HEAT'S CHALLENGES FOR DRAG RACERS NOT LIMITED TO RACING SURFACE
Fri, 2010-05-21 15:00
To stay in or get out, that is the question.
It's hot. It's humid. Three pairs in front of you the competitor in the left lane oils down the track. Immediately a call goes out – how long to clean up the mess? Ten minutes? Fifteen minutes? Twenty five minutes?
If you're Cory McClenathan and the answer is 15 minutes then the answer to the question is simple.
“I'm the first to get out,” admitted the driver of the Fram Top Fuel dragster from the Don Schumacher Racing stable.
It's hot. It's humid. Three pairs in front of you the competitor in the left lane oils down the track. Immediately a call goes out – how long to clean up the mess? Ten minutes? Fifteen minutes? Twenty five minutes?
If you're Cory McClenathan and the answer is 15 minutes then the answer to the question is simple.
“I'm the first to get out,” admitted the driver of the Fram Top Fuel dragster from the Don Schumacher Racing stable.
Change the scenario and the answer changes. Replace the Top Fuel dragster with a Funny Car and Cory McClenathan with Jack Beckman and this time the driver continues to sit in the car waiting out the cleanup.
Change the weather conditions, something cooler and less humid, and both drivers opt to stay in their car during the cleanup.
Under the best of conditions any delay on the racetrack is unwelcome. However, as the summer arrives, oil downs and other delays on the racetrack can be taxing on a driver regardless of his physical conditioning.
It doesn't, according to Jack Beckman, driver of the MTS/Valvoline Dodge Charger, “take a lot of physical exertion to drive on of these cars.”
What it takes, according to Beckman and others is a mental toughness. Drag racing is much more than elapsed times and miles per hour. There are games played at the starting line, but no so much at the professional level, believes Beckman.
“Some drivers think it shows weakness to get out of the car while track clean up goes on,” said Beckman. “In the Funny Car, the driver is more comfortable in the seat. You have the body of the car shading you. The guys in the dragsters are the ones who really have it tough.”
Ideally, a driver wants to spend no more than 15 minutes inside the car. The clock starts ticking as soon as the driver zips up his firesuit and pulls on the helmet. Any interruption in the routine adds to the mental fatigue a driver can face during a run.
Heat makes it worse. Humidity is like adding fuel to a raging fire.
“In the heat, the hardest time is the first two minutes in the car,” said McClenathan. “I've seen the car so hot the crew could barely touch the roll cage. Everything is just hot. But, you adjust to it.”
Get past those first few minutes and the rest is bearable; until you add in high humidity.
At Atlanta Dragway last weekend, temperatures were warm, and the humidity, it was very high. To the benefit of the drivers, there was very little downtime not only on Sunday, but the entire weekend.
“That's a big deal,” said Robert Hight, after winning the Wally in Funny Car. “You don't like sitting in these cars for very long. You can see right now, I am sweating. These suits are hot.”
Hight echoed Beckman's words, saying the Funny Car seats have improved greatly and are actually comfortable.
“The heat,” added Hight, “A lot of athletes, you don't perform well when you body temperature is elevated.”
During her pole winning interview, Ashley Force Hood talked about how after a run she gets out of her suit as soon as possible. Her father, John, stays in his firesuit and has throughout his career. It's a choice according to Force Hood and her choice is to get out of the suit quickly.
It's also important to keep the undergarments drivers wear under the suit clean and dry. McClenathan brings a minimum of six pairs of tops and bottom and six head socks to every race. Keeping the body dry is all part of staying comfortable in the car.
“You start to sweat and the suit can start moving around under the belts and that is not good,” said Beckman. “The belts can get loose and that is not good.”
Bottom line, while oil downs are destructive to the flow of the show, they are equally destructive to the drivers already buckled into their race cars.
It's hot. It's humid. Three pairs in front of you the competitor in the left lane oils down the track. Immediately a call goes out – how long to clean up the mess? Ten minutes? Fifteen minutes? Twenty five minutes?
If you're Cory McClenathan and the answer is 15 minutes then the answer to the question is simple.
“I'm the first to get out,” admitted the driver of the Fram Top Fuel dragster from the Don Schumacher Racing stable.
To stay in or get out, that is the question.
When there's a lengthy delay in the racing, Cory McClenathan admits he's the first to get out of his car. Usually Top Fuel drivers suffer the most in a lenghty oildown during the summer months.
It's hot. It's humid. Three pairs in front of you the competitor in the left lane oils down the track. Immediately a call goes out – how long to clean up the mess? Ten minutes? Fifteen minutes? Twenty five minutes?
If you're Cory McClenathan and the answer is 15 minutes then the answer to the question is simple.
“I'm the first to get out,” admitted the driver of the Fram Top Fuel dragster from the Don Schumacher Racing stable.
Change the scenario and the answer changes. Replace the Top Fuel dragster with a Funny Car and Cory McClenathan with Jack Beckman and this time the driver continues to sit in the car waiting out the cleanup.
Change the weather conditions, something cooler and less humid, and both drivers opt to stay in their car during the cleanup.
Under the best of conditions any delay on the racetrack is unwelcome. However, as the summer arrives, oil downs and other delays on the racetrack can be taxing on a driver regardless of his physical conditioning.
It doesn't, according to Jack Beckman, driver of the MTS/Valvoline Dodge Charger, “take a lot of physical exertion to drive on of these cars.”
What it takes, according to Beckman and others is a mental toughness. Drag racing is much more than elapsed times and miles per hour. There are games played at the starting line, but no so much at the professional level, believes Beckman.
“Some drivers think it shows weakness to get out of the car while track clean up goes on,” said Beckman. “In the Funny Car, the driver is more comfortable in the seat. You have the body of the car shading you. The guys in the dragsters are the ones who really have it tough.”
Ideally, a driver wants to spend no more than 15 minutes inside the car. The clock starts ticking as soon as the driver zips up his firesuit and pulls on the helmet. Any interruption in the routine adds to the mental fatigue a driver can face during a run.
Heat makes it worse. Humidity is like adding fuel to a raging fire.
Suprisingly, inside of the Funny Car is usually the best place because the raised body provides shading from the sun.
Get past those first few minutes and the rest is bearable; until you add in high humidity.
At Atlanta Dragway last weekend, temperatures were warm, and the humidity, it was very high. To the benefit of the drivers, there was very little downtime not only on Sunday, but the entire weekend.
“That's a big deal,” said Robert Hight, after winning the Wally in Funny Car. “You don't like sitting in these cars for very long. You can see right now, I am sweating. These suits are hot.”
Hight echoed Beckman's words, saying the Funny Car seats have improved greatly and are actually comfortable.
“The heat,” added Hight, “A lot of athletes, you don't perform well when you body temperature is elevated.”
During her pole winning interview, Ashley Force Hood talked about how after a run she gets out of her suit as soon as possible. Her father, John, stays in his firesuit and has throughout his career. It's a choice according to Force Hood and her choice is to get out of the suit quickly.
It's also important to keep the undergarments drivers wear under the suit clean and dry. McClenathan brings a minimum of six pairs of tops and bottom and six head socks to every race. Keeping the body dry is all part of staying comfortable in the car.
“You start to sweat and the suit can start moving around under the belts and that is not good,” said Beckman. “The belts can get loose and that is not good.”
Bottom line, while oil downs are destructive to the flow of the show, they are equally destructive to the drivers already buckled into their race cars.
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