nhra and antifreeze

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You guys that think its ok to run antifreeze please stay home and garage race over the internet.If any of you guys ever had a car that had enough power to spin the wheels you would understand the guy in the 8 second car behind you would probly nut you if you spilled antifreeze in his lane. Then the track crew would be next in line and then every racer that has to wait half hour or more to clean up after your junk. Reson water over antifreeze is water will evaporate on a hot track. Leak a mist of antifreeze its not easy to see but it will be like a ice covered road.

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Guess we need to tell all the 'punk kids' who finally take it to the track, that sorry, they need to go home because they have anti-freeze in their radiators on their street cars.

makes sense to me, I'd rather they go race on on the streets than to risk one of them getting antifreeze on the track and making me crash.



any argument you make for why antifreeze is bad, applies to ALL fluids, so, sorry, I don't buy it.

"tiny leak, sprays a mist over the track nobody can see"

isn't that possible with an oil line too? guess we need to make everybody drain the oil out of their engines before they race. wouldn't want a fine mist of oil sprayed on the track before you run your 8 second car.


Same with all the automatic transmissions. you could get a tiny leak on one of the coolant lines, and leave a spray of mist of ATF on the track too.

I see it now. next year in the NHRA rule book, all petroleum based products are banned. congratulations, you don't need engine diapers anymore! now you'll just fill your engines, transmissions, radiators, with pure H2O to prevent possibly leaking said slippery products onto the track.

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I can see that none of the guys ever tried doing a
clean up after a anti-freeze spill.... if you go
out there with a drag you just spread it... so it
has to be wiped up then once cleaned up then hit it
with the drag....... and no I dont think that the
guys/kids should be racing on the street
If you have noticed they make you have a overflow
bottle on the radiator but thats it... wonder why...
because thats what ends up on the track THE MOST

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Here is the deal. If you want to race on a drag strip and respect the other drivers and don't want to cause a crash. You will make sure to your best ability to see that your car is not leaking fuilds of any kind.Then once at the track if for some reason a leak starts somewhere on your car you either fix it or go home.If you have a RACE only car you only have WATER in it. The rest is up to the track officials at tech and starter to look close to catch leaks BEFORE you go down the track.If I ever found out that anyone knew they had a leak and ignored it and I crash because of that. Well there would be a world of hurt on that person.

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You guys that think its ok to run antifreeze please stay home and garage race over the internet.If any of you guys ever had a car that had enough power to spin the wheels you would understand the guy in the 8 second car behind you would probly nut you if you spilled antifreeze in his lane. Then the track crew would be next in line and then every racer that has to wait half hour or more to clean up after your junk. Reson water over antifreeze is water will evaporate on a hot track. Leak a mist of antifreeze its not easy to see but it will be like a ice covered road.

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here's another vote for no antifreeze,water wetter and distilled water is all I run.

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SC4400 A couple of questions. You have a aluminum block what rust? Do you have a diaper for the motor? Do you have a scatersheild? Do you have a driveshaft hoop? Hope you have all of those. So the only thing left is the radiator and hoses. So what you are saying is that you use antifreeze and so what if it leaks on the track RIGHT? The next guy in line with the dragster is SOL. Me foolish and arrogant? I don't think so

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OK, I'll play.

Read the post again. Didn't say rust, said "corrode" Not the same thing.

What is a "scatershield"? I do know that "scatter shield" would be found with a clutch. I run a torque convertor, and a ring gear shield. Also have a drive shaft "Loop", no hoops.

And for the real point,how do you possibly think that I would not care if I had a leak? That is irrational, as the most likely person affected by a leak would be me. At 170+, that might be unpleasant. I take meticulous care of my equipment. That is all anyone can do.

Life is a risk.

The only thing I really don't care about is what unpleasant people like you think. You've stated your opinion. If you feel so strongly, perhaps you might lobby for a rule change.

Good luck with that.

RIP

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This is funny... So what the difference between antifreeze and synthetic oil?? And I bet 75% of the people that are commenting on this only race maybe 5 times a year..

