mopar crash

My imp

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I know my on board sprinkler system would've gone off! Probably some traction control residue as well!
 

ramenth

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Does the "reporter" who's writing this article even watch NHRA? Things like this happen all the time and he's amazed Capps was okay and the car was prepped for the next round.
 

My imp

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He has to explain it for John Q. Public. Not everyone knows how much safer these cars are now, compared to the "Good old days".
 

80 Aspen RT

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Ron said this boomer really scrambled him for a little while. He said the car was still rolling when the safety safari got to him, and they were yelling at him to stop. Took him a minute to get his berings back.
 

NoCar340

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If you've never been to an NHRA National event with the Top Fuel cars, you've never experienced sensory overload. I cannot recommend it enough. The sound, the vibration... the sheer violence of Fuelers is not something that can be duplicated no matter how good your home theater system. You've simply got to be there to believe it.

As ramenth stated, this is relatively commonplace. Watching these guys thrash in the pits to put something like that back together is really something to see (you can wander the pits with any race pass).
 

ramenth

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He has to explain it for John Q. Public. Not everyone knows how much safer these cars are now, compared to the "Good old days".

Is someone who's not interested in the sport going to read an article on it? Okay, maybe they saw the fireball in the pic and it drew his or her attention. I get the idea that someone who doesn't know the sport needs a little basics, but the reporter made it read more like he was speaking down to people or writing the story for five year olds than a relatively smart adult who's willing to spend the time reading the news on the internet or watching it on tv.

Either that or it was written by news reporter who's never actually seen any kind of racing and he's only spilling his own sense of awe into the story.

Driver Ron Capps told Eyewitness News about his survival story.

His survival story? Really? Unnecessary dramatics considering these cars have been doing this for decades. Anyone who's ever surfed by SportsCenter can see it happen on the Monday highlights.

Incredibly, he walked away from the wreckage and is OK.

Again, unnecessary dramatics. In this day and age, with all the safety equipment, it's incredible when someone doesn't walk away from a blower coming apart... or hitting the wall in NASCAR. Again, something that can be seen at anytime surfing through channels and going past just about any Monday morning news show.

But unbelievably, the engine and the rest of the car are prepped and awaits Capps' next race.

Again, unnecessary dramatics.
 

NoCar340

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Agreed on all points.

Methinks that reporter & his dramatics would be amazed by what happens between rounds on a regular basis.
 

My imp

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Production values, if he did good on this story, no more dog & pony shows! Report the news, don't be the news! We used to have the cutest little weather girl. Melissa Mack. Dressed really ultra conservatively. One day she was in a fashion show in a red sequined dress. BOOIINNNGGGG!!! She went to Boston, & they must've sent her to cheesy journalist school. Now she's back in Cleveland, but she's changed. She's not my innocent little "Mack Attack!" anymore. She looks just like every other cheesy weather girl you've seen. Back to you!
 

NoCar340

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C'mon up here and get a load of the local news... everyone on both broadcasts is a Northern Michigan University flunkie. I especially enjoy Blinky the Illiterate Anchorblonde. If anyone shows any kind of talent on either broadcast, they quickly disappear to greener pastures. The rest of 'em are lifers.
 

My imp

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That sucks, we've lost a few, had a couple come back, maybe she'll go back to her old self after a while. Anyone from Boston remember Mellissa Mack? Short gal, with short brown hair, a silky smooth as cream voice?
 

brotherGood

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I saw the video of Capps..and proceeded to watch the old "...And They Walked Away" videos on YouTube. Today's cars are much safer that they used to be, and that was a great demonstration watching those one after the other.
 

ramenth

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C'mon up here and get a load of the local news... everyone on both broadcasts is a Northern Michigan University flunkie. I especially enjoy Blinky the Illiterate Anchorblonde. If anyone shows any kind of talent on either broadcast, they quickly disappear to greener pastures. The rest of 'em are lifers.

"Blinky the Illiterate Anchorblonde." BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

That's the thing about local news broadcast. One of the local channels around here works in conjunction with a local classic rock station for the weather. One morning, I'm heading to work and the most annoying... (Okay, the second most annoying voice over in the area) comes on. She's nasal with a hint of breathing helium. After that first morning I'd turn down the radio every time she came on.

The first most annoying voice in the local airwaves belongs to a woman who does a local dealership's commercials. They sell HONdai...Elantras... for tweeeeelllllveee... thousand... nineninetynine. And they have HONdreds in stock. They also sell Dodge....Caravan...S..X...T's, and have HONdreds of them in stocks for only twenty-oooooooonnnnnneeee....thousand....nineninetynine. You can visit their website at simmons....dash....rockwell dotCOOOOOMMMM (make sure you say it high pitched and nasal). She's the owner's kid so she's guaranteed a job for life, no matter how much the listening public wants to strangler her.
 

