With all the hoopla - it may be time

I doubt the small contact area and relatively light amount of weight on the front of a dragster would contribute much to the stopping of a dragster.
And on the possible downside, I'd worry about causing any additional horizontal forces on the dragster a-arms of today. Those are made to just hold a dragster up at best.
imho of course...

On my Altered I had the skinnies up front and the car stopped better when I put front brakes on it.

I really do not think many would put them on a dragster but they do work.

quote:

Originally posted by imakehp:
I doubt the small contact area and relatively light amount of weight on the front of a dragster would contribute much to the stopping of a dragster.
And on the possible downside, I'd worry about causing any additional horizontal forces on the dragster a-arms of today. Those are made to just hold a dragster up at best.
imho of course...

^^Think Dave’s spot on. Scary now without front brakes. Tiny like Schwinn brakes? Short like Curlys car no problem. What are most RED cars up front like 345-400? More?

Well if youre gonna do it you might as well do it right. One off the front, one off the back.

Not a good idea. I can think of one racer from the 80’s that had front brakes and fat tires on a Dragster. He crashed and died. I don’t really know if the brakes or fat tires had anything to do with that crash. Used for a stationary burnout, no problem but I’d never have them on a Dragster.

I had a friend whose dragster was equipped with front brakes. He said they helped with the burn out. Useless on the top end.

Don't think nhra allows front brakes on dragsters. Several years ago there was a racer that was asked to disconnect them or not race at that event.

Before suspended dragsters were a thing, a few tried them, and said that they were great at stopping a bouncing car. Settled it right down. Not an issue today with suspended cars. The weight is in an area that could prevent wheel pop out from the lights. Heck put a front and rear suspension on it, and front brakes. Why not fenders and a roof? LOL.

I had a dragster with front brakes once. it worked great for burn out. mine was set up with 2 brake pedals and 2 master cylinders.

ep

Tommy Costales had one back in the late 90's. But I'm sure he used the fronts for the burn outs only.

Don't care for the additional weight and stopping forces on the little arms. More ** to go wrong. Say you have one lock up in the front. Now what. Bad enough when one locks up in the rear or you snap an axle. I would figure if it was such a proven feature, it would be standard equipment and mandatory.Putting front brakes on i would figure additional lateral forces on the little arms.

Fenders and a roof lol. Just add turn signals for the turn off, Maybe a radio too lol.

I remember Terry Sinke--Rob Hamilton and that bunch using front brakes years ago--and fat front tires.

The thing is I think front suspension would be nice, front brakes, nice and it would ride and stop better but it comes at a cost of more weight. It all adds up.

I think the risk of one of front brakes locking up and crashing the car is less than the risk of a brake failure and crashing car. What I am saying is I think the stopping power is better with front brakes than with out them but you still have the weight penalty and additional cost.

quote:

Originally posted by Roger McGinnis:
Tommy Costales had one back in the late 90's. But I'm sure he used the fronts for the burn outs only.

So did Jimmy Lewis

quote:

Originally posted by seabass:


So did Jimmy Lewis

Yeah, I think they were built by Davis Race cars in El Paso.

quote:

Originally posted by ferndaleflyer:
I remember Terry Sinke--Rob Hamilton and that bunch using front brakes years ago--and fat front tires.

Rob and Terry mad a lot of cars S&H with M&H 22x3.5x15 front tires. The theory (at the time) was to run kind of low tire pressure to allow the front tires to absorb small bumps in the pits and going down track. Rob never had front brakes on his personal cars but did install them for others.

(Fat tires, front brakes, S&H cars) Terry Sinke, Kevin Graulich, Severn Johnson

(Skinny tires, front brakes, S&W cars) Bart Tremper and Alan Glatt

Maybe Alan can chime in on the NHRA rule to disable the front brakes down track. I don't recall exactly why or how they wanted them to do it.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: TomR,

Pretty sure Scott Shafiroff had them years ago in Pomona with the Ford engine. Engine broke in the final, pretty sure it was against Panella. Would have been a heck of a race.