Tech Inspection stories?
 

So, anybody got any old Tech/Teardown stories that they'd care to share? Controversial would be OK but can we not make it inflammatory or personal?

Re: Tech Inspection stories?
 

Many years ago and I do mean many when I actually won races. I was at Sonoma tech line. The official opened my right door, got his head under the dash. I asked what he was looking for. ( I was running Superstock). He told me he was looking for a double firewall to hide electronics. It might have been my proudest moment since I just footbrake. I believe he did find a cobweb.The good old days of tech.

Paul Haszlauer

P.S. I always wondered where the firewall idea came from. Tech person didn't have that answer.

Re: Tech Inspection stories?
 

Here is one for you.
They used to tear down at the Winternationals. We were torn down almost every year with our H/S Mustang. They musta figured that we weren't smart enough to make that car that fast. This particular time they decided that they needed to see a piston and rod too. We have the car apart waiting for verification and I am talking to another racer.
NHRA is lookiing in the interior of his car and pull out a bag of shot. They point to him and say "You are out". Then point to me and say " Take the complete interior out of yours. Keep in mind we had a piston and rod out already.
Needless to say, It was a very long night.

Re: Tech Inspection stories?
 

Not a Class Racing event, but NHRA sanctioned nonetheless. Think it was 1991, our local brackets track was NHRA sanctioned and I ran the points for the 1st time. Had raced for a couple years already, so I thought I had my mess together. No one really inspected the footbreakers, at least I never got checked. I footbraked in Pro with my 70 Barracuda street car. The week before the NHRA bracket finals, (sponsored by Craftsman as I recall), They had everyone who qualified to go, come out for an inspection. I ended up with a list of things to straighten up, which had me scrambling all week, and I, (22 yr old know it all dummy), screwed up. Some of the list were, driveshaft loop, battery disconnect, firewall in rear (battery in trunk) and a proper battery hold down. My mistake, was the battery disconnect. I wired it incorrectly, and the engine still ran off the alternator when shutting off the switch. Found that out when NHRA tech guy checked me at the race. I pulled the alternator, got rechecked, passed, then went and found someone to show me how to unscrew my screw up properly. Got my rear end whupped early, but had a great weekend with our team.

Re: Tech Inspection stories?
 

At an IHRA points race back in the seventies i was bounced by tech for driving two cars, a stocker and a bracket car. Sad part I was in the final in both classes with the stocker already at the head of staging when i was called to the tower and Ted Jones himself threw me out for driving two cars which was a rule but news to me. My only argument was the track put on the bracket race as a bonus, he didn't buy it. Surprisingly they paid me runnerup money for both classes.

Re: Tech Inspection stories?
 

Indy 1974-our B/S L78 Chevelle failed due to the debris screen that should run across the windshield base over the wiper linkage was missing (no idea why or where it went). We were towing with an Olds Vista Cruiser wagon so we robbed the one off tow car and that is how both cars stayed for as long as we had them

Re: Tech Inspection stories?
 

A few years ago at our local track in Calgary we had a national open. S/SS combo. We were teched by the local tech guy as the Nhra tech person wasn’t there yet He asked where’s your jackets? Said didn’t need one as at that time they weren’t mandatory. He didn’t believe it even though it was in the rule book. Said it wasn’t right and because of that we didn’t pass. Was pretty much ready to leave when the Nhra tech guy showed up. The local tech guy was told to go home and study up on the rule book and keep his personal opinions to him self. Last time that guy ever teched a sanctioned race.

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I bought a '69 Nova from Lloyd MacKay around 1996
Raced it without doing much to it and the engine was pretty weak
Went to a Points race at Etown and I'm pretty sure me and Mr. Nees rode back home one day at that race
Tech guy comes over to me and says they want to look at my carb ?
Ok....I take it off and hand it to them in the tech trailer and tell them maybe they have a better one in there so give me that one instead of mine.....It got a chuckle....
When I get mine back....I'm told they don't like it.....The base plate is to smooth, it measures fine and I need to get another one on there next time I race it....
I was running around 12.0's in H/SA.....IIRC
I thought that one was funny....
I have other stories but they are not so funny.....so I'll skip those....

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I had to pull a head at Rockingham in 2016 on my COPO because Chevrolet "remote" protested me.....

Re: Tech Inspection stories?
 

