A day at the dragstrip

[earlwb]

there must have been two hundred assorted scooters at the Texas Motorplex in Ennis Texas this weekend.
The motorcycles were easily staying in the low 5 second range forn the strip with speeds around 167mph. Several of the top fuel drag cars did runs in the 3.9 second range. 3.945 at 187mph was the fastest. When I was a youngster they were only breaking the seven second barrier at the time.











The Jet engine powered Police car was wild, makes for the ultimate in police pursuit vehicles.
They ran it after dark so you could enjoy the full afterburner effect.





How about a Scooter Rail Dragster? it is so low to the ground you can easily step over it, no problem.
Super modifed 5 hp Briggs and Stratton Engine with a custom CVT drive unit. It looks like only the crankcase is orginal, everything else is custom made. Yes it does use NOS too.

It is a mini-rail-dragster. You need to be pretty skinny to squeeze into the cockpit like my son depicted here.










See there is a loose CVT drive belt that only tightens up when you run the engine.




Aww yes, there's nothing like the smell of bunrt rubber mixed with nitromethane and alcohol fumes during a good burnout.

[tortoise]

Frequently view the NHRA events on TV . . and I'll have to admit the driver gender diversity is one of the reasons, since the gals often prevail in class wins. The timing light system is a great equalizer, with very few glitches . . 2005 U.S. Nationals Finish Line Controversy.

[earlwb]

Yup, I love it when the women can mix it up and turn in good times better than many of the men drivers.

Karen Stoffer rides a super wicked GIECO motorcycle and is in the under 6 second club too. www.karenstoffer.com/

Michelle Wilson is the driver of this car here. She did one of the best burnouts seen too, really softened and heated up the tires good. If I remember right she turned in a good run of like 4.0x at about 176mph too.

[hillbilly]

Cool. It looks like scooters may be edging out the pit bikes down there.

Earl, I think you may have been mixing up your distances though regarding the 7 seconds when you were young unless you are a lot older than you look in your picture. The 7 seconds would have been a 1/4 mile time. They are not running quarters at your local strip.

[90GTVert]

At the tracks in my area (US 13 Dragway, Cecil County Raceway, Capitol Raceway) you see scooters and pit bikes. The problem is, it's not that cool. Alot of them don't like the scooters, they aren't like us. From some (not all) of the people I know with pit vehicles, a minibike/pitbike is the cheapest least desirable, a scooter is the midway, and a golf cart is the cozy lazy form of pit transport that most prefer if they can afford it. Most of them don't give a crap about the scoot as long as it will get em around the pits.

I wish they would make a scooter class. There are enough guys/girls driving them around the track and enough scooter enthusiasts out there, that it could be fun. It would also increase interest in scoots and increase the availability of parts locally. Prob won't happen, but would be cool.

Nice pics btw, always glad to see other drag racing fans.

[Aerostudent]

I have heard that there is a gokart track around my area that also has scooter racing 'leagues.' Maybe there is something like that where you are? If not, you could always try to get them to start a scooter drag class (hey, someone's got to do it), that would be sweet! Also, it would give a better supply of better high performance parts that some of us would like ;D

Aero

[earlwb]

Yeah hillbilly, maybe your right, it did seem a little short for a 1/4 mile to me, but what do I know.
But going 180mph in a 1/8 mile run is pretty spectacular to me too.

[earlwb]

90GTVert, yeah I doubt they care all that much as long as it works as a pit bike.
But some of the big time guys with the huge double decker 18 wheelers were using scooters too. The dragbike bunch was all scooter or pitbike though.

[hillbilly]

earlwb said:

Yeah hillbilly, maybe your right, it did seem a little short for a 1/4 mile to me, but what do I know.
But going 180mph in a 1/8 mile run is pretty spectacular to me too.

Earl, it never ceases to amaze me that enough traction can be found to let those guys accelerate at 3g's.

There can be quite a bit of variation in the local strips. We have one nearby that lets you run a quarter the first time with any vehicle. If it goes too quickly though then after that the particular vehicle is only allowed to run 1000 foot or eighth mile runs due to runoff room limitations. It leads to odd situations where guys bring their new baby out and are trying to go for broke the first run they ever make since it may be their only chance at a quarter on that track. Kind of a dangerous policy in its own way I think.

[earlwb]

yeah it is amazing for sure.
I think i know what threw me off, was the time display towers were both set out at the 1/4 mile mark, but they were tripping the timers at 1/8 or so. The times were being displayed before they got their vehicles past the timers. But on that day, i just wasn't paying attention. I was there as a spectator.

[scooterhaas1]

What kind of performance can those mini drag racers get?

[earlwb]

Well in the Mini-Dragster Jr class using a 5hp Briggs and Stratton engine with some legal mods allowed, they can get almost 70mph out of them down the drag strip. They are restricted to running the 1/8th mile course at 7.90 seconds or slower. Everyone seems to be running almost that fast too. Its mostly for the younger kids coming of age into drag racing.

Using the highly modified Briggs Vanguard engines with oodles of custom parts and goodies like superchargers and or NOS, they are going a lot faster of course. How about 171mph down the 1/4 mile strip?

This guy got over 70mph out of a highly modifed 43cc mini-bike racer. I love his NOS setup.
www.badbros.net/minidragbike.html