Sun shines (too) bright in Sacramento
By Jim Skelly, NHRA Technical Communications Director
08/30/01

Jim Skelly
NHRA Technical
Communications Director

There's an old drag racing adage that says, "If you don't go red once in a while, you aren't trying hard enough." Red-lights are a part of drag racing, and EVERYONE who drag races will -- sooner or later, sometime or another -- draw the red foul light. No one likes to accept it, but any driver is capable of a red-light on any given pass down the quarter-mile. So sure of their abilities are some driver's that every so often one will contest the accuracy of the big red bulb located at the bottom of the Christmas Tree.

At the recent Tuned by Matrix GR Motorsports NHRA Import Nationals at Sacramento Raceway, several of import drag racing's most talented drivers experienced foul starts. The fact that all the red-lights occurred in the same lane, under similar conditions, and within a short time frame had many believing there must be another explanation besides someone "leaving early."

This series of "unexplainable" red-lights in the left lane soon had me, as Event Director, behind the timing tower surrounded by a crowd of disgruntled competitors, their crews, and family members. Jimmy O'Connor, Chris Rado, Lisa Kubo, and Kenny Tran, all highly respected drivers, were convinced that in this particular instance the red-light was not acceptable. Each had videotape of their respective runs, and each was convinced that the timing equipment was suspect.

However, by that time I had already double-checked the alignment and voltages of the starting-line photocells with Sacramento Raceway personnel. Everything checked out fine. I also reviewed the time-slip printouts for the morning, noting all red-lights and reaction times, looking for similar events. I found none. Some drivers wondered if Auto Start was in use, since in three of the four occurrences the driver in the opposite lane had quick-staged. I assured them it was not used at all during the event, just as we discussed at the driver's meeting on Saturday. With nothing on hand to indicate a problem with the timing equipment, and handheld videos that did not offer the concrete proof their owners wanted them to, I had no choice but to stand on the results and continue the event without any reruns. Any other decision would have been more suspect than the red-lights.

While they accepted my decision, the drivers still wondered (and frankly, so did I) how four of import drag racing's best drivers could all draw a red-light in the same lane within two rounds of racing. As Lisa put it before she left our gathering behind the tower, "The planets could NEVER be aligned this perfectly! We should all play the lottery tonight."

She was close. But it wasn't the planets; it was the sun! Later in the day, chassis builder Gary Hansen reminded me how important it is to cut down the reflection of shiny front wheels during bright sunlight conditions, to prevent red-lights. If the angle of the sun is right, it can reflect off the polished surface of a front wheel and "fool" the starting line photocells into thinking they have a light beam connection -- instant red-light! It explains why they all those red-lights in question at Sacramento occurred in the same lane during a short time frame.

Domestic drag racers have known about this for years, and virtually all Top Fuel, Funny Car, and Pro Stock cars come to the starting line with white shoe polish painted all over their front wheels any time the sun is shining. The shoe polish cuts down the reflection and eliminates the chance of a false red light. I went back to the pits and explained this to the drivers. While they were still depressed over the results, they all felt better with a reasonable explanation. And, frankly, so did I.

So, add an extra bottle of shoe polish to your drag racing bag of tricks. Remember, those polished wheels may look good from the stands as you pull to the starting line, but they could cost you a race under the "right" conditions. Besides, you can quickly wipe the shoe polish off in time for the winner's circle photos.

like i said racing is not always perfect but its still better than working anyday! god bless everyone and keep it safe out there!

 

amen

 

.....hmmm...odd.

 

oh i remember reading about this. interesting. and always forgotten. hey i guess our colored VPD wheels shouldnt have those problems hehe. Matte Black wheels FTW!

 

how old is that article? its good information for sure! alot us are running shinny weld wheels these days.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DaveF &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">how old is that article? its good information for sure! alot us are running shinny weld wheels these days. </TD></TR></TABLE>

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by A train &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Sun shines (too) bright in Sacramento
By Jim Skelly, NHRA Technical Communications Director
08/30/01

</TD></TR></TABLE>



great info

 

no more bling then

 

great write up chad .. thanks for the info

 

I'm putting on some black Dayton Wire wheels on my next car!

 

wow i remember that event 2001 inaugral season of nhra back 6 years ago ...

 

it was just wierd cause it had happened to me 2 times last race and now i found that atricle on accident and it was just kinda ironic thought i would share it!

 

wow thats crazy!

 

Hey Chad that crazy because i was there when NHRA was at Sac and i do too remember all 4 red lights in a row... I think the 4 cars we had red line including yourself and I at the last battle was around the exact same time of the day years before us....

 

Danny, you have a pm.

 

Excuses, excuses.

This could happen any sunny day on any track. I'll definintly remember this... for my back pocket.

 

trip huh danny the date of the event was 8 31 01 and right at about the same time of day well the crome on the rims is getting powdr coated i cant have some **** like this happen again!

 

I'm not convinced.. Top Fuel, Funny Car, and Pro Stock cars are RWD - their front wheels (the ones in the beams) have very small sidewalls, and so the shiny wheel may be in the sensor's field of view, and may provide a false trigger. But a Pro FWD car has bigass sidewalls - the sensor will be looking at a dull black target. I doubt any part of the wheel is in the field of view. The sensors are mounted almost at ground level.

I sold sensors for industrial automation for years. If the timing equipment uses polarized retroreflective sensors (and they should), there's no chance of false triggering on any target (even a mirror) - the beam will only be reflected by the polarizing reflector on the other side of the lane.

If they're using non-polarized sensors, a shiny surface could result in a false trigger. But at that distance, it seems a target that is not in the center of the field of view would be very unlikely to cause this.