NoCar340

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Funny how we remember the annoying ones, isn't it? We have a high-pitched, annoying female announcer for one of the ski resorts called Susie Snowflake, and one of the local radio news guys (who's been in place for 30-some years, I have no idea how) sounds like he's on his deathbed but reading for the very first time.

Blinky the Illiterate Anchorblonde, unable to face the camera directly for some reason, amazingly getting through a segment without tripping over the words:

 
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slant6billy

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Thing is most of the broadcasters .... emphasis on "Broad"casters lately are really "hoochie". There ain't a rough one anywhere I can find locally and even on national "broad" casts. Got some that consistently wear leather and low cut stuff. I dig this, but when I was dating chicks and they dresses in thigh high boots and short skirts........ I used to get a lot of shitty comments from people. Now, it is cool or the "in thang" for woman to flaunt what they got.... especially the news chicks. Long gone are the slightly plump chick in the corduroy blazer and turtleneck to hide the turkey neck. I guess my first excuse to watch the news lately........ One more reason I watch Spike TV "All Chevy stuff " is to see what Courtney is wearing Sundays.
 

My imp

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Now if I ever get a used ($10,000 average salvage price!) LS7, I'll know which oil pan to put on it! Aren't they getting sick of promoting nothing but LS motors? If there were enough of them out there used & support that's affordable, Mopar could have the weekly HEMI meets that LS motors are enjoying. I'd love to put a 6.4 SRT HEMI w/8 spd automatic & a rear end that could handle it all in my Imp! Rack & pinion for good measures. Then I could make weekly Canadian parts runs. If we could get many like projects out there, we could be ambassadors for the Mopar life style. Variety is the spice of life.
 

NoCar340

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Hey, they did a 300 Ford I6 a couple of weeks back, and at least the Trans Am they're doing for whatever Musclecar is called this month has a real-live Pontiac engine in it.

I understand the LS mania. They do some minor modifications and make stupid power even with 4.8L truck engines, which can be had for a couple hundred bucks complete. It doesn't mean I'm not sick of hearing about it, or that I would want one... but it's tempting when a friend with an '01 Trans Am is putting 330 to the ground and still getting 28MPG on the highway. EFI Live! and a 6-speed are a beautiful combination.
 

My imp

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Yes, I as well pointed out both projects out of how many others? Heart & mind, guys. If you hear it long enough, it must be true! Right? What figures could be reached with a late HEMI in a Volare? With a 6-8 spd? Std or auto? Or, same combo in an LS Cordoba? Or, dare I say, an Imp? SBC & SBF are the two most common engines to be built on these shows. All the money spent on a stroker 347 Ford, can be saved by a simple overhaul of a 351C. I doubt if 75% of the newbies out there have ever even heard of a "Cleveland". Had one in my '69 Mach I. Or the Boss 9! HEMI owners beware! Single 4 bbl & over 700 horse? Torque that'll snap drivelines. On a salvage 460 with a stroker kit!
 

NoCar340

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The fastest quarter-mile ever printed in the era when the Boss 429 was new was 15.29. Much like the Hemi, the Boss big-block was essentially a pig as a production-line engine. Both were detuned race engines, rather than hopped-up station-wagon motors like virtually everything else. Sadly for Ford, in any type of racing where it was pitted against the Hemi, it still got clubbed like a baby seal for the most part. I think a lot of that came from the fact that the Hemi had 4-5 years' worth of development on it by the time Ford introduced it. The current "Ford" Top Fuel engine is a Chrysler Hemi with a couple of bolts moved around, nothing more, just enough to be "Ford specific".

The reason for the 347 is more about weight and size than anything else. A Cleveland is a tight squeeze in a lot of Fords and weighs a ton more than the short-deck Windsor (it's even a bunch heavier than a 351W). If you really want to build an evil little Ford engine, Edelbrock makes a 100% bolt-on Boss-style head & intake for the 302 block. It saves a bunch of effort over the time-honored "Clevor" design, which requires the hard-to-get Track Boss intake. I seriously considered the E-head combo several years ago when I found a '72 Maverick Grabber in a yard near here; my Dad had one when I was a kid. I ultimately passed on it, but the car's still there. The problem with the Boss 347 idea? Well, for starters the real fun doesn't start until about 4,500RPM.

As cool as the late model Hemi is, it's very pricey to acquire and build whereas LSx engines can be had for a song and respond amazingly to even minor modifications. I had a chance to buy a 345 Hemi out of a two-year-old wreck about 7 years ago for $600, but after looking at what it would cost to modify, etc. I ultimately decided to stay with the LA engine. It's a great swap, and I know it's less expensive now, but my pockets still don't run that deep.
 
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