I had a fellow racer bring his favorite tech inspector over to "look over" my '64 Thunderbolt A/SA when it was new in Bowling Green several years ago. Together they spent at least 20 minutes going over every inch, mumbling that the Thunderbolt never should have been added to the list of acceptable cars for stock. I got to Indy, roll through tech and the "tech guy" ran full out 200 yards with his favorite fellow racer in tow to immediately have me tossed out because I had Quick fuel metering blocks on my original Holley carburetors, even though Quick fuel carbs were legal replacements! Thankfully my friend and engine builder drive 9 hours with his Holley dyno carbs so I could pass tech and race. It's not always the tech inspector.......it's their petty influencer.

Re: Tech Inspection stories?
 

Getting torn down at Indy and we are almost done. Tech guy comes over and starts looking under the dash wiring and asking me where the 2 step wire was going to, stupid me trying to make the wiring look clean and neat had all the wiring in conduit. I told them it's not hooked up I don't use it anymore more I tried it car didn't like it. I even showed him where it was unhooked. Tech guy said didn't matter pull the dash out and show me where it goes and he walked away. I was like are you kidding me.Travis came over to me and said pull the wire from one end and if I can see it move on the other end it will be fine. I had to pull some tape of the conduit in spots but I did that and they were good.



Bret Velde
2003 I/SA

Re: Tech Inspection stories?
 

I was in a long slow tech line at the old Las Vegas track and Danny Garcia is helping. He walks up to my car and nervously I hand him my tech card. He looks at me and says nice car and signs the form without opening a door or looking under the hood and walks away to the next car.
Easiest tech I’ve ever been through!

Re: Tech Inspection stories?
 

Back in the early 1980's at Cayuga (now Toronto Motorsport Park) my father was racing his 10 second bracket '69 Camaro. It may have also been a divisional points meet for class cars as well as a Pro Stock show can't recall. Tech inspector checks our car and is pleased with everything except advises that we had too much rubber hose used in fuel line for connection purposes. I believe he said we had more than the allowable 6 inches. Had to scramble and make corrections or not race, okay fair enough. Later that day when looking at Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins Pro Stock Camaro we saw about 2-3 feet in total running from his regulator to his twin side mounted Holley carbs. He was not the only pro plumbed that way but ... he was a legend and we were bracket chumps ... fun times, great memories.

Re: Tech Inspection stories?
 

I was bracket racing at an NHRA track and I'm waiting my turn in the Tech line when the Racer in front of me is confronted by the Tech Inspector because he wants to run Pro but he has a delay box in his car. At the time, boxes were only allowed in S/P. The Racer in front of me drives away and I asked the Tech Inspector about him taking out his box. The Inspector told me that the Racer told him that he wasn't going to use it and the Inspector was OK with that. I told the Tech inspector "lock me in a closet with your wife, I promise that I won't touch her!" He got on his scooter and rode away, came back with the Racer's box and told me, "you've made your point now get out of here"!

Re: Tech Inspection stories?
 

There are several that fit into this category. How about the Winternationals that first generation SS Camaro hood trim became in issue? There were several cars in both Stock and Super. Stock thst competed with non-color matching hoods. Never mind the documented fact that a few early '68 Camaro small block cars came with "finned" hood inserts instead of "stacks." We had blue cars with red hoods lining up against red cars with blue hoods that year.

One of my personal pet peeves were the years when camshaft duration and overlap were measured by wrapping a strip of masking tape around the balancer and marking the lobe opening and closing points with a Sharpie or the stub of a hand-sharpened pencil. After the marks were made, they peeled off the tape, stretched it out on the fender and measured the distance between marks with a ruler? Never mind the fact that, on a small balancer, the width of each Sharpie mark covered at least two degrees one way or the other.

Re: Tech Inspection stories?
 

