Circle Track versus Drag Racing

[KA9MOT]

At our Thanksgiving get together I overheard a conversation between my oldest son and my brother-in-law.

My brother-in-law has worked in the machine shop of one of the NASCAR teams. I think it was for either the Jack Rousch or the Robert Yates teams. He is an expert concerning cylinder head and head design and has an awesome shop that he builds performance heads in. Any brand, stock or aftermarket, he knows most of the power tricks and has to equipment to do it.

My oldest son has no mechanical background and on Thursday picked up a titanium exhaust valve and asked "what is this?" DOH!!!!

My son and brother-in-law were discussing the "fact" that NASCAR drivers have way more skill then NHRA drivers. After-all. all they do is go in a straight line for 1/4 mile.

This is a common misconception and I would like to set the record straight.

I have no circle track racing background. I have allot of drag racing in my background (in my youth) on different drag strips and the street (I do not condone street racing).
I enjoy circle track racing more then drag racing as a non-participant but I am a fan of both.

In both forms of racing luck and setup plays a huge role. Skill, while very important takes second seat.

Obviously, if you are driving around in a circle at high rates of speed, you need to be very talented if you plan to succeed, or even survive. However that is all I know about it as I have never participated in this style of racing.

Drag racing requires other types of skills. Most importantly you must be able to read the tree so that you can get an acceptable reaction time. More races are lost here then at any other part of the track. You must have the ability to properly launch the car. This is a skill itself. You have to know your setup and know when to shift. When a car (every one that I ever raced) launches hard it ALWAYS tries to turn on you. You have to be capable of controlling these violent reactions that the car will have while a giant hand shoves you down into your seat..

For the record, I say regardless of the type of racing, if you have no skill you go home (or to the hospital).

My belief is that both require equal skill on the drivers part. They are different skills but equal non-the-less.

I used to get tired of people referring to any kind of racing other then drag racing as "running around a fishbowl".

[Porcupine]

Excellant post Beefy. My actual favorite racing is drags. Watching for the lowest ET, RT and top speed is the name of the game. What it takes to get all 3 is another ball of wax. That's why when I talk about or hear a 6,000HP machine, I have an automatic adrenaline rush. Any one that has ever driven HP drag races (legal or not) knows what I'm talking about.

You can see, hear and feel the power when those things are either doing burn-outs or sitting in the staging lanes.
Everyone has his little turn-on for any type of racing. That would be mine
Top fuel, pro street or modified, it makes no difference. Only people like us can appreciate what goes into one of those lauching units just to achieve one less second of ET. Better than sex? ummmmm ( I had to wait for wife to leave the room) ....I'll let you know later

[thecarguy]

Off road racing and rally racing is my fav...if you havent already guessed. Most off road races are on a lap setup. These races may be 3-4 laps long, but each lap is anywhere from 38 miles to 75 miles depending on the course. Nascar goes around on the same surface 150-200 times a day. In an off road race the course terrain will change every time someone goes over it, let alone each lap or even each year. Same for rally racing.

In nascar if you blow up you coast around back to the pits and get it handled, Off road you may be 25 miles as the crow flies from your crew (not to mention the access roads they may need to take that will leave them 40 miles away). The driver gets out and fixes the car, gets back in and finishes the race if all goes as planned. Same for rally racing.

Nascar goes straight and turns left. An off road car needs to go straight, turn left/rigt, hit whoops, bumps, jumps. The technology to build a competitive off road chassis rivals that of formula one. The drivelines are similar to nascar setups...just stronger as far as durability. For as much effort that nascar teams put into motors, off road teams put into shocks.

Then there are the point to point races like the baja 1000 or dakkar rally. For the baja 1000 most racers spend 17 hours in the car. This takes great stamina and lots of driver training. In the dakkar rally they start in the desert, go through mountians, in mud, in snow, in sand and all other terrains with the same setup. Even the high end rally teams use one car the whole season, same for off road racing. One car is setup to handle the wide open deserts of nevada as will handle the technical terrain of baja. Nascar has a different car for each track instead of putting in the extra effort to make an all around competitive car. In nascar if you wreck no big deal there are 7 more cars at the shop. In off road racing if you wad up the truck youve got 3 weeks to rebuild completly from the ground up.

But I think no matter what kind of racing you do...the race is won at the shop (i guess except for professional drag racing as they do multiple rebuilds at the track). The attetion to detail in prep work is whats going to win the race. Chances are the one thing you didnt check before you left the shop is the thing that will be your demise on the track/course. Id say im more of a fan of the builders, fabricators, machinists, and experts that put together the machines than the drivers.

