News, Notes And Pomona Starts Next Week

by Motor Sports Unplugged | February 3, 2012 at 10:01 am

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In less than a week, the NHRA will be firing engines, initiating the start of the 2012 Full Throttle season. It’s the 61st year in drag racing history and the 23-race season should live up to all expectations as last year set a precedence of unfounded competition.

New Official NHRA Starter

Some of the biggest news to come out of the NHRA is the announcement of Mark Lyle, long-time starter in NHRA’s Division 6 and a certified team member of the NHRA Safety Safari presented by AAA, has been named the official NHRA Chief Starter, one of the most storied positions in all of NHRA Drag Racing. There have only been two chief starters in the sport’s 60-plus year history, Buster Couch (1955-1996) and Rick Stewart (1996-2011).

Beginning at the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals, Lyle will command the best view in the facility, standing alongside every kind of drag racing vehicle, most notably the 7,000-horsepower Top Fuel and Funny Car machines featured in NHRA’s marquee Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.

“It is simply the highest honor anyone in my position can have,” said Lyle, who resides in North Bend, Wash., with his family. “I really have to thank Kenworth Northwest for being flexible with my NHRA work schedule over the years and for allowing me to pursue my dream. To follow in the footsteps of two iconic and legendary figures in NHRA history is beyond words. I am looking forward to sending off the first pair in Pomona.”

DSR Cowl Caper

Don Schumacher Racing will not be able to start the 2012 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season with its innovative fully enclosed canopy on Tony Schumacher's U.S. Army Top Fuel Dragster until NHRA completes further inspection of the revolutionary component.

Team owner Don Schumacher said the canopy that fits within an existing dragster chassis also cannot be used at the second event to be held near Phoenix a week after the Feb. 9-12 NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, Calif.

"We have to go through the proper channels with NHRA to get approval for the canopy, and NHRA wants to take a close look at it so we'll take it to Pomona where officials, Safety Safari and other drivers and owners can get a close look at it," Schumacher said.

Tony Schumacher is an adamant supporter of the canopy although it adds about 25 pounds to the dragster's weight. His best run with the canopy was 3.761 seconds at 324.28 mph during Jan. 15-21 testing at Palm Beach International Raceway in Jupiter, Fla., where he made 13 runs with it. Teammate Antron Brown also made a run to test the unit.

"This isn't about performance. This is about safety," said Tony, the seven-time NHRA Top Fuel world champion. "I want every driver to have one. We aren't hiding anything. Again, this is just all about making it safer for all the guys in Top Fuel."

Don added, "We let all the teams at West Palm examine it. We let drivers get in it if they wanted. I want to make these cars as safe as they can be and not just for Tony. The canopy takes safety in Top Fuel to a much higher level."

Don Schumacher is a longtime safety innovator in drag racing. In the early 1970s when he was a top Funny Car owner and driver he developed the first roof escape hatch after seeing too many drivers burned in cockpit fires. He was the first to activate on-board fire extinguishers by attaching the handle to a Funny Car's brake handle so at the end of a fiery run the driver could keep one hand on the steering wheel and another on the brake while suppressing a fire.

Army crew chief Mike Green, who won the Top Fuel championship with Tony in 2009 at DSR, has been trying to enhance safety of the Top Fuel driver compartment since 2004 when popular Top Fuel driver Darrell Russell died in his open cockpit after apparently being hit with debris during a race near St. Louis.

Soon after Russell died, NHRA mandated roll cage shrouds be added behind the driver.

But that does not protect a driver from being hit by oncoming foreign objects.

Tony recalled several times when crashes or engine explosions on opponents' cars sent parts flying over his dragster.

"I remember twice when my front wing hit birds at 300 mph," he said. "If those birds would have hit my helmet I probably wouldn't be here today.

"This setup with the canopy is the smartest thing you can put on a (Top Fuel) car until we figure out something smarter.

"When I sit in this car with the canopy I have a level of comfort that I haven't had in a long time," Tony added. "Every driver should have that feeling. I've lost some good friends out here and don't want to lose any more."

The canopy concept began when Green thought back to his days racing 200-mph drag boats. He contacted longtime friend James Brendel, who owns Hondo Boats and Brendel Safety Capsules in Riverside, Calif. Brendel pioneered the use of enclosed capsules for drag boat racing, and the innovation has been responsible for saving countless lives and possibly the sport.

Green finally had the resources and funding for his project after he joined DSR in 2008 and shared his vision with the team owner.

