NEDRA Drag Racing Video Review...a JB Masterpiece!

[John Wayland <dat1200@europa.com>]

Hello to All,
     I hope that everyone who celebrates it, had a wonderful
Thanksgiving holiday. The spirit of this USA holiday, is one of sharing
good fortune and good food with new friends, as did the original Pilgrim
settlers with the American Indians. In modern times, Thanksgiving has
evolved into largely, into a time for getting together with family over
a proudly prepared meal, with the 'new friends' replaced by visiting
relatives.  This year however, we had a very special Thanksgiving that
emulated the original, as we welcomed EV guests from far away, as in
Melbourne, Australia. Having only heard about Thanksgiving and not being
being particularly  accustomed to it, meeting EVDL lurkers Andrew and
Linda McIver and sharing my wife's wonderful cooking with them, made
this Thanksgiving very special as we enjoyed a classic turkey dinner
together. It was a fun holiday weekend filled with EV-related activity,
and along with Portland EVers Marko Mongillo and John Tuss, we were
visited by out of town EV friends Rich 'Da Madman' and Andrea Rudman and
by another cohort of deranged power experiments, Otmar
Ebenhozersluzenhaufer, who came up from Palo Alto (on his way to the San
Juan Islands) in 'the Stretch', his outlandish VW Vanagon, and managed
to spend time in town joining in the festivities and hanging with the
rest of the assembled EV crowd. 
       The arrival of John Bryan's '99 Electric drag racing video was
timed perfectly, and it was fun to show it to everyone. This was the
first time our Aussie friends had ever seen EVs on steroids, and their
reaction to the crazed Americans displaying their wanton need for speed,
power, and tire smoke was classic....everything from Rudman's meltdown
of Goldie's front tires, to Crazy Rod's insane if not terrifying
launches of Maniac Mazda, was as fun to watch as the video itself!
Bryan's artful racing collage was especially handy when my daughter and
her teenage friends were gathered in the living room, and one of the
young 'dudes' overheard comments about EVs and drag racing when he
exclaimed...."No way an electric car can beat a Viper!" After viewing
the tape and seeing Viper after Viper being taken out by both Rod's
Mazda and the KTA/Ludicker electric rail, he wanted to see more. That's
when for the first time that I can remember, my daughter actually told
one of her friends that her dad had EVs stowed away in the backyard
shop. A resultant EV show and tell followed the video, and with purely
acceleration performance on his mind, my young guest was further blown
away with the stereo show I put on for him, as we went from Blue Meanie,
to the Heavy Metal Garden Tractor, to Red Beastie, to Oat's outrageous
780 watt triple twelve -propelled system in the be-zippered VW stretch
bus (three 12 inch Soundstream subs, four 5 inchers and four 4 inchers).
      The video opens with Bryan's trademark computer animation and
syntho sounds, then slams your retinas with gasoline fueled muscle cars
at Bandimere Speedway in Denver, CO....there's even manipulation of the
visuals with computer-generated effects that make you feel as if you're
at a Jimmy Hendrix concert (I can say this...I saw Hendrix play)! 
      Next up, some poor dude in a big block '69 Chev Nova has to run
against Berube's 'Current Eliminator' electric rail dragster, and even
after the Christmas tree gives the American muscle car a generous head
start, Berube' flashes past him as if the Nova was put in reverse, and
blows him off with a low 10 second run. John caught the action from
above the track, and the clarity is great. Another rail made the scene,
NetGain's 'Bad Amplitude', and with its twin Kostovs, twin T-Rex
controllers, and twin 336v strings of Hawkers, it looked like the one to
watch, but instead of ripping off an impressive run, it fried the lone
surviving controller (the other one blew in a late night test the night
before) as it launched off the line.  The failure mode continues when
the Wilde EVolutions Land Rover destroys its differential while leaping
off the line.
      Fans of electric Rabbits will enjoy seeing both Dube's ketchup and
mustard 'Wabbit' and the Grannes/Masumura electrified bunny 'Blue
Phantom' take turns at the 1/4 mile run.
      Electric motorcycles were not in short supply, with Father Time's
'Dragon Parade', Bruce Meland's 'Kawashocki II', and other two-wheeled
EVs making several runs. Dube's awesome drag bike 'Kilacycle' had