Nothings better than seeing it live. Wether is the green flag at the begining of a nascar race. Or the feel of a top fuel whizzing past you as you cant hear a darn thing. Or a 800hp trophy truck skipping across the top of a set of whoops then launching into the air, landing on all 4's and roosing you as it takes off.

[Porcupine]

I can definately see how off road or baja could be a lot of fun. You still need a lot of HP as well as supension beyond the imagination. Big bucks are put into off road (as if you didn't know) and vehicles still break down. That just shows what intense demands are made on your vehciles, not to mention the drivers. Salute to you guys too

[Troadster]

I like all kinds of racing. My favorite is Drag racing. But agree with thcarguy a lot is one in the shop. But it also takes a good driver. LOL I have all ways considers myself a shop guy. Don't git me wrong I can drive (you half to know how to understand what the driver is telling you whats wrong) but don't have the reaction to do it right.

[thecarguy]

There are very few trucks out there that are "reliable". The few that are have probobly spent well into the millions to get it that way, and still are not even garunteed to not DNF.

There is a guy from san marcos (near san deigo) who had a new truck built for the baja race last week. It took nearly 2 years to build and probobly cost around $175K to build. The took it down to baja for the trucks very first trip in dirt. The entry fee for the baja was $3500. They towed the truck down there, had almost 30 people at different points along the course, had spare tires, fuel, parts, and other stuff strung along the coast of baja, probobly totals to a good $20K. They go 5 miles and the trans blows up, pack up and go home leaving all those un used parts, spares and fuel strung along baja. They go up to barstow for the MDR race where I was with my team and thy showed up friday night. In the tow vehicle alone was probobly 2 tanks of gas from baja all the way up to barstow. $500 for the MDR entry fee and the cost of what ever spares and fuel they had with them. They wadded up the truck on lap 3. All that money spent, all the man effort, 2 years to build, all of it down the drain not even a week out of the shop.


And the video if your interested....
http://www.jordansrealm.com/fish/hmroll1.wmv

My favorite type of racing from both a spectators point of view and a participants is European style road rallys. None of this just going around in the same direction or straight line speed, a road rally driver/car must negotiate all types of turns, banked, unbanked, on all types of pavement, in all types of weather, day and night. THAT is a challenge.

Originally Posted by Beefy's Bronco

Obviously, if you are driving around in a circle at high rates of speed, you need to be very talented if you plan to succeed, or even survive. However that is all I know about it as I have never participated in this style of racing.

Where the skill comes in during circle track is in things like being able to draft off the car in front of you and knowing when why you should do that: knowing the proper line to take around a corner so that you exit it as fast as possible; knowing when to take your pit stops so as to lose the least amount of time; knowing when to stay with the pack and knowing when to punch through it...

Driving circle track is challenging. Watching it is boring.

[danny]

racing is racing, if it's on-i'm on it

[Troadster]

I tell you all two kinds of racing I like to watch. One is that swamp buggy racing in Florida. The other is that weird boat racing they do down under. Can not remember what it is called. I mean when you put a roll cage on a boat you know something is wrong LOL.

[Porcupine]

I'm sitting here typing this and watching those rock crawlers. Not racing really, just competition with good drivers and good 'crawlers' I was watching drag boats this morning.

Troadster is right, when you see a roll cage on a boat...
Danny, racing is racing

[carsandcycles]

I like all types of racing but my hat goes off to the road racers and rallyists as probably the most skilled racers. In order to be at the top of their field they have to know how to accellerate, brake, turn left and right, etc.; each item requires skill, talent, practice and confidence.

[Racerock]

Enjoy it all - mechanical side, strategy, pit action, racing - regardless of venue. Not a diehard for any one thing, so I sort of appreciate it all. Sure wish I could get to more live stuff though.

[Gearhead52]

Originally Posted by Racerock

Enjoy it all - mechanical side, strategy, pit action, racing - regardless of venue. Not a diehard for any one thing, so I sort of appreciate it all. Sure wish I could get to more live stuff though.

Well said.......

If it has wheels and a motor I'm iterested....Some don't even need to have a motor.

[Racerock]

Originally Posted by Gearhead52

Well said.......

If it has wheels and a motor I'm iterested....Some don't even need to have a motor.

True - Pinewood Derby time is coming up for my son. We have an open class for siblings and parents. Good fun. I think a few adults are after me this year...