The heat at a couple mid-summer races really worried me last year. Getting older doesn't help either. What are you using/trying to stay cool in the car? I have a small fan, but some days, its not enough.

Honestly, I know if I don't drink enough water or Gatorade, I can definitely feel sick mid afternoon.. So for sure drink as much water as you possibly can.

Not saying it is cheap but it saves me when it's super hot. My head doesn't even hardly sweat when I turn it on.

https://www.coolshirt.com/product/drag-pack/

Curtis

Those of you that have gone through the fun of babies will have heard of this one at some point.

Pedialyte. Today it's sold in various flavors and in premixed or small packets. Mixing a packet with a bottle of water is far better for you than Gatorade and will help you a lot more with dehydration. You can find it on Amazon for a touch over a $1.00 a packet. We started using it last season and it made a world of difference.

https://pedialyte.com/

There is some stuff called Drip Drop and it seems to work better than Gatorade or anything I know of. I have a friend who is a nurse and said it is best stuff out there.

curtis i dont think there is enough room under my jacket for that, anymore

The best deal yet is an evaporative cooling vest from TheWarmingstore.com. Light weight and only $34.95. It sounds too good to be true, but they really work. Soak it in water, put it on, and let it evaporate. They are good for about an hour before you have to dip it in water again.(Yes, from The Warming Store.)

https://www.thewarmingstore.co...wl-cooling-vest.html
These look interesting but they work by evaporation. Don't know how effective they would be under a fie jacket inside a car and in high humidity.
I struggle in the high heat and humidity and it seems like it's getting hotter and more humid every year the last couple of years. I've been using the neck wraps and cool rags keeping them soaking in the cooler. I think this year might be the I'll see you in September year for me once it heats up.

I rigged up a redneck “air conditioner” last year just to see if it would work.
Used a cheap Igloo cooler (no idea on quart size, it’s about 18x16x22-24), got a 12vdc cheap fountain pump and a cheap bilge fan from Amazon. Piped the discharge side of the pump with clear tubing to an old heater core fastened to the underside of the lid. Cut a hole on the top side of the lid over the heater core that fit the bilge fan pretty tight. Cut a couple more 2” holes in the lid for “return air”. Put about 3/4-1 gallon of water in it, along with 3 completely frozen 2 liter bottles of water. Powered it with a 12v lithium battery- completely self contained.
Frozen 2 liters absorb heat out of the water, water is pumped thru heater core (now a cooling coil lol), bilge fan draws air across coil which allows water to pull heat from air, water returns to sump and whole process starts over.
Tested it in my chevelle last summer at the shop. Inside was 102 degrees when I turned the a/c on and within 15 minutes it was 75 degrees and dropping. Battery ran everything for about 20-25 minutes.
Never did anything else with it though..want to redo it with a slightly smaller cooler and fine tune it a little bit.

quote:

Originally posted by rusty:
curtis i dont think there is enough room under my jacket for that, anymore

Rusty you dragster guys don't have much room anyway but the vest doesn't take up much room at all. For as much as that thing cools me in the summer I would buy a bigger jacket and mount the bag on top of my roll cage.

Curtis

Down this way, our off season is opposite...I stop racing in June, July and August...it is stupid hot and humid...winter is our prime racing weather...physically and age wise I don't need to be racing when it is 98 degrees and 99% humidity...

quote:

Originally posted by fuzzy dice:
Down this way, our off season is opposite...I stop racing in June, July and August...it is stupid hot and humid...winter is our prime racing weather...physically and age wise I don't need to be racing when it is 98 degrees and 99% humidity...

Man you guys down south have some stupid humidity. LOL I was looking at some old logs and it was 107° at a couple races but it was only 40-50% humidity.

I once put an indoor/outdoor thermometer in my car. One summer day, I checked the inside temp. I took the battery out and threw it away. I don't want to know when it's 140+ inside the car anymore. I drive a black car with black interior, it is freaking hot.

That said, I cover the windows between runs to try to cool down the car and use a cooling towel dipped in cooler water on my neck. If it's 90+, I just stay home.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Missi...ooling-Towel/4751315

quote:

Originally posted by Eman:
https://www.thewarmingstore.co...wl-cooling-vest.html
These look interesting but they work by evaporation. Don't know how effective they would be under a fie jacket inside a car and in high humidity.
I struggle in the high heat and humidity and it seems like it's getting hotter and more humid every year the last couple of years. I've been using the neck wraps and cool rags keeping them soaking in the cooler. I think this year might be the I'll see you in September year for me once it heats up.

The things that concern me about the evaporative cooling vests are
1. Under the driving jacket, without the air moving over the cooling vest, not much cooling can happen.
2. In the midwest, it is quite humid in the summer months. Evaporative cooling works so much better in dry heat.

Between rounds without the jacket, the evaporative should work ok. I like the idea of cooling coils. I'm going to have to think about doing something in coming years.

You guys are making this way too complicated! Just buy one of those hand held, battery powered fan/water sprayers from WalMart for about $6 and spray your face, head, etc. and put a 12V small fan in your car too. This coats another $10.
I've tried those evaporative vests and this works better for me.

I started using a wet towel inside a big baggie kept in RV fridge between rounds. I stuff it inside my jacket every round. Not perfect but it seems to help.

Heat used to never bother me, now over 55 it does.

I contacted the warmingstore.com and they siad the vest with the ice packs would the best option on the lower cost side. Said I could get 2-3 hours of cooling. I figured I could stick it back in the cooler between rounds to preserve and also get a second set of ice packs.

Maybe a small freezer in the trailer to keep frozen. My generator runs 100% of the time I'm racing anyhow.

As Fuzzy said, June, July and August are the worst in the South East, so I have some time.

I throw the cool rag and the neck coolers into the ice water of my cooler. I find the being extremely hot to putting ice cold on me doesn't make me feel good by the end of the day.
I've got a fan in my car and have thought about putting another one in. I've seen a bilge fan cut into the side window of some cars for fresh air instead of just the hot air in the car. That could bring another problem though. Alcohol fumes really work on me. Sitting in the lanes when people are trying to build heat in their motor on alcohol is really a killer. If you're in the car sometimes I have to close the door to get away from the fumes, especially since they have exhaust sticking out the side so they don't get fumed.

I had double bypass surgery.Made all the difference it the world..now the heat doesn't bother me..

quote:

Originally posted by mopar man:
I had double bypass surgery.Made all the difference it the world..now the heat doesn't bother me..

I think I will stick with my vest or a cold rag.