this popped up on my facebook page.
i have read most of the info before, don't remember where. but i still thought it was cool.

copy pasted from classic old cars page.

I don't know how many here are into NHRA Top Fuel Dragsters, but I found this and thought you might be interested.
UPDATE: I just learned that this info is from 2004, so you can only imagine how much the cost, the technology and the speed has gone up.
Drag racing must be one of the most expensive hobbies on the Planet ! A single barrel of fuel is over $750.00 U.S., and here is what you get from that :
TOP FUEL ACCELERATION PUT INTO PERSPECTIVE
* One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic-inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower (10,000 HP) than the first 5 rows at the Daytona 500.
* Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1.2-1.5 gallons of nitro methane per second; a fully loaded 747 consumes jet fuel at the same rate with 25% less energy being produced.
* A stock Dodge Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to merely drive the dragster's supercharger.
* With 3000 CFM of air being rammed in by the supercharger on overdrive, the fuel mixture is compressed into a near-solid form before ignition. Cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lock at full throttle.
* At the stoichiometric 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture for nitro methane the flame front temperature measures 7050 degrees F.
* Nitromethane burns yellow. The spectacular white flame seen above the stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, dissociated from atmospheric water vapor by the searing exhaust gases.
* Dual magnetos supply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is the output of an arc welder in each cylinder.
* Spark plug electrodes are totally consumed during a pass. After 1/2 way, the engine is dieseling from compression plus the glow of exhaust valves at 1400 degrees F. The engine can only be shut down by cutting the fuel flow.
* If spark momentarily fails early in the run, unburned nitro builds up in the affected cylinders and then explodes with sufficient force to blow cylinder heads off the block in pieces or split the block in half.
* Dragsters reach over 300 MPH before you have completed reading this sentence.
0 to 100 MPH in .8 seconds (the first 60 feet of the run)
0 to 200 MPH in 2.2 seconds (the first 350 feet of the run)
* In order to exceed 300 MPH in 4.5 seconds, dragsters must accelerate an average of over 4 G's. In order to reach 200 MPH well before half-track, the launch acceleration approaches 8 G's.
6 g-forces at the starting line (nothing accelerates faster on land)
6 negative g-forces upon deployment of twin chutes at 300 MPH. A Top Fuel Dragster accelerates quicker than any other land vehicle on earth . . quicker than a jet fighter plane . . . quicker than the space shuttle.
* Top Fuel engines turn approximately 540 revolutions from light to light!
* Including the burnout, the engine must only survive 900 revolutions under load.
* The redline is actually quite high at 9500 RPM.
* The current Top Fuel dragster elapsed time record is 4.420 seconds for the quarter-mile (2004, Doug Kalitta). The top speed record is 337.58 MPH as measured over the last 66' of the run (2005, Tony Schumacher).
THE BOTTOM LINE: Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free, NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an estimated $1,000 per second.
Putting this all into perspective:
You are driving the average $140,000 Lingenfelter twin-turbo powered Corvette Z06. Over a mile up the road, a Top Fuel dragster is staged & ready to launch down a quarter-mile strip as you pass. You have the advantage of a flying start. You run the 'Vette hard up through the gears and blast across the starting line & pass the dragster at an honest 200 MPH. The 'tree' goes green for both of you at that moment.
The dragster launches & starts after you. You keep your foot down hard, but you hear an incredibly brutal whine that sears your eardrums & within 3 seconds the dragster catches & passes you. He beats you to the finish line, a quarter-mile away from where you just passed him. Think about it - from a standing start, the dragster had spotted you 200 MPH & not only caught, but nearly blasted you off the road when he passed you within a mere 1320 foot long race!
That's acceleration!
The picture shows what 10,000 horsepower does to a top fuel tire at launch.
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i have seen that many times over the years, and it still fascinates me, although these days, i'm sure there are many corrections that need made to make it currently correct in many aspects.

540 revolutions in a run. means 270 combustion events x 8 = 2170 power impulses in 1/4 mile or one every 7.33" if overall gearing/ratio stays the same (It doesn't, clutch slippage. tire spin, tire growth, etc))

PS as per Stumpy's correction; power impulse approx every 5.29" of a measured run

They only run to 1000 feet. No more 1/4 mile. NHRA said they were going too fast.

Any / every car guy needs to attend a major Top Fuel race at least once.

