by waaytoomuchintothis » Sun Mar 03, 2013 12:46 pm
Yep. Me too. I think about it now and then, and I think the difference is partly the the technology and the changes in the cars, and most importantly, there were a heck of a lot less folks in the way. The last time I went to a drag meet there must have been 50,000 people there. But also, in those days when an idea didn't work, we didn't do it anymore. There were lots of big time blow ups and crashes in practice and while working out engine modifications in the 50s and 60s, but when something was a bad idea we just did something else until we got it right. Today, with micro adjustments and insanely complex equipment, you can't decide if something will work with a torque wrench and common sense. I hated to see my favorite drag class disappear, but the truth is, AA Altereds were crazy dangerous and hopped all over the track from time to time. Of course Funny Cars always seemed a bit nuts to me after the Altereds were gone to museums, so who knows- not me. I've seen blowers pop straight up off an blown engine, several engines that just blew up, and some transmissions, too. But the old days of Formula One had lots of lethal crashes into the crowds. One was so horrific that Ferry Porsche left F-1 forever. I think Porsche came back for a while many years later, but he said at the time that that was IT. He and Enzo Ferrari were both very cantankerous people.