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Here are a couple of pics of my friends race car that he had been racing at the same track since it was almost new (at MOROSO....now PBIR).

He said he was on a normal 10 second run when he totally had no control whatsoever when he unknowingly hit a light patch of antifreeze.

I did not see the wreck, but i did see the aftermath.... people that saw it said he cleared the 40 ft high scoreboards.

The guy in the 11 second car that ran right before him in that lane was observed looking for a coolant leak and wiping antifreeze off his windsheild right after his run.

It was later confirmed he was running antifreeze even though
he knew it was the tracks WRITTEN policy for non street cars to not run antifreeze.
Some people think they are above the rules or don't care about the safety of others .... almost cost my friend his life!!!

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THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!! This is what I have been trying to get at. Mabe with a picture for a mental image some of these pro antifreeze guys will wake up. WATER IS BAD-- ANIFREEZE IS DEADLY

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Here are a couple of pics of my friends race car that he had been racing at the same track since it was almost new (at MOROSO....now PBIR).

He said he was on a normal 10 second run when he totally had no control whatsoever when he unknowingly hit a light patch of antifreeze.

I did not see the wreck, but i did see the aftermath.... people that saw it said he cleared the 40 ft high scoreboards.

The guy in the 11 second car that ran right before him in that lane was observed looking for a coolant leak and wiping antifreeze off his windsheild right after his run.

It was later confirmed he was running antifreeze even though
he knew it was the tracks WRITTEN policy for non street cars to not run antifreeze.
Some people think they are above the rules or don't care about the safety of others .... almost cost my friend his life!!!

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i think the same thing would have happened if it were water. look, i hear a lot of harping about respect- the g.d. car should not leak anything! any leak is a wreck waiting to happen. i see cars at the track with pieces falling off. take care of your [Edited by Moparts - Family Friendly Site - Keep it clean], gentlemen! sheesh.

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Have you watched an antifreeze cleanup? If it goes down the track, it takes an extended period of time. This is down time and expense! Antifreeze requires an absorbent, dragging and frequently re-prepping [respray costs about $100.00 at our track] if the antifreeze is heavy it sometimes requires burning or scraping! All because you want to play by YOUR rules rather than the track rules! If I come to your work or house can I play by MY rules? SELFISH! race weekly for almost 40 years! Points at 3 weekly tracks & IHRA tech inspector!

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Watched a 64 aluminum dodge barrel roll down the track after the guy in front of him broke and dropped antifreeze on the track.

If i see one drop of antifreeze near the starting line everything stops and my brother shuts it down and i start walking the lane on the track

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Terry Thurman

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a lot of people still don't get it DOES your track have a street class on race night like every track down here does if so the antifreeze debate is mute point.
if there is 1 class running it then the threat is there period.

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Trust me, most of us get it . As I stated, IMO ........ and that's why I don't run antifreeze - for the reasons I stated. What you or others run, is your business. Track condition problems will always be there. I just perfer not to contribute to them. Again, just my opinion - that's all. It ( and other reasons ) is why I am not much interested in running much faster than mid 10's. In the 60's, track conditions were poor all the time, but ET's and speeds were ( generally ) a better match compared to today. I just don't feel that track prep can keep up with the fast stuff on a consistant bassis - the cruxed of this thread.

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You guys that think its ok to run antifreeze please stay home and garage race over the internet.If any of you guys ever had a car that had enough power to spin the wheels you would understand the guy in the 8 second car behind you would probly nut you if you spilled antifreeze in his lane. Then the track crew would be next in line and then every racer that has to wait half hour or more to clean up after your junk. Reson water over antifreeze is water will evaporate on a hot track. Leak a mist of antifreeze its not easy to see but it will be like a ice covered road.

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I take it you've never raced in Texas in August with just water in the system.

I was there and saw that NSS Dodge rolled. It was a lazy track crew that wrecked that car, along with the liquid.

Anti-freeze stinks for a reason.

