Thank Frank. It is amazing and a hoot to photograph. In 1975 when I was crew chief on a Corvette funny car, I had a tough time getting enough downforce on the rear spoiler due to it being too close to the back of the roof. That let the tires grow excessively. Once when the car left rubber tracks all the way front he starting line to the finish line, I could see that the 17-inch wide tires had only 3 inches of contact at the finish line. Consequently, we set a number of track mph records with the car -- 237 mph was its best. But the handling was atrocious, and it eventually crashed. A huge airfoil type spoiler like those used today would have made it work.
On Apr 13, 2013, at 10:55 AM, "knarftheria...@gmail.com" <knarftheria...@gmail.com> wrote: > Great shot, Paul! > > I love the wrinkled sidewall of the rear slick; indicative of the massive > torque being applied to the wheel. I had no idea until recently that the > changes in the diameter of those tires actually acts as a sort of de facto > "gearing" as they contract in size during that initial acceleration due to > the wrinkling then expand as centrifugal forces fling the slick "tread" away > from the wheel. That actually changes the effective gear ratio. > > I also like that left front wheel in the air. > > Dragsters amaze me. At first blush it all seems so simple but the physics > involved is mind boggling. > > You illustrated all that beautifully in that moment. The quintessential drag > racing photo! > > cheers, > frank > > > > > > --- Original Message --- > > From: Paul Stenquist <pnstenqu...@comcast.net> > Sent: April 12, 2013 4/12/13 > To: "Pentax-Discuss Mail List" <pdml@pdml.net> > Subject: PESO - Wicked Pickett > > That was the nickname of drag racer Bob Pickett. I shot him coming off true > staring line at Englishtown in the summer of 1980. > > http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=17151757&size=lg > > When I scanned this today, I noticed that the car in the other lane had just > suffered a starting-line intake manifold explosion, and the supercharger was > coming off the front of the hood. I would guess he drove over it, and > probably suffered a fire as the car must have dropped an intake valve or > backfired into the manifold. > > Here's a 100% crop of the errant supercharger. It's beyond the DOF, so I > sharpened the crap out of it. You can see the stout gilmer drive belt hanging > from the front pulley. Something blue is leaving the building at upper left. > Don't know what that is. Could be part of the aluminum paneling that supports > the body. > > > http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=17151753&size=lg > > Paul > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > PDML@pdml.net > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > PDML@pdml.net > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
