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Drag Boat Racing

8K views 12 replies 9 participants last post by  Old Fool 
#1 ·
Knew of it´s existence since I knew about car drag racing, Hot Rod used to have a column called "Rooster Tales".

Hot Rod´s Finnigan is a boat racer too.



Do they spray VHT on the track.....:D.....?
 
#3 ·
My cousin Vern Amaral was a top fuel boat racer in the 70's and had a number of crashes, living on the edge of death that's for sure!

Panic Mouse Restoration - Page 31



I remember going to see him run and when we got there we heard that he had already left in the ambulance. He was hit in the head by a hemi valve cover that had flown off a motor!

He was in an episode of a TV show showing one of his crashes back 20-30 years ago I forget the show but was blown away when I saw it.

Those top fuelers were NUTS back then. Now they are in a capsule that was designed (and many of them came from) fighter jets.

Brian
 
#4 ·
I´ve seen the safety casules on other hydroplane racers, exit hatch in the floor.
I took alook at other drag boat vids and the Top Fuelers can really scoot.

Check this out from the link Brian posted, the pilot has a chute on his back. :eek:

 
#6 ·
Had a little of that hole in the water to throw money in myself,, never did any racing, but might as well had,, went through 3 motors in 3 years, and that was just from a lead foot. but it sure was fun,,
finally traded it for a wake board boat,, which the kids enjoyed a lot more,, but I enjoyed the speed part,,,,
I decided to stick with land yaughts,,, its a little cheaper, and ya don't have to know how to swim,,,
 

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#12 ·
I have to agree! Never been any place but Firebird Raceway in Phoenix... but that brought many of the "big dogs" out!

Imagine a fuel dragster trying to hook up with a prop, a couple fins, and a rudder! Gets pretty wild, and they can't just bounce off of the guardrail!

After about 35 years away, I got back into the model building of my youth. One of the first things I did was get blueprints from one of the major hydro companies, then built some scale model kits complete with capsule, rudder, and V-drive!

Here are pictures of a couple I built from the kits. Of course I had to throw in some custom paint too! :)~ After that are some that friends built, and the raw kit.
 

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