My experiences included 8 teardowns across divisions 3, 4, 5 & 7 from 1987 to 1994. However, 3 of those were self-imposed from National Record certifications. I understood that this is just part of Class racing. It is what we signed up for so like it or not, all of us had to deal with it.
Most memorable was Indy, at Paul Harvey Ford. As the rigs left the track at sunrise to go into town there were two guys at the gate mocking everyone singing as loud as they could- "Paul Harvey Ford!!" Thanks a lot guys. Lots of cars at teardown and it went faster than I expected. My crew chief, Dwayne Scheitlin was there and his help was crucial to get me in & out on time since a second group was coming in the afternoon.
Pomona in 1988 also had a good building for teardown at the east side of the complex. D6 tech director, Jerry Valentine politely pointed out some things I needed for the future, plastic trim in the front valance was missing and the fog lamps too plus, the grills in my shaker scoop. Tech was not going to accept shakers without the grills going forward. At that time they weren't disqualifying anyone over this but telling us to get the grills back into the shaker scoops ASAP.
Quickest teardown was a points meet after the finals in Denver, winner & runner-up both. They were on time and the weather was really nice so why not? Done in just over 90 minutes since we didn't have to put things back together, just button everything up enough to stay clean and put it back together at home.
One issue came up during a National Record certification in Division 4. I got to know Red Anderson and yes, he was a thorough tech inspector but me and others feel he was always fair. The issue they questioned was sent to the national tech office and after some communication with Dave Danish I did get my National Record cert a couple months later. After getting to know Red Anderson I really liked him. More like him would be good to have today.
My experiences with the NHRA Tech officials were good, all were professional, reasonable and courteous. Back then there were stories where that wasn't always the case but fortunately all my encounters were positive.
I wish that after successful teardown we would have been given a little 2" sticker indicating the certification, the NHRA emblem with "tech" a wrench and a caliper would have been great to have on the fender or hood.
I am happy to see the push for more teardowns in the future. Teardowns give our classes credibility. Performance based sportsman racing is an essential part of the sport. I am happy to see that there are still many that feel that way.

Re: Tech Inspection stories?
 

Not a stock or super stock story, but might be of interest due to the circumstances.

We were running pro stock at indy and after the last qual session tech rode up and told us we needed to go to the barn. We all needed to be wearing depends when we heard that. As far as we knew, we were 100% legal but the thought of tearing things apart and getting them all back together was scary beyond belief. Seems like the other ps car was Yates.

Jenkins was building our engines and the team owners always paid for him to attend races to keep the engine tuned. It was a huge relief to have him there during teardown.

Luckily, we were only asked to do things we knew how to do, like pulling the engine. Lots of attention in tracing wiring went on. But I was totally confused that Jim Collins spent close to an hour inspecting our mid plate with a magnifying jewelers' loupe.

At the time, the news had not come out that the Gliddens had just admitted to the NHRA that they had used nitrous - and that it fed from a pinhole in the midplate to the supports for the hood scoop. When I learned that, the "we don't need to go into your engine, we just want to look at other things" approach became clear.

Yes, we passed. It was something we were proud of since it was the beginning of the nitrous fiasco. We were one of two cars who could absolutely state we were legal in every way.

Re: Tech Inspection stories?
 

Great story Dan, mine too is not from S/SS but from stock car racing. The rules were 8" rim, 4" of clearance and 160psi cranking pressure.
I was running a 351C and seemed to always get 3rd (top three checked) As they slid the 4" angle iron on a rod under the car and checked rim width, I'd pull a plug etc. Always front left cyl (#5) and always 130psi or so. After a few races there were complaints (of course) and they wanted to check the other bank (1-4). I already had a plug out, nope, but I, nope. Checked #3 and it was 220 or something like that. Wwwwhat?? I said, that's weird! (I was running one open chamber and one closed chamber, lol)

Edit: Just to point out...I was a kid with several "influencers" in my circle at the time.

Re: Tech Inspection stories?
 

Arrived at 2009 Dutch with a new SS/AH Barracuda. FJ did the cage and chassis. We did the balance of the work. This is back when 30+ cars would show up in our class. Get word that I'm, along with a few other AH cars are to report to barn before Q1. Mike Booker from the west coast arrived with his new car too. AH was now bumping under 8.50 so 25.5 cages required.
I recall they wanted to see the wiring and other build details. No humps allowed on inner front wheel wells was new. All checked out OK.
Didn't do well in the class runoffs. Had bought used crossram motor from Jim Pancake for steam. Dreamed about having a Barton or Westcott "tunnel ram" motor. That took another 5 or 6 years, before getting a good one from the Howes.
Regardless was asked again to bring car to the barn. They said to park the car next to the NHRA trailer. It was then I was told we were awarded "Best Engineered". A proud moment for sure.

Re: Tech Inspection stories?
 

One year at the U S Nationals we were going through tear down at Paul Harvey Ford. I was in the cylinder head line to get the head checked and asked my wife to get in the carburetor line to save some time. The tech guy told her to pour the gasoline out of the carb. She dumped the gasoline and all the internal carb parts in the nearest trash barrel. It's hard to get good help.

Re: Tech Inspection stories?
 

I'll throw one on here. It is not controversial, technical, or even unique - but it's the best one I got!

Brainerd Nationals 2002. This was the first year without the altitude factor. My dad's car was running "OK" but somewhat off the pace. It never seemed to like Brainerd. We could go to Earlville 3 weeks later in similar air and pick up two tenths. Then again, this was a backyard built stocker with a stock computer, stock block, "both" of his speed secrets, and years before every piece could be replaced with something aftermarket.

