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Not to steal the thread but these are some other "facts" i got off another board about dragsters.
* One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more
> > horsepower
> >
> > than the first 4 rows at the Daytona 500.
> > * Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1½ gallons of
> > nitromethane per second; a fully loaded 747 consumes jet fuel at the
> > same rate with 25%
> > less energy being produced.
> > * A stock Dodge Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to drive the
> > dragster supercharger.
> > * With 3000 CFM of air being rammed in by the supercharger on overdrive,
> > the
> > fuel mixture is compressed into a near-solid form before ignition.
> > Cylinders
> > run on the verge of hydraulic lock at full throttle.
> > * At the stoichiometric 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture for nitromethane the
> > flame
> > front temperature measures 7050 degrees F.
> > * Nitromethane burns yellow. The spectacular white flame seen above the
> > stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, dissociated from atmospheric
> > water
> > vapour by the searing exhaust gases.
> > * Dual magnetos supply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is the output of
> > an
> > arc welder in each cylinder.
> > * Spark plug electrodes are totally consumed during a pass. After ½ way,
> > the
> > engine is dieseling from compression plus the glow of exhaust valves at
> > 1400
> > degrees F. The engine can only be shut down by cutting the fuel flow.
> > * If spark momentarily fails early in the run, unburned nitro builds up
> > in
> > the affected cylinders and then explodes with sufficient force to blow
> > cylinder heads off the block in pieces or split the block in half.
> > * In order to exceed 300 mph in 4.5 seconds dragsters must accelerate at
> > an
> > average of over 4G's. In order to reach 200 mph well before half-track,
> > the
> > launch acceleration approaches 8G's.
> > * Dragsters reach over 300 miles per hour before you have completed
> > reading
> > this sentence.
> > * Top Fuel Engines turn approximately 540 revolutions from light to
> > light!
> > * Including the burnout the engine must only survive 900 revolutions
> > under
> > load.
> > * The redline is actually quite high at 9500rpm.
> > * The Bottom Line; Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew
> > worked
> > for free, and for once NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an estimated
> > US$1,000.00 per second. The current Top Fuel dragster elapsed time
> > record is
> > 4.441 seconds for the quarter mile (10/05/03, Tony Schumacher). The top
> > speed record is 333.00 mph (533 km/h) as measured over the last 66' of
> > the
> > run (09/28/03 Doug Kalitta).
> >
> > Putting all of this into perspective:
> >
> > You are driving the average $140,000 Lingenfelter "twin-turbo"
> > powered Corvette Z06. Over a mile up the road, a Top Fuel dragster
> > is staged and
> >
> > ready to launch down a quarter mile strip as you pass. You have the
> > advantage of a flying start. You run the 'Vette hard up through the
> > gears and blast across the starting line and past the dragster at an
> > honest 200
> > mph. The 'tree' goes green for both of you at that moment. The dragster
> > launches and starts after you. You keep your foot down hard, but you
> > hear an
> > incredibly brutal whine that sears your eardrums and within 3 seconds
> > the
> > dragster catches and passes you. He beats you to the finish line, a
> > quarter
> > mile away from where you just passed him.
> >
> > Think about it, from a standing start, the dragster had spotted you
> > 200 mph and not only caught, but nearly blasted you off the road
> > when he passed you
> > within a mere 1320 foot long race course
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