I don’t frequent those types of establishments.

How can you say that, I personally saw it many times, then there’s the spinning the tires, stagged, before the lights came down? They all tried stuff BEFORE the high stall converters came about. THE reason Sox, Grump, Landy and the rest ran a stick. I imitated that trick with my car back in the 60s felt like the whole car was coming apart. Stopped that real quick. One big time factory racer carried 3 or 4 trans with him to each race. But I guess I’m dreaming, has been a long time. Like the OP said get the best parts in the trans for your peace of mind.

I’m speaking only in regards to the 64 Dodge mentioned here.

Yes, guys were doing the drops back in the day. In fact this driver built 25 transmissions specifically prepared to last longer than a standard 727 would.
Chrysler made them available to factory guys and some others back in the day.

That’s cool, can’t place the guy though. We both older than dirt but you know your stuff, I will listen to ya.

There was an article a LONG time ago about the neutral drop era.
NHRA banned it, so did that directly spur development of the J converter, or was that some years later?

IIRC Chrysler sent an entire trailer of 727s to a race (Indy '67?) because they wanted to go rounds.

What's the deal with neutral starts in the 1960's? Was it ever a common strategy at the drag strip? I have never ever heard anyone proclaim they were a good idea or common. Until now...

Back before converter technology advancements - they were worth some ET.
But the risks were too high.

Thanks

So neutral drops being

"standard operating procedure lets say back in the 70's"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNJabHbfe2w&ab_channel=UncleTony%27sGarage

is not exactly accurate.

Not SOP ever that I recall. They were used in the eliminators and class when needed. The special units built were good for 15 or 20 runs (depending on the car) then things got sloppy again.

The units we built for Chrysler I think were for the 67 Nats when we were battling some Fords and Chevies for class.

My recollection is that it was at the 67 Nationals that the "No Neutral Starts" signs appeared on the Christmas Tree.

I remember well the "No Neutral Starts" sign. I was there. EVERYONE was doing them, it was before the good converters that are available today. We had a 64 Hemi Dodge there, an aluminum nosed Super Stocker out of Ohio.


I was wondering when I'd see another "if you race a torqueflite you're gonna die" thread. It's been a while.

I'm 70 years old and have been racing one behind a Hemi in a 65 Dodge since 1969, and have never blown one up. In my 53 years of racing, I've seen three let go, and all of them were due to driver error. Build it right, pay attention to what you are doing at all times (which you should be doing anyway), and you won't have an issue.

But, what do I know?

Its not just builder driver error....

If anything breaks in the driveline and you don't pull the trans apart and check the sprag, you are rolling the dice....

Twice now over the years I seen guys who broke rears or driveshafts fix them, drive the car around the pits to make sure the trans was "ok" then proceed to blow the trans up the next pass.

When I was young, I did a lot of stupid stuff with a 727 and never blew one up. However, when my Dart broke the 8 3/4 I did remove and disassemble/inspect the 727, there were no issues.

The number one rule to follow. Even if you have the steel drum it can still ‘roll’ over the sprag, the good drum doesn’t stop that. If anything breaks in the drive train IN FIRST GEAR pull it!

Yep. I was pounded this early, and pounded it into my boys who race wedge cars.

I use low gear for putting it on the trailer, into the garage, and leaving the starting line only. In the water I start in second, and shift to high. With water on the tires it doesn't take much to get them spinning. I NEVER use low in the water, for anything. Why?

I notice a fair number of these explosions are done by cars that also do a little street duty. Go out, blow the tires off in low to impress the local kids, turn the sprag, bolt some meats on it and k-pow, there you go. Then you can blame it on the Transmission itself. Never mind that thousands have been raced for over a half a century, 99 percent of them with no issue.

Keep your stuff in good shape, den on't do stupid stuff, and pay attention. You won't have any problems.

But, what do I know?

I'm under the impression that trans brakes started the 727 explosion before steel or aluminum drums stop that

The transmissions were built way before that. Indy may have been the first and only appearance of that sign.

I've seen a lot of roller clutches fail at the hit footbraking, even for me once. Usually, the guy gets his foot out of it before anything bad happens, or like me, they are using a 904.

If it's not your lucky day, you have a problem. Floor, dash, windshield, roof, feet, legs, etc....

Roller clutches can and will fail. Regardless the good parts used. The bad stuff happens in a 727 with a stock cast drum and the engine spun over 5K if you don't get your foot out of it.