1st or 2nd qualifying session (maybe both, can't recall), Bruce Bachelder is waiting by the scales. He smirks at my dad and gives him this little wave.
After the class (single) run-off, guess what. Bruce is at the scales again. No wave this time, he walks over and says, "I would like to invite you to a little party in the teardown barn."

Here's one of the "stockest" cars you could build and run under the index with, qualified in the bottom half of the field, with probably every one of the same parts they already looked at when he set the record in Fall 2000 - getting called to the barn. But that's what I thought was so cool about class racing. Didn't matter if you were #1 or #128 - you could be spending the afternoon at one of those "parties." And with how many cars were there - maybe the word party was appropriate!

He passed teardown that day. I remember Bruce antagonized my dad a time or two after that with that wave. Never got invited to another party though. And now I wonder when the last party was in that barn in Brainerd...

Re: Tech Inspection stories?
 

I wish to exert my 5th amendment rights on this one ;-)

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Had my Valiant at a bracket race at RT66. Went through tech and was waiting for the line to move to go back to my pit. My old friend Animal Jim Feurer stopped by to look at my "new" car. Car had been thfough tech at 66 a bunch of times. Jim just happened to look at the battery tray and saw the retaining bars with J hooks.

He was nice enough to tell me to fix it before the next time out.

He teched the car the next time and never looked.

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We were at a nhra divisional back in the early 80's at the old houston international. We were testing and after a baseline pass we swapped the heads to see if their was any difference. After that we put the old set back on to run the race. After qualifying red anderson comes over and invites us to teardown. We liked to have wore the head bolts out and my back that weekend. Oh the good ole days.

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One of my very first tear downs was winning class at Englishtown. Steve McGrath behind the wheel. We went to a Ford dealership to teardown. We were very young and of course nervous 20 yr olds. I handed my carburetor to Bob Lang I think his name was.Well I should have emptied it before I handed it to him...oops! Somehow we still came home with the Wally.

Paul H

Re: Tech Inspection stories?
 

At Indy in I think 2013 I was selected for teardown. First the carb. The guy before me they questioned his carb as to the screws in the butterflies were shortened but they let him pass with a warning. Then they looked at mine. Kept pointing to things on it and shaking their heads. I asked them if there was a problem. They said no as they said this is how the screws are supposed to be. Then on to the intake. Said it wasn't correct casting number. I said its a superseded one that's allowed. They were give only the one number after checking with Bruce. Problem #2 corrected. Then the combustion chamber was poured. Was 57.7 cc's. Said it was too small. Was supposed to be 61.2 according to the info they got. I said that's for the 350. This is a 327 which is 57.5. After all said and done it passed with flying colors but not with its moments.

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Don't remember what year, but we tore down 5 races in a row for the record. Wayne Lewis just about had all my numbers memorized. Tom

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Not a story but a question, do any of the Hemi Shootout cars get torn down at Indy if they are not running class?

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2009 brand new John Holt SS/AH car. New driver needing a grade point so I went to the Div.4 Ennis, Tx. Big Joe (RIP), Lil' Joe and Tim Hebert were there and knew I was an NHRA rookie. Took me to tech with them. They knew Wesley, I did not. Their Hemi cars went right thru, my turn. Wes went over the car for 30 minutes, had a magnet on wheel wells etc. "Sir, pull this car over here." Out of line I went. Lil' Joe gave me a shoulder schrug and they went to paddock. It seemed like hours, teams of guys with ring binders, pointing, touching, talking. FINALLY Wesley walked over and said "Son, that is how you build a Hemi car". He used it for class with the other techs. So first time down the track, #2 qualifier in all of SS. Nuttin' to it. Just pee on the cash register. Phish

Re: Tech Inspection stories?
 

isn't the biggest tech story the fact that their is no tech inspection any longer?

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inspections happen a lot in division 7 at the scales after a run. At National events officials roam through the staging lanes checking belts, helmet, blinders and what ever they have on their minds that day. They come in out pits, say hello and check stuff. Maybe its just me!

Paul

Re: Tech Inspection stories?
 

We have tech inspections in Div 7 for bracket racing, some tracks are more stringent than others.

Re: Tech Inspection stories?
 

