BERYLLIUM 102

Doctors haven't "recently" discovered that beryllium is highly toxic. It's been known for many years as it has been used in the aerospace industry at least since the 60's. Most machine shops won't touch the stuff and those that will have to install elaborate systems to trap airborne particles. Machine tool operators usually wear protective clothing and masks as well. I firmly believe that all forms of racing would be better off without it, but detecting it in a rapid and inexpensive manner could be a problem.

Best regards,

Nick Davis

BURK IS BOFFO ON BRACKETS

Hey, a real good one. Kudos to the Burkster. Keep it up.

Thank you for finally "seeing the light" on the difference between sportsman (you call it bracket) and professional (you call it drag) racing. Us bracket racers fully understand the difference and quite frankly, are proud of our abilities as drivers/tuners. Does not necessarily require less time and savvy, it is just applied toward consistency instead of ET, and that is where us sportsmen get somewhat upset, people thinking we are incompetent just because we are not running Pro Mod. Besides, we have to do more than "stab and steer," we have to drive the starting and finish lines.

As far as Pro Mod and the "show" versus the racing, it is the same dilemma. The casual fan wants a show and for the most part, a rivalry is the best way to have a show, since we cannot use sex (I have not seen a SFI bikini, have you?). I really don't think IHRA is concerned about the engines; it is the blower vs bottle rivalry they are trying to maintain. Since there is not a brand rivalry, we will have a power adder rivalry. Remember, what was drag racing's all time greatest show? Garlits and Muldowney. It did not hurt the gate that they really did not like each other back then, either. And that was also when drag racing realized they had to offer more than just racing to draw the casual fan. Look at NHRA Pro Stock, the Anderson/Johnson rivalry has really spiced up the class, at least on the ESPN TV show. And it is not just drag racing; the Dallas Cowboys started the cheerleaders when they realized they had to offer more than a real good football team.

William D. (Dee) Kruse

JOK DOESN'T SPEAK CROSSTALK

Jok, I think you've missed the point of the Crosstalk system all together. It was born out of the blinded tree starting system that the tracks in Division 7 refused to give up and, accordingly, there was a severe lack of "fast" cars running the bracket races. Either they just didn't show up or they put their car on the throttle stop to slow it down enough to get a "clean" tree or avoid bad splits. The whole purpose of Crosstalk is to try and lure more fast cars to bracket races at tracks that use a blinded tree while appeasing the slower car drivers who always complained that the faster cars got to hit both sides of the unblinded tree.

As for your complaint about the timing of getting on the converter, it shouldn't be an issue unless you fall asleep after letting go of the transbrake button. You just need to react to your second bulb coming on and hit the throttle then. Even if you have a slow personal reaction time you've still got over .500 a second for your car to reach the chip before it launches. If it can't make it in that amount of time you need to be working on tune-up. I've been racing on Crosstalk for 6 months now and I've never failed to have my engine on the chip when it launched. It's not hard, just different.

Give it a chance! It's my opinion that Crosstalk is the best thing that has happened to bracket racing in a long time.

Sincerely,

Greg Stanley

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