Going from a tv show that was essentially an acted out comic strip to a campy Japanese cartoon.
There’s just so much wrong here, no roll cage, no safety gear beyond an open face helmet and goggles, and he’s always angry because every race is some mission to “save the world”. Hey, John Force smiles every once in a while!
It’s hard to smile when you’re talking all the time.
You gotta be a good salesman to compete in NHRA top fuel or F/C. It’s so insanely expensive that even millionaires can’t do it as a hobby. John is a natural pitch man to sponsors. He’s never at a loss for words.
But that Speed Racer cartoon is so detached from real racing that it’s hilarious. Most competitors in real racing, especially the sportsman classes, are good friends, not bitter rivals, or that’s how I experienced the competition when I did the Hobie Catamaran circuit. You win and the competitors congratulate you, and there’s a party on the shore.
Force’s enthusiasm is one of the things that attracts me to him. I also like the family race team.
I’m not an arms expert but remember having a red device that clamped on the muzzle of our M16s when using blanks during field training.
“Dramatization. Driver on closed course. Do not attempt. Always secure your pets.”
Ha ha. Is this warning really necessary??? Yeah I guess it maybe is these days. Interesting that they didn’t have their shoulder belts on and sure to raise issues with PETA.
I think the red cap was to show you were firing blanks so that it was clear they were not live. Like the red squirt guns to show they are not real.
I would think their main function was to restrict the muzzle so there would be enough back pressure in the barrel to cycle the bolt. The red color was to warn you that the gun had that bore restriction so you wouldn’t shoot regular ammo through it.
Yup, makes sense. Never fired blanks myself.
100% correct!
I’ve shot home made black powder 12 gauge shotgun blanks. Great for killing wasp nests. Hold the muzzle about a foot away from the wasp nest, pull the trigger, and the nest is gone, turned into confetti and the wasps are vaporized.
Also safer than the old trick of dousing the nest with gasoline like my dad used to do.
By the way, never ever, and I mean never try that movie cliche of shooting a padlock open with a real round in the gun. You’ll spend the rest of the day picking bullet fragments out of your bleeding face and arms.
There are somethings that only work in movies, this is one of them.
I know what you mean. My dad would take a rag and wrap it around a cane pole, pour gas on it, light it up and up the ladder to the peak of the roof. More than once I thought he’d set the house on fire, but didn’t. I use raid that sprays 20 feet then run like heck.
So I learned a lot from him-use Raid and not fire, and put the plug back in the oil pan before adding oil, to get back to cars.
My dad and grand dad were automotive morons and I could tell them what to do but what does a kid know?
I remember once when grandpa’s John Deere wouldn’t start, I could tell there was something wrong because while they were cranking it, I didn’t hear the normal “cluck-cluck-cluck” noise from the magneto impulse coupling. Eventually, they decided to pull it with a pickup truck to get it to start, I tried my best to explain to them why you need to use fifth and not first gear for that. Heck, what does a kid know? But they kept pulling it and when they threw in the clutch, the wheels would just lock up and skid instead of cranking the engine. They finally relented and used third gear and the engine did start, with the wheels only sort of skidding, but it had no power and overheated badly from badly mistimed spark.
Finally they got a tractor mechanic to come out and he installed a new impulse coupling in the magneto and all was well.
I have used primer only wax bullets in center fire cartridges for indoor target practice. I grew up when pesticides were a major food group, both paint and gasoline were leaded, and asbestos was everywhere. Later I handled lead wheel weights and cast my own bullets. Just wash your hands afterward. I have also smoked about 1 pack of cigarettes per day for 50 years. I’m not terribly concerned with the miniscule amount of lead in primers.
Don’t forget about breaking open old thermometers to get and play with the mercury.
Yeah done that too. Didn’t everyone?
I wash my hands thoroughly before eating after shooting a few rounds of trap and handling a hundred or so many times reloaded shotshells.
I grew up relatively vice free save perhaps for my passion for motorcycle riding. Never took up smoking, only drink moderately, don’t gamble, never been to jail.
However, I have shot primer only .22 Hornet cases loaded with Crossman .22 caliber air rifle pellets indoors. These are quieter than actual air rifles and my chronograph reads about 375-400 fps, air rifles are more powerful. I just don’t shoot them indoors anymore after learning what the primers contain.
Morning, all. Can we please bring this back to cars? Thanks.
How about for movie ridiculousness (per Carolyn’s request) the first Fast and the Furious movie where they had the Civics that could dart underneath the tractor trailers…(I mean I guess if you mod the Civics down basically to the road and lift up the trailers…
)
There were so many problems with those movies.
My favorite was when they pulled the 10 ton vault out of the wall and then drive down the road at high speeds pulling the vault behind them.