I have a couple of favorites from the not too distant past. We were a Memphis with the 69 Camaro I worked on for Kevin Cradduck. One of the tech guys spotted the metal line attached to the intake, for the vacuum modulator on the transmission, it had auto 1-2 shift at the time. He asked me what the lines was for, and I replied "it's for the nitrous oxide". I thought Kevin was going to pass out on the spot. I also had a few "Kilroy" pictures drawn in various places, like inside the valve cover, under the intake manifold, etc. Wesley found one that had Kilroy giving "the finger". Wesley thought that was hilarious. The tech guys are my friends, I enjoy hanging out and cutting up with them.

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won class at the 1979 Columbus Springnationals & got invited to teardown at Paul Mayos transmission shop & was the first time nhra started cc checking unported superstock cylinder head volumes of intake & exhaust ports guessing to see differences ln the oem same castings numbers sizes .. would of been interesting data gathering

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This is about a teardown that didn't happen. 73-74 working tech with John Biedenkapp at the Blaney Points meet. Back then you couldn't race on Sunday so this was a one day deal and back then you ran Stock thru TF at points meets. Busy long day. Usually we just tore down winners because of how late the race went. I think it was Ronnie Traffenstedt asked me if we were going to tear down the RU and I said no. He said the other car in the final who I won't name was cheating so we went and talked to John and he asked how Ronnie knew he was cheating and he said he was catching the other cars and riding. Ronnie said he would prove it. He was going to leave in 3rd in his, I think SS/P Chevelle, and the other car would not pass him. Sure enough the Chevelle left in 3rd, back to 2nd or 1st but the other car never went around him. When they got to the scales John told them both to pull a head. The unnamed racer was not happy. They both went back to the pits and Ronnie tore down but the other car kept arguing. Jonh sent me to find Buster and Buster told him he would get a year off if he didn't tear down. He loaded up and left. He got his vacation.

Re: Tech Inspection stories?
 

Make a trip to the US Nationals and you will find out.

Re: Tech Inspection stories?
 

Lyn comments.
My Tech moment happened at a RT 66 bracket race also. The tech there was just as strict as any big races I go to. As I was leaving tech with my Stocker I was told by an older tech official that I had to put my "dial in" on before I left the tech area? After a few quizzing moments asking how I was going to do that since I had not run the car yet another tech official came over and waved me on. Later I figured out that it was the class designation he wanted on the car(Super Pro, Pro, or Sportsmen). Not the dial in. LOL.

Re: Tech Inspection stories?
 

Okay, here's one:
If you ever got teched by Marty Barrett it was worth the price of admission, alone.

We're out at Amarillo for the 73 finals, with the 66 Chevy II SS/J car.
Tech was in some God-forsaken vacant lot they picked out.
Marty comes walking up , pulling up on his pant legs,,,"gotta watch for the snakes" he says.
He goes around to the back of the car, still on an open trailer. He's looking underneath but not saying anything. This was before weight boxes, ballast bars, etc. You had to run your natural class, only. No dropping down a class...Spare tire, jack ,full tank of gas...whatever it took.
We had moved the springs in ,which was legal. We took a 3x3 piece of angle iron and ran it from one side to the other, and hung the shackles off that...Finally Marty says " nice way to add some ballast back there".
He then puts his hand on the big SS plate on the deck lid.Glad you've got that in place
We told him..of course...Nice and heavy too.
Marty says.."well, you boys have a nice day" We told him to watch out for the snakes,...and off he went.

The good ol' days...

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Almost got tossed in St Louis for bumper brackets and dash cluster my first year in super stock 2006, was not a fun experience, had to get Danny to let me back in. Lots of drama not gonna mention names but all worked out in the end. I got to race, main thing after a 2,000 mile drive. John

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A new bracket racing sanctioning body with its own bespoke rule book held a "national event" at Atco Raceway. You had to pre-enter and pay by mail if you wanted to race. On the morning of the event I drove the 100 miles from my home in North Jersey in my 1969 Mercury Cougar.

I had never had tech problems at any of the other tracks where I had raced the car previously. However this group's tech inspector bounced me because a portion of the car's slapper bars extended below the rear wheels' rims. I had never heard of such a thing, but it was in their rule book. I never thought to look, because NHRA had no such rule that I was aware of and no one ever questioned the setup before.

Mind you, the car was running stiff-wall DOT tires. The bars wouldn't touch the ground even if all the air was let out. Nevertheless, I didn't want to waste the trip and entry, so I unbolted both traction bars and left them in my pit space. The amount of squat in the rear on subsequent runs was unnerving. After the race I put the bars back on and drove home. I never had problems with tech again, and I never raced with that organization again.