dyno don passing through Antioch IL

[black69]

I stopped by a friend that been a sprint car racer all his life this evening, and he told me a cool story from back in the day.

he said years ago, dyno don came through antioch IL with his rare comet and he was around with them working on the car. He said dyno don blew the rear end during a run and in a hurry, they put the rear end in without realizing the oil fill plug was in the 'wrong place' they expected (there was I guess a top and a side fill plug option). He remembers them not having time to do anything other than tilt the car on its side to get the oil in, or pull and axle to load it, something crazy but thats what they did to the car.

he also said dyno don was experimenting with hydrazine on the runs, and he said that was beyond dangerous stuff. He knew a few other racers that blew things up pretty bad with that stuff. I never heard of that stuff until today.

It does make you wonder what was really in those gas tanks back in the day when those great times were made. I was telling him the urban legend tricks behind waybe county speed shop hemi's and he sprung that dyno don passing through antioch IL story on me. pretty cool.

[Dog427435]

Back in the mid/late sixties some local racers were running hydrazine mixed with their fuel, they claimed it was good for a couple tenths. Smelled like bleach when they went by. At Hampton there was a '63 /'64 Impala that blew up in the pits - blew out both back and the rear window and singed the interior - story was it had an empty container that had hydrazine in it on the back floor. Pretty much curtailed peoples use of it after that.

[ORIGLS6]

There was speculation that Beebe & Mulligan were running hydrazine at the US Nats when John was killed. Bad stuff.

[mockingbird812]

Hydrazine IS bad stuff - very, very toxic. USN used to use Vipers (F-16s) as adversaries (Top Gun), but one of the reasons they do not use them today was the logistics tail to manage the hydrazine used in their back up power supply (EPU). Naval Air Stations are not generally set up to handle it. If the Viper is actually using his EPU in an emergency, it is putting out some very bad noxious exhaust and only specially trained/equipped personnel can be in the vicinity. Not sure if hydrazine is still used today in F-16s.

[parkbrau]

Sam,
I never knew the USN drove F-16s. Always thought they (vipers) were USAF assets.
Yes, Hydrazine is still in use today. We had a Viper from Spangdahlem AB declare an IFE (in flight emergency) and landed under EPU. After he landed our HAZMAT team rolled and monitored the AC for hydrazine, then got the pilot out.