technical problems, but great shots of it are seen during John's scans
of the EV pits.
       My own 'White Zombie' drag Datsun makes the scene, but with a
dying battery (unknown at that time) in the pack, an improperly cooled
controller, and the wrong gear ratio for the new direct drive package,
it was painfully slow. I did make up for this with a pair of smoky
burnouts, one of which almost eclipses the control tower.
      A pair of RX-7s were also on hand, Damon Crocket's (DC Power
Systems) blue machine powered by a 12 inch GE motor, and none other than
Rod Wilde's Maniac Mazda debuting its fresh set of Johnson Controls
'TMF' prototype high discharge batteries. Like the rest of the EVs
present at Bandimere, both Mazdas ran slower than expected times. 
     The Bandimere video is captured expertly thanks to John's steady
hand, and though the speed and times for pretty much all the EVs are on
the slow side of things (except Berube's), it's still a great snapshot
of NEDRA's first EVent in the Denver area.
     So how's the action at Woodburn '99 compare?...no worries mate
(Aussie lingo), because the action definitely shifts into high gear as
the pace is picked up dramatically with many of the electric drag cars
setting new records and tearing up the 1/4 mile with a newfound
vengeance!      Woodburn's EVent rolls onto the screen and you can feel
the excitement of NEDRA's biggest race as Bryan gives the video voyeur
nice shots of the colorful collection of racing machines...somehow, he
manages to make you feel as if you are walking through the pits
yourself!
      Though Berube' didn't make it to this EVent, rail dragsters were
plentiful. The slick looking KTA/Ludicker electric rail runs very
impressively, and knocks off the Vipers easily, turning mid 10 second
runs! Dave Cloud's twin motor rail rips off the line for what looked to
be a record run, when one of the two motors blows up into a
fireball...John caught the whole thing on tape! Cloud finished the run
on a single motor and did set a new record for his class. Wonderfully
clear images of the six-motored 'Megawatt Monster' rail dragster are a
real treat, and John follows the machine right up to the line getting
the initial launch attempt from start to agonizing finish...you hear the
tires light up briefly, hear a big snap from the mangled drive train,
then you can hear the motors spooling down. A second attempt at moving
the machine gives you an awesome aural symphony of whirring motors and
gates polychain serpentine belts...Bryan's video cam caught the sound
wonderfully, and it kind of makes the hair stand up on the back of your
neck; a teasing suggestion of what might have been if things hadn't
broken! 
     After the carnage of Megawatt monster, Bryan smoothly splices you
into an interview with Crazy Rod, where among other things, he's heard
saying, "We take things to the limit....we definitely take things to the
extreme." In the next frame, poised next to another Wilde EVolutions
creation, their slick looking '29 bright yellow roadster, the maniac in
Maniac Mazda follows though with his promise, and launches the car with
its front end completely off the ground, the body twisting under the
extreme torque, and with sparks and glowing pieces of a 9 inch motor
stressed to the max falling beneath the elevated front end...it's quite
a visual display, again, thanks to John's talent.
      Another exciting run of Maniac Mazda, is when Rod races a white
Viper. Oregon Viper Club president John Bropst (spelling?) was his usual
good sport, and he cracks the crowd up when he performs his witch doctor
snake dance, as he takes a coiled-up viper (don't worry, it was a
plastic model) in his hands, and dances around the red Mazda, shaking
the snake to deposit Viper venom on the electric challenger to curse its
run. It didn't work however, as Rod rips off the starting blocks in
another violent surge of power and handily defeats the ill fated Viper.
Bryan followed the run from behind, and you can see the Maniac Mazda
fishtail when the automatic grabs second gear!
      A favorite moment is when Henry Deaton's 'Sparky the Wonder Bike'
takes off on a short run, as the torque from its two PM motors sends the
bike's chain to the scrap heap!
       I'll stop here, as there is a lot more cool stuff on Bryan's best
video to date for the EV fan to enjoy, and I certainly don't want to
spoil it for everyone. One last thing.....if you're a true EV fan, go
order this NOW!

See Ya.........John  Wayland
EV fanatic
NEDRA president