger on overdrive, the fuel mixture is compressed into nearly-solid form before ignition. Cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lock.

* Dual magnetos apply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is the output of an arc welder in each cylinder.

* At stoichiometric (exact) 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture (for nitro), the flame front of nitromethane measures 7050 degrees F.

Makes me hungry! But there's no way it can beat an Ariel Atom 500! 

[FourFather]

Here's the time slip on my best run--

[img width=450 height=600]http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j169/ ... 0003-1.jpg[/img]

Then, as now, my car # was/is 499--- 'cause of that first four second run--4.990

And look at my 1000 ft. Elapsed time of 3.838 seconds --they normally don't run much quicker than that now, eleven years later--

Eddie

[AndyLUFC]

I can see why you'd want to move on up into an Atom Eddie! 

"Addicted to G's" 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prgoHGbjf2s

[FourFather]

Thanks for posting that, Andy! 

Wife Ercie and I watched it this morning-we had not seen that one in a LONG time. Memories came flooding back, and one of us teared up a little-





Eddie

[CalScot]

I'd never seen this. Really awesome stuff.

Plenty of stuff about how fast you are Eddie but what they all seem to miss mentioning is that not only are you the fastest but that you are one of the nicest guys anybody could ever meet.

[FourFather]

Aw, shucks----


Thanks!   

Eddie