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pat foster
We're all saddened to hear legendary drag racer, builder and tuner Pat "Uncle Patty" Foster passed away on March 28th due to what we're told were "medical complications." What to say about "Uncle Patty?" Well, we could talk about how Foster started his career as a test pilot, or how over the past 35 years Pat Foster built everything from Gas Coupes to Land Speed Record cars, and every Dragster and Funny in between. We could talk about how Foster was involved in virtually every aspect of the Southern California and national racing scene — how he worked with the likes of Woody Gilmore, Ronnie Scrima, Frank Huszar, Jim Hume, Nye Frank, Tom Jobe, Mickey Thompson and the recently-passed John Buttera. No, instead, we'll let Hot Rod's Jim Hill tell you a story from the June '69 NHRA Springnationals where he first crossed paths with "Uncle Patty"
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Pat "Uncle Patty" Foster, Racing And Tuning Legend, Dead At Age 67
We're all saddened to hear legendary drag racer, builder and tuner Pat "Uncle Patty" Foster passed away on March 28th due to what we're told were "medical complications." What to say about "Uncle Patty?" Well, we could talk about how Foster started his career as a test pilot, or how over the past 35 years Pat Foster built everything from Gas Coupes to Land Speed Record cars, and every Dragster and Funny in between. We could talk about how Foster was involved in virtually every aspect of the Southern California and national racing scene — how he worked with the likes of Woody Gilmore, Ronnie Scrima, Frank Huszar, Jim Hume, Nye Frank, Tom Jobe, Mickey Thompson and the recently-passed John Buttera. No, instead, we'll let Hot Rod's Jim Hill tell you a story from the June '69 NHRA Springnationals where he first crossed paths with "Uncle Patty"
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el camino
Wrecked Civic + Drag Bike = El Civico!
When we had the Favorite Example of Caminoization poll, reader Buckyworld stunned us all with his description of El Civico, a 1999 Honda Civic converted to motorcycle-haulin' cartruck. Well, anything that cool is sure to trigger weeks of relentless hounding from us for the whole story, and Buckyworld was kind enough to oblige. Make the jump for the astounding saga of the mighty El Civico!More »
2008 pontiac g8
Pontiac G8 GT Stock Runs 13-Second Quarter-Mile, Are Those Paper Plates?
When we first saw this video of the new 2008 Pontiac G8 GT running a 13.12 quarter-mile at 106.65 MPH we thought, "Wow, that's kind of fast." It's even faster if you consider that this appears to be an automatic version making its first pass. If you go deeper into the video you'll notice the lack of plates and that paper in the back window. Now it could be something put there by the owner/drag officials. The better theory is that it's a paper plate from the dealership, meaning that this car was driven off the lot and in front of the christmas tree. The best theory is that this car is in the middle of an awesome test drive. We guess those Pontiac G8 commercials are working. [FQuick]
hoon of the day
Hoon Of The Day: 1967 Camaro + Wall = Compact Car
It takes a lot of work to build your very own, custom 1967 Camaro drag racer. Though accidentally crashing it doesn't necessarily make you a hoon, taping it from multiple angles and putting the outcome in a video that's book-ended by before-and-after shots is awesome. While the driver and the camera come out of the unfortunate incident without much in the way of damage, the poor Camaro comes out Corolla-sized.[YouTube via Edmunds]
drag racing
Troy Critchley Charged With Homicide In Tennessee Drag Racing Incident
The horrible drag racing incident in Selmer, Tennessee at the "Cars and Kids" event last June has taken yet another tragic turn, with charges now being filed against the driver involved. The June incident occurred when Aussie drag racer Troy Critchley, while performing a burnout in his top fuel dragster, veered into a crowd, resulting in six dead and eighteen injured. More »
choose your eternity
We learned on Friday that Dante Alighieri would prefer to drive a '58 Fiat 600 Multipla in Hell, and that's an important lesson. Another lesson that all those sentenced to eternity in Project Car Hell should learn is the joys associated with buying a Hell Project without a price. Yes, literally priceless cars await us today, and not just any priceless cars. Old race cars!