Schumacher and Green embarked on the project in earnest two years ago and it came to fruition a year later when Brendel's self-contained canopy was fitted into a Top Fuel chassis and tested in Florida.

“The capsule worked well but was too heavy”, Green said.

DSR began working to develop a second-generation canopy with Brendel and Indianapolis-based Aerodine Composites, which has designed and manufactured various parts for top NHRA and IndyCar teams over the past 20 years.

Aerodine built the canopy using a combination of Kevlar and carbon fiber that goes over of an existing chassis to nearly enclose the cockpit and tops it with an attached full canopy that lowers over the driver.

The module is reinforced for further side protection. Crew or safety workers can quickly release the canopy inside by the driver or at the rear. The canopy will carry a 5-pound fire suppression system similar to those used in Funny Cars.

"The canopy doesn't make us go faster," Tony said. "It looks really cool, but I wouldn't care if it were ugly. That fact is I feel safer under it. That's all that matters to me."

Pedregon Now on Cruz Control

Cruz Pedregon, driver of the Snap-On Tools Toyota Camry, added the services of Lee Beard as crew chief in the off-season, allowing him to change his focus to concentrate more on the driving aspect of the car.

“Well, yeah, I think so. I've had a pretty full plate,” said the two-time Funny Car champ. “Time will tell. I think Lee does some of the things that I'm really not that good at or things that I don't really have the time for. That's working alongside each and every crew member on the team, organize and make sure they're doing the job.

“Lee is real good about showing different people what to do so they can move around if they choose to. I think from that standpoint I'll be able to, yeah, step back. These cars are running so close nowadays, I've got to be sharper, and I’ve got to be better than I was last year.

“Without a doubt Lee is going to provide that opportunity for me because, like I said, the guys have raised their game. There are some guys out there, that's all they do, that's all they think about. They're sharp shooters. We have to go out there and be as good as them if not better. But you certainly got to be on time.”

Pedregon ran his race team his way, doing a majority of the tuning and calling all the shots on his race car setup. He was the last man standing in Matt Hagan’s way to the Full Throttle Funny Car championship and gave him a helluva race at the Pomona finals, eventually finishing third in the tight year-ending points, missing second by two points. It gave him an extra sense of pride knowing he had been the one making all the decisions in preparation, driving and sponsor relations.

“You know, it did in a way. No doubt about it,” said Pedregon. “We all like that. There's ego involved. But I did it out of necessity. I didn't have a budget to go out and hire a crew. Even if I had the budget, a lot of these guys that are really good, they're not going to leave their team. They shouldn't. They should be loyal.

“I did it out of necessity. I thought if I'm going to go down, I'm going to go down swinging.

“I did have good guys, Danny, who moved on to John Force's team. He did a good job. I was surrounded by good guys. I'm not taking all the credit.

“It was tough, though. I'd get in the car. I was joking with guys like Tim Wilkerson and Mike Neff. I'm thinking did I open that flow enough? Should I change the timing map? Is that air pressure right for these conditions? Did I put the wing right? There are so many things.

“I got tattooed a couple times. I felt like Lee fit the bill perfect. He does things the way I want them done. I don't have to look over his shoulder. He does things the way I feel things should be done.

“Yeah, I don't have any excuses now. It's a combination of the car and driver that equate to wins and losses.

“The driver should matter. He's like the quarterback, the triggerman. The fans look for the driver. So you should have to earn your keep in that seat.”

Cory Mac is Back

Cory McClenathan will collaborate again with veteran Australian car owner Santo Rapisarda for the 2012 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season.

McClenathan, one of Top Fuel racing’s most experienced competitors, and the team will test the Santo’s Cranes entry this weekend in Las Vegas in anticipation of launching their season at the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals in Pomona.

The duo ran together for five races in the last half of the 2011 season and qualified three times with the new team.

“The plan is to step up our program this year and stay in the top 10,” said McClenathan. “Our initial plan is to go hard the first 12 to 13 races and then assess where we are. If we’re in the top 10 or close to it, we’ll keep going. By then, I should have been able to find the funding to keep the car out there.

“We ran in the 80s last year, not bad for a car that didn’t have all of the latest tricks, and we weren’t hurting anything, so we feel confident we can press the tune-up harder and get into the mid-to-low 3.80s fairly easily,”.

McClenathan finished second in the Full Throttle points standings in 1992, 1995, 1999, and 2000 and was a top-four finisher in 2008 and 2009. He has 34 Top Fuel wins, in which he has raced since 1991.

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