Bang Shift finds really cool drag racing, here's a trio of awesome

Hayden Proffitt and the funny car Rebel. Ya gotta hand it to anyone who looks at the brick aerodynamics and says they'll make it win.

EJ Potter, that madman

Turbo Stang, powered by a drag axle from Turbonique and this is the first time I've seen this photo.. awesome

For lots of dragracing photos and videos, go see the tremendous coverage at Bang Shift http://www.bangshift.com/blog/

A tale of the Tubonique racing cart from the great maniac that drove it! Capt Jack ( no better name could ever be thought of! )

Above two photos from http://zelastchancegaragedu78.blogspot.com/2010/05/draggokart.html

Jack McClure's go kart powered by twin Turbonique t-16 jets, it turns 152mph in the quarter. 400 lbs of thrust.

http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/search/label/turbonique for all the Turbonique info, advertising, and videos I've come across

1965 Z-16 Chevelle called, "The Sizzler", a name that would prove dangerously ironic less than a year after McClure took the driving assignment. Powered by one of Turbonique's "Rocket Drag Axles" the car was a true freak show and ran speed and times totally unheard of from stock appearing cars of the era.

"I ran the sizzler car for one season," McClure said. "I think I ran 25 or thirty dates with it. The car was a real Z16 Chevelle that had one of the Turbonique Rocket Axles in it. The big problem was that all the Turbonique stuff was shit and it didn't hold up. Middlebrooks had lots of ideas and designs but the stuff was always on the verge of breaking or blowing up. I had no idea how dangerous the Turbonique rocket kart was until a few years after the fact and I looked back on my time with it and thought about how lucky I was that the thing didn't blow up."

But back to the Chevelle.

"So the car was able to be driven around on the regular engine and transmission, but you didn't use that on the strip. On the track I would put the car in neutral, hit the button and drive the Chevelle down the track with the rocket axle providing the power and smoking the tires all the way down. The way the rocket axle worked was pretty simple. There was a rocket engine that was ignited when I hit the button. The exhaust (thrust) from the rocket engine would spin this big turbine wheel which was attached to some planetary gears that spun the axles and drove the car. The problem was that the gears and turbine wheels couldn't hold up to the abuse and I had a couple turbine wheels break and even melt on me. All this came to an end when I went through the lights at 162mph, the turbine wheel melted and locked the whole works up tight. I was told the car rolled 12 times. I was lucky not to be killed and I was done with anything that had to do with Turbonique."

Read the entire interview, "The Life and Rocket Powered Times of Capt Jack McClure "
http://www.bangshift.com/blog/The-Life-and-Rocket-Propelled-Times-of-Captain-Jack-McClure-One-of-Drag-Racing-s-Most-Incredible-Performers.html

turbonique go kart photo I just came across

If you haven't read about Turbonique power adding jet turbos before, see everything there is to learn (not much compared to most things I've posted, but if adding a 1000 horespower bolt on part catches your attention, you'll love to look through http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/search/label/turbonique)

image via http://scootermcrad.blogspot.com/2010/04/jet-powered.html

Another Turbonique application of crazy... the Boss Cat snowmobile, why did it need 1000 hp? Land speed record of course

images via: http://www.bosscatlegacy.com/bosscat1/bosscat1.htm from the post by http://hooniverse.com/blog/2010/01/27/boss-cat-i-1000hp-of-turbonique-fun-in-the-snow/#more-8054

For more about the unreal bolt on 1000 hp turbonique: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/search/label/turbonique

New videos of the Turbonique using dragsters at the track, a Chevelle, the Bug, and a go-cart

If you are interested in more about this crazy bolt on 1000 horsepower power adder, see all the cool stuff I've collected about it, photos, videos, and advertising: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/search/label/turbonique

But blowing me away is the 79 photos collection by Iowahawk: http://www.flickr.com/photos/iowahawk_blog/sets/72157604279213043/

Turbonique ( bolt on 850 HP ) advertising, the Turbo Axle and the "AP" supercharger, plus a couple that were in the classifieds

Jack McClure's go kart at the 1964 Louisville Auto exhibition, powered by twin Turbonique t-16 jets, it turns 152mph in the quarter. 400 lbs of thrust.

This is more info on Turbonique than I've ever seen in all of my searching on the internet... all that I've posted before is here: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2006/12/once-men-were-allowed-to-be-men-crazy.html and http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2008/03/turbonique-1000-horsepower-bolt-on.html

Turbonique, the 1000 horsepower bolt on

Would you pilot this to 215 MPH?

In Dec '06 I posted about the Turbonique bolt on power adder, http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2006/12/once-men-were-allowed-to-be-men-crazy.html#links And with the links in that posting you can get to the websites that have more about these monster power boosting gadgets, but I have come across a couple other photos and links if you like to be amazed once more: here are pics of a go cart with the Turbonique boosters.... connected to cars, motorcycles, go carts, boats, practically anything with an engine that could use an extra 1000 horsepower.

Via http://horsepowersports.com/turbonique-rocket-kart-for-sale/#more-81 who found this on Ebay, the fuel for these? Thermolene rocket fuel, a combination of nitromethane, propane and oxygen, they were essentially a rocket powered turbine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1ebbzZUa40&eurl=http://www.classiccar.com/wordpress/ for a good video about the heir to the RJ Reynolds tobacco company's Galaxie 500 with a "rocket drag axle" from Turbonique

For all the advertising I've came across about Turbonique: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2009/06/turbonique-advertising-turbo-axle-and.html

Turbonique article from Feb 1969 Mechanics Illustrated

Once, men were allowed to be men... crazy daredevil, 4 motor, 4 wheel drive, rocket powered nuts.

http://www.almar.easynet.be/turbonique.htm has a really good article, and good photos.
http://vales.com/MTM2/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=12159&ARCHIVE for the best color pics and description of how powerfully enticing this was, it went on go carts (215 mph), cars, boats, etc... strap on 1000 HP, or the full boogie 1500 HP if you clang with big brass notes when you shuffle along.

http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2006/04/the_real_acme.html

I won't even repost the madness here.... I can't possibly do justice to the sheer machoness of strapping a 1000 hp 760 ft lbs rocket to the rear axle of a dragster and hitting the "fun" button. Trust me, Coop, and iowahawk... read it all, soak it in. Our fathers and grandfathers were effing madmen with motors and we should just drop to one knee in homage the the giants who once walked the USA, racing for the shits and grins of it all.

thanks to http://positiveapeindex.blogspot.com/2006/04/real-acme.html for reminding me about this, and I'll have more on this from my archived books and magazines someday.

http://www.the-rocketman.com/turbonique1.html has 5 photo galleries of bikes, boats, cars, and go karts that had used these.

In August 2007 CarDomain found an original Cougar with a Turbonique still strapped on: http://blog.cardomain.com/blog/2007/08/turbonique.html

For a good long write up: http://garagemagazine.com/archive-the-real-acme/