cool sounds while in the garage
 

i was just out in the garage and I heard a strange sound, like someone dragging a wheeled garbage can around with bad wheels but it kept going.

I was listening and trying to identify it when I heard a quick loud WOMP then more cackling.
That's a top fueler!
I could tell it was quite a ways away, but who could be firing up a top fueler around here?

I thought about it and the direction it came from, then I put it together.
There's an in-n-out burger in that direction about 2 miles away.
Melanie Troxel is driving an in-n-out burger funny car this year.
I bet they were doing a promotion thing there.

I'm most of the way through my second beer for the night so I didn't want to drive over there to check it out but I bet that's what it is.

Even from 2 miles away a top fueler sounds awesome.

Yea, top fuelers sound like someone dropping thousands of telephone poles per second from 1000 feet in the air. It is an amazing sound.

a friend of mine has a shop that's near Gary Scelzi's shop, there is NOTHING like standing 10' from one of those when they blip the throttle

There is nothing funnier than standing in the pits during warmups - at the hit of the throttle, the whole crowd jumps simultaneously, and then everyone looks around to see if they were the only one scared $hitless. It happens every time, and it is always funny!

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When I was kid in the late 60's I lived in a fairly rural area. There was a guy that lived @1/2 mile from me and he raced top fuel NHRA. His wife, believe it or not, was the crew chief. They used to fire that thing up and I could hear it across the valley. Unbelieveable .

When the NHRA cars run at Infineon I can hear them from my driveway when the wind is blowing this way.

It's about a fifteen minute drive from my place.


KT

i used to work in yorba linda a few blocks from john force's shop....we would hear them testing engines a few times a week in the afternoon. this was inside the office with a phone headset on. :eek:

every one in the office would ask "did you hear that?" i knew what it was everytime.

Jerry "The King" Ruth lived by a friend of mine when I was growing up. Pretty much every week(weather permitting) he would fire up and run either his top fuel or funny car down the street a few times for testing. It was pretty rural out there. Everybody was warned/invited and approved. There was always a bbq/party after.

I can hear the top fuel and funny cars at my house from Pacific Raceways which is according to Google Earth, 8 miles away as the crow fly's.

They are a must see at least once in your life.