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dragster in 1971 that the front-engine slingshot was finally supplanted (technically, Garlits' dragster was mid-engine; a true rear-engine layout would have the engine mounted behind the rear axle). Garlits designed the car while in the hospital recovering from a partial amputation of his foot when
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With the transition from stripped-down production frames to purpose-built ones, the engine was moved rearward so more of its weight would be on the rear (driving) wheels for increased traction. Rearward positioning of the engine meant the driver had to be moved rearward as well, and in the final
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Marginal control wasn't the only danger with the slingshot design. As the exposed engine was directly in front of the driver's compartment, he or she was vulnerable to being showered with hot oil, flying debris and burning fuel due to catastrophic engine or
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The slingshot dragster's tail-heavy design, coupled with no rear suspension and steadily-increasing engine power, often resulted in high-speed control problems that led to crashes. By the late 1950s, dragster power had increased to where tire-smoking
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would occur over a considerable distance, resulting in a tendency for the car to suddenly drift out of control—the tail-heavy design of the slingshot made recovery difficult. As tire technology improved,
136:(NHRA) mandated that all cars be capable of being started without pushing. As many dragsters had no reverse gear—indeed, many had no transmission at all—cars would have to be pushed back by crews after a
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with a "souped-up" engine. These early dragsters were nicknamed "rails", due to the frame's longitudinal members (rails) being exposed to view. As the dragster design further evolved, the
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needed to start the engine were two of the items removed to save weight, requiring that the dragster be push-started. This procedure was necessary until 1976, when the
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at the very rear of the car. The arrangement of rearward engine mounting and the driver being behind the rear axle gave rise to the colloquial name "slingshot."
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and initially was a car from which all non-essential parts, including the body, had been removed to reduce weight, making the earliest dragsters essentially a
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Taylor, Thom. "Tony Nancy T/F dragster" and "Scrima, Bacilek, Milodon
Scrimaliner", in "Beauty Beyond the Twilight Zone", pp.32 & 38.
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The slingshot's numerous drawbacks led to several attempts at developing rear-engined dragsters, initially none successful. It was when
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failure. Adding to the danger was that the driver's legs and feet were alongside the driveline. Driveline components, especially the
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In the quest to develop more driving traction, there were several dragsters built with four rear drive wheels, including cars by
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assembly, could burst at high engine rpm, resulting in serious or fatal injuries from the violent expulsion of metal fragments.
117:. (Coburn and the Chrisman brothers used twin engines, also.). None of these four-wheel designs bore fruit; the development of
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is credited with introducing the slingshot design in 1954; it would become the dominant dragster design until the early 1970s.
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was eliminated to reduce weight and enhance traction. More development resulted as builders started fabricating custom
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to the front axle, sometimes hundreds of pounds' worth. Occasionally, the slingshot's propensity for doing a
50:. Commonly known as a "rail", "digger", or "slingshot", it is now considered obsolete, and is used only in
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at the 1970 NHRA Nationals due to a clutch failure. Some racers, such as
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version of the front-engine dragster, the driver was positioned behind the
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his slingshot's two-speed transmission burst and cut the car in two.
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The front-engine dragster was an evolution from earlier front-engine
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generated at speed to keep the front wheels firmly on the pavement.
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became a problem and often had to be counteracted by attaching
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In keeping with the austere nature of a dragster, the heavy
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ranged from 97 to 225 inches (2,464 to 5,715 mm).
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Taylor, Thom. "Beauty Beyond the
Twilight Zone" in
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38:, on display at the California Automobile Museum
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105:(along with his brother, Lloyd, and partner
46:is a type of racing car purposely built for
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119:tires designed specifically for drag racing
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443:"Florida Icon: Don 'Big Daddy' Garlits"
354:"Obsolete skills, part 1: On the track"
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352:Burgess, Phil, ed. (3 March 2008).
329:Motorsports Hall of Fame of America
325:"Hill, Eddie - Drag Racing - 2002"
165:." For example, this happened to
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82:optimized for drag racing, with
121:made four wheels unnecessary.
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86:being integral to the frame.
23:'s 1966 front-engine dragster
441:Levy, Art (3 October 2012).
210:introduced his rear-engined
134:National Hot Rod Association
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292:. Jul 1990. p. 143.
409:. Dec 1986. p. 28.
387:(retrieved 24 May 2017)
254:. Dec 1986. p. 29.
237:, April 2017, pp.30-43
84:driver crash protection
72:production car chassis
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103:Art Chrisman
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208:Don Garlits
176:Scrimaliner
151:wheelstands
111:Bill Coburn
48:drag racing
334:3 February
221:References
181:Tony Nancy
167:Jim Nicoll
115:Eddie Hill
56:Wheelbases
21:Eddie Hill
146:wheelspin
92:rear axle
468:Category
452:21 March
385:NHRA.com
201:flywheel
173:(on his
163:blowover
68:hot rods
33:Top Fuel
407:Hot Rod
290:Hot Rod
252:Hot Rod
235:Hot Rod
159:wheelie
155:ballast
138:burnout
130:battery
62:History
31:A 1958
360:. US:
239:passim
197:clutch
179:) and
113:, and
80:frames
454:2014
428:help
369:2018
362:NHRA
336:2013
311:help
273:help
199:and
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