Killer post!

I tell people that if you took a human with no knowledge of religion or dragsters and had this person stand at the drag strip as two of these beasts blew by - he would invent God on the spot.

In close proximity, these babies seem to rip heaven and earth.

They are so loud, that even with ear plugs and muffs, the SPL to your ears can still do damage.

163 dB from these.

They are mighty mighty!

It seems to me true devotion to an interest. This interest is drag racing. Over the 50+ years since I was in a car club, and worshiped the 1/4 mile, things have gone from back yard dragsters to highly advanced machines as serious as any large physics project. I admire this level of interest, even though I basically gave it up 50 years ago. I find audio design to be equally difficult to achieve, if you really want to win the (listening) race.

Really.. Tony Schumacher I mean is he related to Micheal.

EDIT: omg he is: Tony Schumacher ... racing excellence is genetic? hmmm all the more proof for the racing gene.

Great post, I got all tingly.

It's been a long while since I have seen this. I don't know who put it together initially but it sure is fun.

Buddha is right these things, and their motorcycle counterparts, are terrifying. Breathtaking violence.

As a road course driver I have been allowed to stand behind these monsters when they launch. (We show up late Saturday afternoon on those weekends when there are drags as we don't get to run until Sunday.) Astounding to watch.

Drag racers are an interesting breed. Single minded pursuit of a couple of numbers. The hobbyists seem pleased when something breaks; they then have an excuse to replace it with something better.

While road racers often refer to drag racers as knuckle-draggers, these guys are skilled drivers. Anyone with a quick reaction time can launch a 200hp sedan with an automatic and get a good time. But it is near magical how the good drivers can feather the throttle at the limits of adhesion on a high HP car.

I am a lousy drag racer. I can turn fast lap times on a road course and know my car, but can't even begin to approach these guys in a straight line. I let a friend take my Z06 down the strip (manual transmission, roughly 500 HP) and his time was nearly a second faster than mine on his first try. Amazing. Humbling.

John, interesting analogy between drag racing and amp designing. Designing must indeed require the same single-minded pursuit of the seemingly tiny that together constitute success.

Some people have that extra talent, and it could be sort of Zen like. Knowing exactly how to push the petal and get the most from the car.

I was in Northern California, in San Jose, but we had our share of 1/4 drags. I belonged to a car club called the Autocrats between 1958-60. We didn't do much, but we had cool ID jackets.

Quote:
I find audio design to be equally difficult to achieve, if you really want to win the (listening) race.

Well put John.

Cheers.

Holy moly! Watching drag race on the tube and reading this, puts things in kind of perspective! I once watched a dragster melt down the engine at startup. Result: One neat lump of aluminum laying on the track. There you go. 250.000 $ spent on a fraction of a second! LOL