burnout curosity

[Dragsinger]

Give this some thought and get back to me. From the stand point of tradition and showmanship, burnouts are deeply rooted in drag racing. Of course, since I am 67 and counting I know when we had, "spin to clean" then "dry hops"

Yet, are we at or near the time that burnouts could be eliminated? Or, is a burn out simply part of the package and eliminating the burn out would take away from the experience?

Just something that I am curious about. Let's hear some thoughts.

[Chuck Norton]

Larry,

In my opinion, water boxes and burnouts are more than a cultural phenomenon and crowd-pleasing artifice. Today's rubber compounds and track prep go hand-in-hand to give our cars a consistent, efficient launch. There are times when less intense burnouts are desirable but it is the responsibility of each driver to know when "less is more" and adjust accordingly. If burnouts were to be banned again (yes, I too, remember the dark ages), consistent performances would require serious reconsideration of torque converter and clutch configurations, tire compounds, chassis set-ups, and driving styles. I, for one, at this stage in the evolution of the sport, would be disinclined to support the elimination of burnouts.

c

[Dragsinger]

Chuck, old folks know

And my comment is not one of ruling against burn outs, at least not in our lifetime. Just a topic of thought and conversation.

[Jim Bailey]

Jim Head did some testing some time ago, I believe it was with his Top Fueler. He made a couple runs with out any burn out what so ever, just wiping the tires clean. It really made little difference in the performance of the car. He also stopped "wacking the throttle" to seat the clutch during the warm up. That was always part of the show in the pits, now, hardly (if) anybody ever does that.

[Tom Nolan]

I have been shut off after doing a burn out in my GT car....after a few minutes the track guys motioned to us to do another burn out and the 60' was considerably quicker than all my other runs. Just my observation!

[HandOverFist]

I was recently held up on the line for about half a minute because of a dial-in discrepancy. After seven previous runs with the 60' times hovering at 1.50, that delayed run produced a 1.49 60'...I just don't know.

[Mike Pearson]

Originally Posted by HandOverFist

I was recently held up on the line for about half a minute because of a dial-in discrepancy. After seven previous runs with the 60' times hovering at 1.50, that delayed run produced a 1.49 60'...I just don't know.

My car will actually run quicker if it spins the tires a bit. But it is not repeatable or a good way to run the car to go rounds. When I have a class run I will set the shocks tight and let it spin. Usually good for 3 or 4 in my car.

[gsa612]

When M/T came out with a bias tire in the early 80's,they recommended a very light or no burnout.Tried it both ways and found no difference,you would only do a very light b/out when the track temp. was cold.

[Adger Smith]

Mike your car runs quicker with a little spin. what you got, a Comp car? :~)
That is the way most good Comp cars are set up. The little bit of spin allows a little less gear and converter, so it runs a little quicker. P/S is the same way as well as the 10.5 tire deals. (A good one black tracks the entire track) To go real fast with a dead hook require steep/correct gear selection (Tranny & Rear)and some interesting converter changes.
As for the burnout I was told, back in the day when we did dry hops in Modified, that the heat in the tire brings the sticky to the surface of the tire.
I never could understand why I would do 2 or three dry hops and the tire would spin on the line until a Goodyear tire guy told me: Dry hops knock the heat out of a tire. So did we do dry hops to knock the heat out and spin just a little to go real quick or did we do them thinking we were "Checking " the traction?
Is there really a place for dry hops with today's modern tire compounds?
How much burn out is really necessary?
The answer: Test your combination
Disclaimer; Your combination may require more or less of everything than what "They Say" runs.

[randy wilson]

Every car I've ran in the last 20 years have ran more MPH if they spun. Don't know why, just they did.