Thread: What is too fast??.

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Well a young but very experienced driver and with the smallest shot of nitrous hit very briefly in the middle of the run mid 4's and 150 mph in a 1/8 mile where that is a threshold not cross to date scares me.Him pushing for more.I would never forgive myself if something out of his control happened.What do you do??.

Originally Posted by 1gary

Well a young but very experienced driver and with the smallest shot of nitrous hit very briefly in the middle of the run mid 4's and 150 mph in a 1/8 mile where that is a threshold not cross to date scares me.Him pushing for more.I would never forgive myself if something out of his control happened.What do you do??.

The driver will know when quick is too quick. It is not a crewmans' task to push the driver. Shit happens quick at that speed, i posted 'our mishap' if you search this section. That was an easy 4.50 pass and we normally'd run 4.30.
A very good friend, perennial track champion and currant Southern Outlaw Top Sportsman champion and well known bracket racer runs 4.70's in his door car and will not, under any circumstance, make a 1/4mile pass. He will qualify on a quarter mile by lifting at 1000' or so, eliminations are actually run on just the 1/8th mile.
The driver will know his limits, hopefully, and you can't push them.
I've driven mostly door cars and run right quick. I once got to make some passes in a funny car and i never felt so safe in my life - if they had an audio recorder they would've heard me laughin my ass off for 6 seconds. Door cars have too much space.
As far as forfiving yourself if things get out of control. They will get out of control, that is nature of being on the edge. Your job is to see that he is as safe as possible, that there is nothing ready to fall off the car, that all the dots' are dotted and tees' are crossed, your job is to see that when things go wrong they aren't man-made things because somebody didn't do something right. The game changes when you fire that engine and you realize that you are dealing with an innaimate object that will kill you without any remorse. That is when things start to get interesting! It gets very addictive after that.

Originally Posted by 1gary

Well a young but very experienced driver and with the smallest shot of nitrous hit very briefly in the middle of the run mid 4's and 150 mph in a 1/8 mile where that is a threshold not cross to date scares me.Him pushing for more.I would never forgive myself if something out of his control happened.What do you do??.

So are the things that are "...out of his control" in your control? If not then it's a moot point, as I see it. You say in the first line "...a very experienced driver..." so if you manage to get him ousted from the car he's driving he'll likely pick up another ride or worse, resort to street racing to satisfy his "....need for speed" as stated aptly in "Top Gun". I'm sure you'll feel bad if something bad happens at the track, but then again what do you propose? He's following the rules, running good equipment and pushing the envelope, which is the definition of racing.