To watch . see and feel them make a pass is mind boggling

I took my sons to their first TF event years back, and my first n 50? years, at Gainesville.
It was an experience my sons will never forget.
Not much was happening on track as we arrived. We were walking behind the grandstands, and we could hear but not see a car(s) burbling at the starting line
I was walking in front and my sons directly behind me. As we passed a large opening between the grandstands. the light went green and the sudden roar was so loud and powerful, I nearly fell down.
My kids will never let me forget.

As close as you'll ever get to being in the middle of a bomb going off and live. lol

Kevin

My 1st was similar. We were at the US nationals in Indy maybe 30 years ago . Walking behind the stands and 2 top fuelers went off. And I could Still feel them yet not see them

And PS, take a walk thru the pits. Its UNREAL

There's just nothing like Fuel cars. I equate it more to a loud earthquake when you're at a little distance from a pass.
We used to do a BBQ for Friday afternoon/evening qualifying back in my Sears Point days, open to pretty much anyone interested (which was also a good way to get friendly with track staff).
Some of us would wander up pretty close to the starting line from time to time.
If you want a fuller experience, get close to a couple of Fuel cars at the line - it's incredible.

100% agree. Was just telling my wife that as I flipped through the channels and saw the end of some drag racing.

Took my son to some alcohol dragster test runs (?) 20 years ago. Just a few people in the stands. 2 cars staged. Guy looks over at me and says "you ARE gonna cover his ears aren't you?". I cupped his ears and think I lost some of my hearing We went and got ear plugs. Even those 4000hp (?) cars I could feel the pounding on my chest.

A local Mopar guys son is one of the top dragster engine teams. The technical info he tell is FASDCINATING. Nothing "secret" but damn, it's like NASA. Like measuring ROD COMPRESSION after runs. I forgot the exact numbers but like .100"?!?!

Theres a Youtube about the technical details JUST of staging and burnout. I remeber the guy saying that John Force, tire shreading burnout is just touching the pedal every so slightly. I thought they mashed it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIDXmI76ttA

Most mortals probably look at drag racing like "them hillbilly grease monkeys"

Top fuel teams use a device called a throttle stop ,that hooks on the supercharger linkage, that barely allows the air inlet blades to open for the burnout. They remove it for the run.

Here is another math exercise. I think for the sake of the exercise we can assume that a TF currently generates in the neighborhood of 10,000 hp. It is also commonly thought a good running ICE is about 1/3 efficient in its power generation.
That usually means another third is lost in waste heat, and the last third is lost to acoustic energy.
A typical high quality stereo speaker cabinet might be 10% efficient. Fully horn loaded speaker cabinets from the 30's when amplifiers had only maybe 10 watts RMS power, might have been 33% efficient but those speakers were huge.

So being one hp equals 754 RMS watts, you would need an amp connected to your 10% efficient stereo speaker to equal a TF or 10,000 hp x 754 RMS/10% = 75,400,000 RMS Watts

I would like to have a rule in place for the benefit of the viewing spectators down track, the blades be white in color, so they can see the throttle blades being moved by the driver during the run. I see no downsides here

I can remember when top fuel car were front engines with 6:71 blower and different make, brand, motors, Ford, Chevy, Chryslers, DeSoto's Oldsmobile's, Pontiac with Hemi heads and maybe a Packard or two
Front engine, 120 to 140 inch wheel base, push starts, no burn outs and 8:30 ET 1/4 miles 150 to 160 MPH was fast
32+ car fields at almost every track in SO CA in the mid 1960s
Them were the DAYS

I have two distinct early drag racing memories, first was Garlits in his Swamp Rat IV front engine red swoopy tail at Masters Field in N Miami, spectator parking was on the very wide drag strip, (runway) with absolutely nothing between us and Garlits smoking his tires the entire run and doing 180mph.
Second was Forman Field, Davie, Florida, an old Navy field wagon wheel design, It was actually site of first NASCAR stock car non points race in the late 40's? My drag racing experience At Forman was in the late 50's, they raced at night, lighting was only by 2 WW2 Large Carbon Arc type search lights, set up behind the starting line, and aimed effectively right in the cars back window. That was so neat because you could see the driver shifting clearly all the way down the track.

This pic is from 1964? Masters Field North Miami, starting line you just make out in the pictures back ground
The Wagon wheel airport is Forman Field 1957

Stand on the starting line at Reading if want an experience. It's mostly closed in and close to the cars.

Although its been a while, I have attended many NHRA national events.

I agree with everyone that it is an experience unlike any other and must be experienced to truly appreciate the power of these cars.

However I have never attended a four wide event.

Is are they significantly different?