Junior Dragster...

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inkjunkie

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....have a question for anyone whose kid races them. Could not help but notice lot of the parents that are helping the youngster up at the tree cycle the ignition...some do it several times. Of course the one parent that I asked did not do it....and had no clue as to why the others do. So...could someone educate me?
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I have a few buddies that race bikes...after doing the burnout they will shut the motor off and then restart it...guessing it is for data logging purposes.
But the JR Dragsters don't let the motor come to a stop...they just flip the toggle switch...
 
Why yes I can. They kill the ignition momentarily to bring the rpms back down. They feel that the clutch starts to grab the belt higher in the sheaves after the burn out and by lower the rpms it resets the clutch back to its almost rest position. If the belt is in different positions at the hit. The launch rpm will be different. You will also see some crew chiefs push the car backwards a few feet after the burn out. It effectively does the same thing.
 
They feel that the clutch starts to grab the belt higher in the sheaves after the burn out and by lower the rpms it resets the clutch back to its almost rest position.

So these have a driven and overdriven clutch system much like that of a gas golf cart?
 
Yes, but the really good ones are more modeled off snowmobile race clutches. When I first started it was all about the "Comet" clutch. We have gone way past the start point. In fact, it has gone so far overboard you could blow way over 10K on a setup without even trying. A new motor (single cylinder flathead mind you) off the shelf was more than a crate (GM) motor. I built and maintained all of my pilots motors and was able to take three track championships over her junior career. Only broke one motor (split a crank) and never windowed one. You want to talk about something that shouldn't do what it does. These things cook at around 9 to 9.5K rpm which should be way out side the power band. What is that? Firing about 60 times a second. They launch quicker than a corvette and can be driven by kids I think down to 5 yrs old now. We traveled from Canada to Colorado to race and had a blast. And now there is a new mix. Electric jr dragsters.
 
Why yes I can. They kill the ignition momentarily to bring the rpms back down. They feel that the clutch starts to grab the belt higher in the sheaves after the burn out and by lower the rpms it resets the clutch back to its almost rest position. If the belt is in different positions at the hit. The launch rpm will be different. You will also see some crew chiefs push the car backwards a few feet after the burn out. It effectively does the same thing.
Some of them were pushing the car backwards...makes sense.

Yes, but the really good ones are more modeled off snowmobile race clutches. When I first started it was all about the "Comet" clutch. We have gone way past the start point. In fact, it has gone so far overboard you could blow way over 10K on a setup without even trying. A new motor (single cylinder flathead mind you) off the shelf was more than a crate (GM) motor. I built and maintained all of my pilots motors and was able to take three track championships over her junior career. Only broke one motor (split a crank) and never windowed one. You want to talk about something that shouldn't do what it does. These things cook at around 9 to 9.5K rpm which should be way out side the power band. What is that? Firing about 60 times a second. They launch quicker than a corvette and can be driven by kids I think down to 5 yrs old now. We traveled from Canada to Colorado to race and had a blast. And now there is a new mix. Electric jr dragsters.
Friend that races a bike has some sort of oddball centrifugal clutch in it. I can pull it in with my pinky. Amount of lock up is determined by RPM. The lockup RPM, if I understood him right, is controlled by weights and springs of some sort. Bike is in the 8.1-170+ range. He leaves at full throttle and just literally dumps the clutch. He runs a 140 shot of nitrous. I just found out that if he does not run nitrous that it runs thru the clutch...making it slip like no tomorrow.
 
Why do they mandate either a pull rope or non permanent starter on JR's?

JW
 
Why do they mandate either a pull rope or non permanent starter on JR's?

JW

Now that you mention it...was kind of odd watching a couple of them being pull started...I may be wrong here but it seemed like the slower dragsters all were pull started.

A bit of a rant here...these youngsters are the future of drag racing. Was/is EXTREMELY frustrating to see the other "track photographers" either go sit on the wall or walk away when the JR's were running. It is almost like these folks don't really care about drag racings future....On another note here I have had several of the local racers, all of them guys who run in the high 11's and slower, thank me for taking/posting images of them. They told me that it almost seems like the other camera folks simply walk away when the "slower" classes are up. Which to me is BS. These guys are the backbone of drag racing. Most of these guys are towing their car in on an open trailer, with a somewhat beat up pick up truck...
 
Now that you mention it...was kind of odd watching a couple of them being pull started...I may be wrong here but it seemed like the slower dragsters all were pull started.

A bit of a rant here...these youngsters are the future of drag racing. Was/is EXTREMELY frustrating to see the other "track photographers" either go sit on the wall or walk away when the JR's were running. It is almost like these folks don't really care about drag racings future....On another note here I have had several of the local racers, all of them guys who run in the high 11's and slower, thank me for taking/posting images of them. They told me that it almost seems like the other camera folks simply walk away when the "slower" classes are up. Which to me is BS. These guys are the backbone of drag racing. Most of these guys are towing their car in on an open trailer, with a somewhat beat up pick up truck...

You're calling it as you see it. I have a friend (mom) and she and Grandpa got her son a JR. It's got a hot motor on it and Grandpa ain't happy about it not being self starting.... They will get the routine down and be OK but it's their deal and want to be self supportive on the car. Nothing wrong with that and she was overwhelmed with parents helping her the other week. The rule makes no sense to me...

JW
 
Man you guys are right up my alley. It's all a matter of safety really. The pull ropes are for the slower lower compression motor and in some of the classes must be sealed and rebuilt only by motor techs certified (ya right) to do the job. The one you see with hand starters does a couple of things. Like I said, safety. The driver and the crew chief have different kinds of kill switches available to them. The driver has a manual kill lever that grounds out the spark plug and the crew chief has the electric kill and can also hit the manual kill at the spark plug. By not having a starter on board you eliminate the chance for the driver to accidentally start the car at the wrong time. Driver must be in the car. You also eliminate some unnecessary weight and a spark source - the battery.

I'll share a couple of mishap stories with you guys if your interested some time.
 
No need to rant. All of the photog guys at our track are extremely friendly. Go have a conversation with them. Maybe they never thought about it. Help the sport! Now if you have tried and it didn't work there are other ways.

The rules actually do make sense when put in to perspective. You are talking about kids as young as 5 years old being able to go out and do 45mph (don't quote me on that one, new brackets started and I didn't keep up) on the track. Go ahead and hurt a couple kids and see how fast your sport shuts down. At the top end when kids age out at 18 (under that before start of season) they can go 7.90's in the 1/8th with max speed of 85. Now you may think that's not much and I'd call bullshirt. Your about three inches off the deck and accelerating faster than a corvette. I stuffed my brother (state trooper) in my drivers car and it did two things. Scared the sheep dung out of him and put a smile on his face so wide it took a week to get off.
 
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The Go Karting world has at least 1 self starting option/category, but I think the minimum age for that class is14? Don't quote me on the age, it's been a while. It's nothing real special engine wise, OHV Briggs called a World Formula. I was amazed at my last trip to the ANRA fun at Famoso with the JR Dragsters with the 4 cyl. motorcycle engines. What a rush that must be. I think I got photos of them :D. If the track peoples would think about it, oval, drag, road each one of those kids and race cars brings a fistful of bodies with them, all having to pay their way in. Just makes monetary sense to run the kid's classes.
 
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