See, this way you can negotiate endlessly with some hardball seller, drag your newly-acquireddilapidated carcass diamond in the rough home, and dream of old-timey racing glory as you recreate hand-fabricated components for the next decade.
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PCH, Priceless Race Car Edition: Hemi Bantam or Buick Devin?
We learned on Friday that Dante Alighieri would prefer to drive a '58 Fiat 600 Multipla in Hell, and that's an important lesson. Another lesson that all those sentenced to eternity in Project Car Hell should learn is the joys associated with buying a Hell Project without a price. Yes, literally priceless cars await us today, and not just any priceless cars. Old race cars!
See, this way you can negotiate endlessly with some hardball seller, drag your newly-acquired
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choose your eternity
As most of you know by now, the Shorty Chopped Corvair was judged to be cooler/more hellish than the T-Bird-esque Auto Union 1000SP by the voters in Friday's Choose Your Eternity poll. With all the G8amino excitement today, we're going to turn away from two-strokers and groovy customs and get straight to some car-with-truck-bed goodness.
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PCH, Maximum Cartruck Edition: Dragamino or Mark VIIchero?
As most of you know by now, the Shorty Chopped Corvair was judged to be cooler/more hellish than the T-Bird-esque Auto Union 1000SP by the voters in Friday's Choose Your Eternity poll. With all the G8amino excitement today, we're going to turn away from two-strokers and groovy customs and get straight to some car-with-truck-bed goodness.
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custom cars
1546 HP Twin Turbo Dodge Viper GTS Dyno Run
This has to be the loudest UPS truck we've ever heard. It's really important to notice during this dyno run how the hand held camera is shaking during one of the pulls. So it may not be quite as insane as the 2,200 hp quad turbocharged V8 we saw on Friday, but it's definitely more streetable, and has up to 100% more Dodge Viper GTS. This sucker is obviously set up for drag racing though following the advice of the video and going to UndergroundRacing.com gets us no additional info on the car. We did dig up pictures of the beast though, and its pretty sick. This almost makes us sad that the Viper is as good as dead these days. How much you want to bet these guys have already rented an oversea container to Poland?
drag racing
But Can It Go Off Road? 8-Second Land Rover!
Since we've got a Land Rover clanking into the JFG today, it seems only right that we show you one that goes a little quicker than it did when new. With an 800-horse blown Cleveland, this beast runs 8.57 at 156 MPH in the quarter-mile. Thanks to Franzouse (and the others who sent this in after he did) for the tip![ChromJuwelen]
novelties
Unicycle Drag Racing. For. The. Win.
We don't know how this flew under the our radar our entire lives. We don't know how regular the events are or how high the body count is, but we know we want in. This might be the greatest drunken idea to get off the ground ever. In fact, it's well documented many a beer was involved in the invention of this sport of kings. Born from the twisted brain of the above pictured "Sidecar Willy" in 1988, the American National Unimotorcyclists Society (yes, the A.N.U.S.) operates during Daytona Bike Week and features home built drag racers of the single wheel variety. The rules are simple, one wheel, 100 feet, fastest time wins. The A.N.U.S also has a list of ten commandments which serve to keep the contestants honest and the sport cheap and pure. All that is well and good, but the archival video documenting the progression the art should not be missed. More »
chicago auto show
Dodge Challenger Super Stock Racer On Sale In March
It's been a while since we've heard anything about Dodge's turnkey drag racer Challenger Super Stock. But now Allpar is saying the Super Stock is going to be available sooner than expected. This doorslammer, which serves up the quarter-mile in 11 seconds, may be available to buyers as soon as March, over-the-counter, without a prescription. More »
12:30 PM on Thu Jan 31 2008
By marnold
3,421 views,
29 comments
drag racing
Slingshot Dragster Launch At 1,000 Frames Per Second
Forget about super-slo-mo films of hummingbird wings or water droplets- watching a vintage dragster spin its tires at launch is the real reason the 1,000FPS camera is such a great thing! The best part of this film- well, aside from the general batshit insanity of slingshot dragsters, of course- is that you can see individual exhaust pulses blowing the smoke off the top of the tire as it spins. This is an excerpt from a film about the 1969 NHRA Drags, courtesy of this YouTube user.
