I have a question: I saw on the speed chanal a 1972 (I think that was the year) chevy chivil with the 428, or the 396 got a 9.6 on the qurter mile, and I have never again seen a pass that fast, why is that?
Aren’t dragsters and funny cars routinely running in the 3-4 second range these days? Even before they shortened the track?
Are they claiming the Chevell was stock?
What class was the car in question running?
I am amazed at the E.T.'s Pro Stock cars are turning now compared to the early seventies.
Cars straight from the manufacture were turning low 13’s to high 12’s in the early seventies IIRC. I think a little “tuning” brought the best into the low 12’s.
Yeah, they might have been running some boost though it, but they only had 8 inch wide slicks on the back. he did say he had done some mods to it but, the car was a sleeper (mismached fenders and a rusty hood, with a shiny big block tucked under it). and the pass times I was refrerring to were other cars of the same era, and class, even so these oher cars were only getting 10.5 at best.
Only the modern version of “funny cars” when on nitro.
REAL “funny cars”, made from real cars with the axle moved forward and the engine moved back, aren’t.
chances he was running one or more foggers and/or was running a supecharger and the car was probably tubbed out and stripped to the bone. Big sticky drag slicks help alot as well.
With the abundance of engineering, technology, and parts available now cars can become blistering fast.
A guy at the strip here about 2 years ago was running a consistent 10.2 all night long with a '71 Cuda 340. Naturally aspirated, tagged for the street, and running mufflers to boot. That was one bad machine.
The show is either ‘Pinks’ or ‘Pinks All Out’. I suspect the latter. People show up with their drag car and hope that their bracket will be chosen. Up to 20 cars running about the same pass time are chosen to compete for $10,000 and a $5000 set of tools. “Pinks” is the original, and two teams race the best 3 out of 4 for each other’s rides. There ae a lot of cars that run sub-tens at the all-out events, but the official event is usually between cars somewhere in the ten to 11 second range.
yeah, the same guy that does pinks all out does a game show whare three contestants try to guess the “pass time” of the car. it is real cool. I saw in “Hot Rod” mag someone was trying out all the chevy crate engines in a chevill from the 327 all the way up to the 572. the best they got was a 10.3 so I dunno mayby they had a crappy driver for the “Hot Rod” artical.
That show is so hard to watch, I feel so bad for the one who looses his ride, you think “pinks” are really echanged?
The one car that I would have been absolutely embarassed with on “Pinks” was the light weight roadster bucket with a Ford 4.6 DOHC (modded) and an 8-71 blower.
This guy ran something like a high 15/90 MPH quarter mile with it.
What a dog. I can only imagine what the fans in the stands were yelling if this guy had the guts to bring it back down the return road in front of them.
Probably as bad as the guy here many years ago who was running an early Chevy II with a 6 cylinder and 6 carburetors. It was an amazing thing to look at but the fastest I’ve seen him run was 45 seconds in the quarter; seriously.
Putt putt Hi mom! is about all he was doing in that chevy II eh?
how fast do they run when they cross the finish?
It was an erratic putt putt too. That thing was backfiring out the intake and exhaust both. He had entirely too much carburetion on it IMHO.
The car was moving slow enough that we could see the valve stems on the wheels rotating and count the revolutions while flames were shooting out both ends of the car.
It was even worse on the return road because it took him a full 5 minutes to make it back to the pits (and he had to pass right in front of everyone in the stands laughing at him). 
Absolutely. The loser just builds another one.
There are various classes based primarily on the vehicle’s design, engine, and fuel. A '68 Camaro small block V8 with carbs will run in a totally different class than it would with a blown 454 on fuel.
A visit to the NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) website should provide much more clarity.
Don’t get me wrong, I like the new funny cars and their 330 mph quarter miles, but I go back to the old days, and fortunately a backyard mechanic with a limited budget still can find a class to race in.
get that jelopy off my trak! you tarrrorist! (boom boom boom!)
Actually, when the guy first staged at the lights we thought he might have one pretty bad machine. No hood on it, all 6 carbs visible, and a very choppy idle.
When the lights went green and he nailed it is when the show started!
People in the stands looking at wristwatches, and making comments about “does the time display read that high?”, “I’ve got grass that grows faster than that”, and “Jeez, did that guy die on the other end or what” was the norm.
He was being passed repeatedly by other racers on the return road of all things.
Woohoo! I am flyin!
Question: what is a fast pass for a real dragsters and funny cars, and what do they hit when they cross the finish?