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imho this is one of those situations that has good and valid arguments on both sides. yes antifreeze is slippery there's no getting around that. i don't personally know just how effective additives are for preventing rust and corrosion but i understand and fully agree i don't want 10k worth of block and heads rotting away, corrosion in aluminum can be terrible under certain conditions. i wonder about the use of a sacrificial anode in these cooling systems and if that can stem the corrosion problem.

at a national or sportsman event where you're dealing solely with race cars i can see the no antifreeze being enforced but at a race where you have street cars running down the track i just don't see the point of people saying you shouldn't have antifreeze in the car.

for myself i run tap water but would prefer something that protects the investment in expensive parts.

i can really see this one both ways unless there is a suitable replacement to prevent the rust and corrosion.

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We run additive with distilled water in our race car for a season. No rust or corrosion with the brand of additive we use. Our motors have aluminum heads, radiators, etc (crate ZZ4's). The track approved engine rebuilder says our motors look great inside.

The basic concept is not new. It was very common years ago to run "water pump lubricant anti rust". But todays cooling additives have to do a little more than the old days.

Antifreeze is not 100% ethylene glycol. There are additives mixed with it for corrosion resistance, especially aluminum corrosion. Sometimes these are termed Supplemental Coolant Additives (SCA's). Ethylene glycol acually doesn't go bad, it's the additive package that gets depleated over time and surface area.

So you just want to run a cooling system additive(s) that has wetting agent/surfactant, corrosion resistance, lubrication, and electrolysis resistance.

For more of a street car application with heater core and modern electronics, some companies suggest a second bottle that adds helps with electrolysis and lubrication. Look for something with metal deviators (false metals) that conduct electricity to act as a ground strap between the dissimilar materials in a cooling system.


Here's a very thorough test of cooling additives. Look at the performance of additives with water only:

http://www.turbomagazine.com/features/0703_turp_cooling_system_additives/viewall.html

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imho this is one of those situations that has good and valid arguments on both sides. yes antifreeze is slippery there's no getting around that. i don't personally know just how effective additives are for preventing rust and corrosion but i understand and fully agree i don't want 10k worth of block and heads rotting away, corrosion in aluminum can be terrible under certain conditions. i wonder about the use of a sacrificial anode in these cooling systems and if that can stem the corrosion problem.

at a national or sportsman event where you're dealing solely with race cars i can see the no antifreeze being enforced but at a race where you have street cars running down the track i just don't see the point of people saying you shouldn't have antifreeze in the car.

for myself i run tap water but would prefer something that protects the investment in expensive parts.

i can really see this one both ways unless there is a suitable replacement to prevent the rust and corrosion.

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James... in our test equipment that required corrosion
protection we ran water soluble oil... this was in
very expensive equipment(1/2 a million or more)...
worked very well

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imho this is one of those situations that has good and valid arguments on both sides. yes antifreeze is slippery there's no getting around that. i don't personally know just how effective additives are for preventing rust and corrosion but i understand and fully agree i don't want 10k worth of block and heads rotting away, corrosion in aluminum can be terrible under certain conditions. i wonder about the use of a sacrificial anode in these cooling systems and if that can stem the corrosion problem.

at a national or sportsman event where you're dealing solely with race cars i can see the no antifreeze being enforced but at a race where you have street cars running down the track i just don't see the point of people saying you shouldn't have antifreeze in the car.

for myself i run tap water but would prefer something that protects the investment in expensive parts.

i can really see this one both ways unless there is a suitable replacement to prevent the rust and corrosion.

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James... in our test equipment that required corrosion
protection we ran water soluble oil... this was in
very expensive equipment(1/2 a million or more)...
worked very well

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Justice Brothers Radiator Cool RC/22P and Cooling System Protector CSP/1P both have water soluble oil as one of thier ingredients.

http://www.justicebrothers.com/pages/products/news_new_products.htm

Run it in my Barracuda for years, clean as a whistle inside and no electrolysis. Those are the products we use in our race car, I use in my Barracuda, and I also sell for living.

Ron Davis says .3 volt or 300mv is maximum for electrolysis. http://www.awrracing.com/media/electrolysis.pdf

Here is my Barracuda with one bottle each of Justice Brothers Radiator Cool and Cooling System Protector at 76mV or 0.07 volts