NEW STYLE CHRISTMAS TREE SET TO DEBUT IN HOUSTON

Wed, 2021-05-19 05:31

 

 

Reinventing the wheel is not easy; just ask Bob Brockmeyer.

For Brockmeyer, reinventing the wheel might have been an easier proposition. The founder of drag racing’s most prominent timing system was tasked with redesigning the iconic Christmas Tree, not for the racer but for race fans.

“The driver’s side of the tree is the same as it’s always been,” Brockmeyer said. “The backside is the same, except they can see a little better. The sides are built for the spectators because with the blues tree, as they call it that we developed here for the Charlotte four-wide race years ago, the blues face the driver in the back, but people on the sides.”

The new version has a stage bulb on the top of the tree’s hat on both sides, so fans can see when both cars stage. Additionally, there are LEDs down the side that will stand out for those in the stands.

“It’s actually been in the works for about a year,” Brockmeyer admitted.

One thing about the new tree, which is expected to debut at the NHRA Springnationals in Houston this weekend, it’s not energy efficient.

“When it fires, it pulls 50 amps, the DC current just to run the sidelights on it,” Brockmeyer explained. “It fires up things pretty bright. It’s like the Top Fuel of Christmas trees.”

The new unit was expected to debut at the final running of the NHRA Southern Nationals outside of Atlanta, Ga., but Brockmeyer confirmed it was damaged in transition.

“Somewhere in transport from Las Vegas to Atlanta, I-40 is a pretty rough highway, probably bounced around a bit,” Brockmeyer said. “Something shorted and hung half of a pre-stage light on the back side on.”

The damage in transit wasn’t something Brockmeyer said he was prepared for, although he’s quick to point out it was tested for virtually every other scenario of on-track action.

“We spent a lot of time going back and forth from our shop to our home track, Bandimere Speedway,” Brockmeyer revealed. “We’d test it. Go look up in the stands and say, ‘I can see that, I can’t see that.’

“And move things around. That’s what it took. It went through many revisions before we arrived at the finished product.”

What started out as a drawing on paper evolved into a complex project of many revisions.

How many revisions?

“I can’t count on both hands how many revisions it went through,” Brockmeyer surmised.  

 

 

 
Categories: 
:::::: News ::::::