Dixie Classic Chevy Club's Newsletter

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Dixie Classic Chevy Club's Newsletter

IMPORTANT CLUB DATES:

April 1: Meeting @ Piccadilly @ 6:30pm

April 3: First CRUISE this year!!!!!!!!!!!

Piccadilly’s is on Hwy 41 a few blocks south of the Big Chicken.

Deadline for submitting material for next Newsletter: April 25

Member in Hospital

Bob and Sandy Bryant are long time members of the Dixie Classic Chevy Club and are among the most active members in our club.

In January, during a routine physical, it was discovered that Sandy had an abnormal blood count. Further tests could not pinpoint the problem, so a bone marrow test was ordered. The test results led to a diagnosis of Acute Leukemia. Sandy entered Kennestone Hospital on March 8th for a seven day round of chemotherapy. As of this writing, that treatment is ongoing and we won't know how well it worked for at least several more days.

Sandy's immune system will be extremely low for a while during and after this treatment, so she can't have visitors. Also the doctors won't allow flowers or fruits to be delivered to her room/home. If you would like to send a card, their address is 820 Foxcroft Trail, Marietta, GA 30067.

Please keep Sandy and Bob and their family in your prayers!

Don and Donna Farnell volunteered to bring the April meeting raffle gift.

Glenda and Jim Bolt volunteered to bring the May meeting raffle gift.

Business Meeting - March 4, 2004

l. The meeting was brought to order by Lamar May at 7.30 p.m.

II. There were no new members or guests present.

III. The minutes of the last meeting were in the last newsletter and were not read.

IV. Treasurer, George Blackshaw, reported $922.61 in the treasury.

V. Old Business

A. Plans for 2004 Cruise Nights

-Barrett Parkway will be the location for the April 3 cruise night.

-Andretti's has not responded to phone calls. Members will continue to

contact them.

-Riverstone - Dan Lelak said that this facility is charging $750/month.

-The Mall has been contacted but management is not receptive.

-Sam's in Hiram is a possibility and will be contacted by Members.

-Dee Hansen suggested looking for a place before the loop with l50-200

parking places. All club members are asked to keep an eye out for a good

location.

B. First Cruise Plans

-Generator will be brought to cruise night on April 3 by Jon Hansen.

-DJ is Morgan Sellers

- Lamar May brought up 50/50 raffle and thought too much money was being provided by Club members. Club will discuss with President Bill Brown the idea of raising dues instead of having raffle. (Any other ideas?)

VI New Business

A. -Plans for Club outings will be discussed more at next month's meeting.

B. -A list of mechanics, painters, etc. has been sent to Bill Brown. Club

members are asked to add to the list of recommendations (or rejects)

along with comments. Also, sources for parts, paint, welding, etc. are

needed.

Dee Hansen suggests adding Jim Boyd to the list for restorations; also,

Jim is also interested in becoming a member of the Club.

VII Announcements

A. -Members were reminded that a speaker will be present at the May meeting.

His expertise is in alcohol dragsters and will share his knowledge with all

of us. Please try to be there and show our appreciation.

B. -Tonight's raffle (provided by Lamar and Judy May) was won by George

Blackshaw and Carol Lelak. Next month's prizes will be provided by Jim and Glenda Bolt.

VIII Adjournment

A motion to adjourn was made by Dan Lelak and seconded by Steven Raines.

A Lesson in Acceleration
Some interesting facts about NHRA Top Fuel Dragsters:

· One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower than the first four rows at the Indianapolis 500

· Under full throttle, a Top Fuel dragster engine consumes 1 gallon 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 426 Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to 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 17:1 air/fuel mixture for nitro-methane, the flame front temperature measures 7050 degrees Fahrenheit.

· Nitro-methane 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 ½ 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.

· In order to exceed 300 mph in 4.5 seconds dragsters must accelerate at an average of over
4G's. In order to reach 200 mph well before half-track, the launch acceleration approaches 8G's.

· Dragsters reach over 300 miles per hour before you have completed reading this sentence.

· 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 Bottom Line; Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free, and for once NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an estimated $1,000.00 per second. The current Top Fuel dragster elapsed time record is 4.441 seconds for the quarter mile (10/05/03, Tony Schumacher).
The top speed record is 333.00 mph (533 km/h) as measured over the last 66' of the run, (09/28/03 Doug Kalitta).
Putting all of this into perspective:

You are riding the average $250,000 Honda MotoGP bike. Over a mile up the road, a Top Fuel dragster is staged and ready to launch down a quarter mile strip as you pass. You have the advantage of a flying start. You run the RC211V hard up through the gears and blast across the starting line and past the dragster at an honest 200 mph (293 ft/sec). The 'tree' goes green for both of you at that moment. The dragster launches and starts after you. You keep your wrist cranked hard, but you hear an incredibly brutal whine that sears your eardrums and within 3 seconds, the dragster catches and 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 and not only caught, but nearly blasted you off the road when he passed you within a mere 1320 foot long race course.
That, folks, is acceleration!

WORKER BEES

Dixie Classic Chevy Club

P.O. Box 1121

Marietta, GA 30061-1121