choose your eternity
The Super Hell Potential of the Starion pounded the sashimi right out of the Corolla GTS in yesterday's 80s Japanese Muscle Edition of Project Car Hell, which is probably as it should be; both cars are pretty damn cool, but there's no way any Toyota could ever be as hellish to work on as a turbocharged 80s Mitsubishi. But enough talk about finely balanced imports with high-tech (for their time) engines- today we're going to look at a pair of imports with solid front axles and large-displacement low-tech engines (well, space for such engines, anyway). Imports that handle so poorly that a stiff wind can tip them over when parked. Gassers!
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Project Car Hell, Euro-Gasser Edition: Opel or Alfa Romeo?
The Super Hell Potential of the Starion pounded the sashimi right out of the Corolla GTS in yesterday's 80s Japanese Muscle Edition of Project Car Hell, which is probably as it should be; both cars are pretty damn cool, but there's no way any Toyota could ever be as hellish to work on as a turbocharged 80s Mitsubishi. But enough talk about finely balanced imports with high-tech (for their time) engines- today we're going to look at a pair of imports with solid front axles and large-displacement low-tech engines (well, space for such engines, anyway). Imports that handle so poorly that a stiff wind can tip them over when parked. Gassers!More »
new cars
Oh man, has Ford figured out a way to get us to post a long and boring video about their plans for creating a sustainable business with environmentally sustainable technology. They drag race the Taurus above against a DTS and 3-series Bimmer and manage to win(though, no word on what powerplants in either the BMW or DTS). (we hear from Ford PR the Bimmer is powered by the 300 hp 3.0L twin turbo inline six and the Caddy has the 320 horsepower 4.6L Northstar V8.) This Taurus mule is fitted with an EcoBoost twin-turbo V6 3.5L engine, which is the future Ford technology that reduces emissions and increases power with lower displacement via turboboosting and direct gasoline injection.
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EcoBoost is the New Turbo Boost? Prototype Taurus Drag Races BMW And Cadillac, Wins
Oh man, has Ford figured out a way to get us to post a long and boring video about their plans for creating a sustainable business with environmentally sustainable technology. They drag race the Taurus above against a DTS and 3-series Bimmer and manage to win
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art arfons
Art Arfons, the three-time land speed record holder from 1964-1965 with his "Green Monster" series of jet-cars, passed away yesterday at the age of 81. In addition, Arfons was also known for trying to make drag racing as safe as possible with the development of two important safety devices that have since been made mandatory for drag racers: the overhead roll cage and the parachute. Here's more from his obit in the Akron Beacon Journal:
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Art Arfons, Three-Time Land Speed Record Holder, Dead At Age 81
Art Arfons, the three-time land speed record holder from 1964-1965 with his "Green Monster" series of jet-cars, passed away yesterday at the age of 81. In addition, Arfons was also known for trying to make drag racing as safe as possible with the development of two important safety devices that have since been made mandatory for drag racers: the overhead roll cage and the parachute. Here's more from his obit in the Akron Beacon Journal:
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question of the day
OK Then: What About Drag Racing?
You all had such strong reactions to our little NASCAR query that we're going to keep it going. So, for those of you who bitched and moaned about, "turn left, turn left, turn left, turn left," here's a motorized endeavor that features no turning whatsoever. Just machines barreling straight down a quarter mile runaway. Totally lost on Europeans (who the hell cares about 402.336 meters?) drag racing is about as American as it gets. Half the kids I went to high school with had Chevelles and '55 Bel Airs that could (supposedly) run in the 11s. And these were 16-year-olds. And we will be the first to admit that the times and speeds being achieved by modern top fuel dragsters are mind boggling. 4.5 seconds at 330 mph doesn't even make sense, let alone the fact that drivers are subjected to 6 Gs under acceleration. That said, we find drag racing pretty dull and would rather watch NASCAR. Also, many complained that drifting is nothing but an exhibition. Pot kettle black much? More »
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