I was reading another post... and copied the following post...

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"suzie oberhofer
Verified Member Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: fort worth, texas
Posts: 23

Re: Hospitality "Neighborhoods"

I like the way my brothers camp is set up. I can get the heck out of the way and even though I love the smell of Nitro, at least I can get away from a hanging cloud! "

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I think this makes a lot of sense... the thing I was asking is... Did you ever see some of the fans who get to the front of the crowd when a Fuel car starts up... ok.. but they are wearing gas masks, little ear plugs, with big ear protection OVER the plugs, and goggles, ears, nose, and mouth are covered.. but they want to get right up & CLOSE Why ??

I fully understand why some fuel teams use these .. because they HAVE to stay there 2-3-4 times a day real up close and personal with the Nitro fumes...

As for me (personally) I prefer to get up front with NO nose or ear protection.. and if the wind is blowing the wrong way or NOT blowing at all and it gets TOO bad, I just back away.. I like to get my fill of Nitro maybe 1 or 2 times a race... I just don't understand these guys who look like they are wearing a Deep Sea Diving Helmut.. then get up front..

WHY??? They cant hear the motor, or smell it .. all they get is the vibration when the driver blips it to seat the clutch...

I know this is not an important subject.. but thought I'd just throw it out there... I just get a kick out of it..

you're not the only one.
the geek squad has infiltrated our sport.

God bless ya John...
Those tears we walk away with are, TEARS OF JOY!!

yah ..those drunk shirtless fools standing there whooping and hollering while inhaling a toxic cloud of gas are much cooler than the geeks with gas masks

not that I'm talking about anyone here. I don't think....
I've done the gas mask thing once, but it was too much of a PITA taking it on and off. I got some damn cool video of a warm up that year though, and I would not have been able to stand it without the mask.

to each his own.

I don't get much choice these days. My little one has asthma, and my wife wont' let him go unless I take all his goodies. So I have to carry his mask and all, but he still enjoys a snoot full of nitro, so we take his inhaler too..lol

I have to be honest here. I abso-f'n-lutely love my nitro blasts!!! I am almost immune tho after 20 years of attending! I actually ate lunch while standing less than 10 feet from D. Kalitta's morning warm up this past year, much to the chagrin of my dining partner! When I see the newbies walk right up to the hedders right before firing only to jump 2 states away during the "whack" makes me smile endlessly!

I have seen people use masks and hold there mouth during alchy cars firing up , its quite funny really but hey the longer a person is around exotic fuels the less it bothers them .

Always get to the front, no mask, nothing, the nitro doesn't bother me one bit, very much use to it now, mind you one of Gilbys warm ups in GNV got me. But it's very rare I get teary. As Paul Rogers Jr said to me at Pomona... "You're like a heroine junkie"

One thing I don't like is when teams don't push the cars back from out of the tent.

Mike

My thoughts - you don't want to do this! Nitromethane has some very ugly combution byproducts - the HMDS has been posted several times.
That being said, its always funny to watch drinks fly when the newbies experience their first clutch setting "hit" -

Jim,

K this guy doesn't have a drink, but watch him jump to cover his ears... haha

YouTube - Steve Torrence T/F warm up Pomona

Hey, do 'ya mind?!

Well he is shirtless, and I think we can assume that he dropped his cup-o-beer stumbling to loud central...
And I hear ya on the Cory deal Michael...
Let's get this season started already...

LOL!

I know, I can't wait, wish I was back in Pomona next week, Because if I miss GNV, Atlanta is awhile away, but who cares, got dragracecentral and here for now

This season is going to be QUICK!!! And Cory and the gang are going to be right in the mix

John, your story reminds me of when I took my son to his first NHRA event.He was 16. We were watching Scelzi's crew(if i remember right) doing last minute work before firing the car up & when the crowd started to gather he saw people wearing gas masks & remarked to me " what a bunch of pansys" Needless to say when they lit that thing off he jumped from how loud it was(he was thinking that was pretty cool)
Then Gary wacked the throttle & blew his hair back & he got his first snoot full of nitro.Man he had tears running down his face,his nose was running & he had a smile you could not get off his face He just stood there gasping for breath saying "MAN THIS IS GREAT!" That's all he could talk about all day.

That stuff can be pretty harshl, and methanol can be just as bad if it's taken in large quantities. About 10 years ago, my dad and I ran an alcohol injected 621, with two toilet bowls and two foggers in our little Pro Mod. We didn't have the header collectors directed out towards the side of the car, and the motor idoled really fat, so when I backed up from a burnout the drivers compartment would just be filled to the brim with fumes. The entire time I would back up I would just be gagging, coughing, and my eyes would just be pouring. At one point, I nearly puked in my helmet, which would have been bad...really bad. Geez, I watch video of some of those runs now, and it looks like I'm just lost on the track when I'm backing up, like I'm not really sure where the hell I was in relation to the starting line. Looking back, I guess it was because I was about to lose conciousness. lol That was brutal.

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Greg Duffield
ACS Data Recovery
http://www.acsdata.com