Lack Of Oxygen Produces Unique Track Records, Milestones At Mile-

Photos

Lack Of Oxygen Produces Unique Track Records, Milestones At Mile-

see larger image

uploaded by Motor Sports Unplugged

• 

  uploaded by Motor Sports Unplugged | add comment

• 

  uploaded by Motor Sports Unplugged | add comment

• 

  uploaded by Motor Sports Unplugged | add comment

The magic that makes up the Mopar Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway centers around one thing.

It’s oxygen - you know that stuff you breathe.

Ever since the combustible engine was built, it has relied on this one essential element to combine with the properties of a high-octane gasoline, as they use in the Pro Stock class, to make it run and create tremendous horsepower.

Oxygen is the one thing that’s missing the most when you’re at an altitude starting at 5,280 feet. In the hotter temperatures in Denver, crew chiefs could be trying to tune an engine to run properly surpassing 10,000 feet.

For the Top Fuel and Funny Cars, nitromethane contains oxygen, making it such a strong source of energy.

It requires 14.7 ponds of air to burn one pound of gasoline, but only 1.7 pounds of air for one pound of nitromethane. Since an engine’s cylinder can only contain a limited amount of air on each stroke, 8.7 times more nitromethane than gasoline can be burned in one stroke.

The oxygen content of nitromethane enables it to burn with much less atmospheric oxygen.

What that means after an analysis indicates that nitromethane generates about 2.3 times the power of gasoline when combined with the same given amount of oxygen.

Now let’s take a look at the records and the milestones as compared to the Mile-High Nationals and the difficult and distinctive conditions it produces from the lack of oxygen.

The track opened in 1958 and 22 years later, Jerry Ruth powered his way to the first five-second run (5.99) at Bandimere Speedway in a Top Fuel dragster. It took 11 years later for the Lori Johns to break into the four-second barrier in 1991 with her run of 4.991 seconds. When the NHRA reduced the drag racing distance to 1,000 feet, Antron Brown was the first to run 3.998 seconds in 2008.

The first lady of drag racing, Shirley Muldowney, escalated the speed factor and was the first NHRA driver to reach the 250 mph plateau in 1983 hitting it right on the head at 250.00 mph.

The late Scott Kalitta attained the majestic 300 mph level in the Top Fuel category in 1996 when he ran a speed of 308.32 mph.

However, Kalitta wasn’t the first nitro car driver to make a run of 300 mph at Bandimere. Just moments earlier on that 1996 Friday night qualifying session, John Force stole all the thunder piloting his Castrol GTX Pontiac Firebird Funny Car to a speed of 301.30 mph and to top it off, he placed his Flopper into the top end sand trap after his parachute was unable to slow down enough in the thin air.

Other Funny Car Bandimere records include Frank Hawley, driving the famous Chi-Town Hustler, as the first to run in the five-second class with a Thursday run of 5.97 seconds and then lowered it the next day to 5.91 seconds.

Whit Bazemore was the first Funny Car driver to enter into the four-second group with a run of 4.990 seconds. The existing record of 1,000 feet belongs to Ron Capps at 4.121 seconds set in 2009.

Dale Pulde was the first to break through the Bandimere Speedway 250 mph barrier for Funny Cars in 1985 with his blast of 5.74 seconds at a track-record speed of 251.39 mph.

That was also the same year Bob Glidden drove his Pro Stock Ford to the first seven-second run at the mile-high racetrack at 7.944 seconds. Greg Anderson took the class into the six-second range with his run of 6.993 seconds in 2009.

We could see the first 200 mph Pro Stock pass in Bandimere history this weekend as the closest anyone has come to the praiseworthy number is Allen Johnson, who currently holds the speed record at 198.64 mph.

Pro Stock Motorcycle is in similar territory. Matt Hines was the first rider to reach the seven-second mark and won his first professional race at Denver in 1996 and Michael Phillips set the record of accomplishment last year of 7.238 seconds.

The four authorities of knowing how to win up on “The Mountain” have to be five-time Top Fuel champion Joe Amato, the 10-time champion of Pro Stock Bob Glidden, Funny Car’s 15-time champion Force and three-time champ Matt Hines in Pro Stock Motorcycle

Glidden, driving his famous Pro Stock Ford, has the most wins at seven. Amato won the dragster side of the Mile-High Nationals six times. Force in his Funny Car has five wins, and Hines has four wins in the motorcycle class.

My picks to win this weekend’s Mopar Mile-High Nationals are Spencer Massey, Top Fuel, Ron Capps in Funny Car, Jason Line in Pro Stock and L.E. Tonglet in Pro Stock Motorcycle.

http://motorsportsunplugged.com/NHRA/?p=1370