front suspension hard tail dragster
 

Has anyone upgraded there hard tail dragster with a front suspension kit that could answer a few questions??

Re: front suspension hard tail dragster
 

Back in the 90's I had a customer that had a Bob Boulton Hard tail dragster that had a front suspension. The customer always ran well and won a few races. He ran on one, well, not smooth track at Paris Tx. I never had time to study the set up. Isn't the idea behind the front suspension because the front runs over any bad spot in the track first and upsets the rest of the chassis?
What system were you thinking of?

Re: front suspension hard tail dragster
 

We have a older Mike Bos car we recently brought to him for a new body. While we were there he was pushing his kit...... Mike was saying it cured the bounce known with hard tails under braking or on a bumpy track, check out his car around 1:36 http://youtu.be/3ZbIYof2tnA.
Our big problem is hiking the tires outta the beams... In theory with front suspension the shock would force the tires down on launch. This is where my questions are to someone who has retro fit a kit.

Re: front suspension hard tail dragster
 

I know John Dibartolomeo has a Quay XL car that has a front suspension but it is a 4 link car not a hard tail. Bill Maroun who races at Atco has a hardtail car w/ front suspension swears by it.

Re: front suspension hard tail dragster
 

Where are you located? We have a racer here in PA. who has an alternative to suspending the front of the car. His name is Bill Maroun .
Bill has an innovative rocker arm/shock absorber setup that goes in the front of the foot box and controls chassis stiffness and bounce.
Super Comp race Don Bangs has it in his ancient Carpenter car and it works great.
Bills done quite a few cars with this setup ,all have enjoyed sucess.
If you are interested PM me or call me @ 610-217-7328 and I'll hook you up with Bill.
Tom

Re: front suspension hard tail dragster
 

Thanks Tom, our chassis is already at Mike Bos's shop. Sounds like his setup is a lot like Bills. There a single shock in front of the foot box with a rocker system connected to the axle. (I'll try to post a pic of similar set up from Diamond race cars)Attachment 26405

Re: front suspension hard tail dragster
 

Jerry.. give Gary Guariello a call.. he has that system in both his Comp car and his Top Dragster.. it was done by ProStart a few years back.. I'm not sure how it's working out for either car, but I think you know the guy that drives the T/D, and you could also talk to him.. I know they are in your area..

I can't tell you how Gary is making out with it, but Ackerman had it done on his 4 cylinder Comp car, and it definitely didn't work in his application.. but it could be a HP/Torque thing too, and playing with the shock adjustments to make it work..

Re: front suspension hard tail dragster
 

I think I know what ancient car your talking about Tom ! Oh yeah, the one that just won the MASCA CHAMPIONSHIP this year ? That Bangsie Guy ? Always seemed like a loose cannon ( I mean shock ) somewhere in there! Hi Donnie RATTLE RATTLE