:-D.. watta joke ! but not impossible, there's a chance, always. it just funny imagine if it could happen what the driver in this 28k hp car would think when he realize it (what the.. (?_?))
I was there that day, when interviewed as to why he couldn’t quite make the 300mph in earlier runs he said “I black out at 298 mph and my thumbs come off the dead mans handles, causing the chutes to open” , after the epic 308 mph run he was again interviewed and asked how he had stopped himself from blacking out, his answer “ I still blacked out but I had taped the handles down so the chute couldn’t open. Absolute hero.
Man the curve on that track was almost too close for comfort to be heading towards it at 400 mph! To say the parachute is a must would be a gross understatement.
They've turned that into an 18 degree banked turn now for the upcoming F1 events. At the time of the video it was called 'Bosuit' wich means 'out of the forrest' because when the track was built it was actually coming out of the forrest 😁 They later renamed it to the 'Arie Luyendijk' corner. It wasn't as close as it seems in the video though.
I thought the same thing. Decades ago the Winter Nationals in Arizona was held at beeline Dragway. At the time this drag strip was far out of town next to the dry Salt River, between Mesa and Fountain Hills. Occasionally cars would overshoot the end of the strip and they would end up in the river bottom which wasn't all sand. Many times the cars came back in pieces after driving over River Rocks 8 to 10 in around. At that time top horsepower was right at around 2500 HP. And of course we had the likes of Don perdone, Tom McEwen, Big Daddy Don Garlits, and Connie Coletta who later had a home three houses down from mine at Stellar Airpark. It was amazing to watch him do vertical takeoffs with his Lear. LOL
I was there for that run and video doesn't do it justice. That car sent a shockwave out that is really weird to explain. With the exception of the Saturn V launch at MSD(minimum safe distance)this was something that you had to be there to truly understand the power.
I saw several Vanishing point runs and like you say seeing is believing... Hearing the few little pops and parps for the show does nothing to prepare you for the explosion you hear and feel when it leaves the line!
Due to some work we did on one of the test pads at China Lake, got to watch them test a Saturn V. LoL, it burned up that entire $3million dollar 6 months worth of work in about 10 seconds, spauling the very concrete the project was designed to protect anyway. It was NOT supposed to be sacrificial.
@@thomasrobinette3227 Why would you doubt it? I was a teen when they switched from the V-12 Allisons and Merlins in unlimited hydroplane racing. Watched Garlitts several times at SIR when he was still sitting behind the motor. It was the 70's and 80's for crying out loud. Some of us are actually still running around with functioning brains.
Feel very privileged to have seen Sammy run many times at the Pod and also side by side runs with both Al Airedam ? and Allan Herridge in the Oxygen car. Spent a few nights with him in The Hind having a few bevvies and listening to stories of his exploits. What a lovely gracious guy he was. He was well loved at The Pod and it was a sad day when we heard he'd been killed by a freak explosion at his work place in the states. Thanks for the wonderful memories Sammy lad !
Almost cried here, his name still on my mind since 1976, I read it on a magazine called Jet Cars & Rocket Mania, I was a teenager in Brazil and just started to dream to come to America. Now I'm old and I'm here. Mission accomplished!
Did some poking around because I didn't hear why the record runs weren't counted in the video (maybe I missed it?) but it seems like it's because they weren't backed up with another run within 1% which is required by NHRA and FIA rules from what I've found. Still a very cool pass.
the 1% rule did not exist back then, and the FIA did not set the rules for drag racing in europe until many years later, i was fortunate enough to witness the claimed 3.58 at the pod, it certainly seemed quick at the time, but as the years have passed you have to remember that back then drag racing timing data was pretty basic, no timing boards or slips, no 60 foot times or 330 half track times to compare a run, even as a spectator you relied on and had to believe whatever the man on the tannoy told you..........at a time when the track owners were keen to get the sport talked about, hype or fact? maybe both, but many years later i'm still not sure even after seeing it.
@@promodpromod with today's technology, and people having a hard time hitting 5's on regular car build, I dont see how 30+ years ago they were able to do it. If that were the case, 30 years of technology would put us in the "0.12" quater range. Shouldn't even take a second.
holy shit imagine being thrown back into the seat at like hyperspeed then immediately flung forward again when the chutes deploy, that shit is ridiculous
... and then have to steer the car left around the track after chute deployment, with that "my eyes exploded on me" feeling after the forward then reverse G force pull.
It still amuses me that the official UK land speed record is 301mph, yet the lap record at Santa Pod, still held by Sammy Miller almost 40 years on, is 386mph 😂
@@silverbulletgarage309the fact they have to run 2 ways and average the time to set a record is silly. If you went 500mph (I know ludicrous number) in one pass that should no doubt be the record. Duplicating it only shows reliability. And this event was recorded so why is this 400+mph run not a record?
@@xDPx-zh7vr Duplicating it does not just show reliability. It removes the possible benefit of picking a course that goes downhill and makes it much less likely to have a tailwind both ways.
@@youtubeaccount9058 I mean no speed record should be set on a "downhill" course. But if you shatter the record one direction and then break down and can't go back it doesn't count. Which is absurd.
Spent an evening with Sammy in the Santa Pod Cafe one Artic Easter. An absolute gentleman and someone who was happy to talk cars with a 17 year old and his mates.
Good God, the last half of the quarter mile the car picked up some serious speed. It looked like it was on its way to break the sound barrier but ran out of track and probably fuel next. What an amazing feat of engineering that I doubt not too many people know about, Rest In Peace Slammin Sammy
There's only been 1 jet car that's ever broke the sound barrier. It was the Brits, on a very long course at Black Rock Dry Lake(yes, the same dry lake where Burning Man happens every year), Nevada on Oct 15, 1997. Jets were popular "Exhibition" cars in drag racing & did pretty well as tractor pullers in the past but technology in piston engines, blowers & power adders have surpassed anything a jet can do on a land vehicle. Jets are much cheaper to run than a blown fuel motor which must be totally rebuilt after every 1,000ft pass.
He blacked out constantly.. He talks about it in a few interviews.. He is absolutely reaching 8+ G's.. Pretty sure Top Fuel Dragsters reach close to 8 G's so, its probably even higher.
total and utter bs, oly about 5 maybe 6 g's at the max, but stopping at over 300+ miles per hour in a top fuel car is around 11 g's its fact people the most g's ever recorded in a drag car jet or top fuel at take off is around 5g's but stopping them is around 11 g's which is why the drivers have to close their eyes to stop them from popping out of their heads its a fact look it up people?
@@7071t6bro fighter jet pilots literally have to train w 10 g forces n they can’t close there eyes. The eyes popping out of head is bs otherwise we wouldn’t have pilots to fly fighter jets n there r many vids of them training w 10 g forces
@@DoomedBySociety I'm not an expert, but fighter pilots experience high positive g's doing maneuvers like turning or pulling back on the stick. They experience high negative g's pushing forward on the stick and diving. I don't think an airplane would ever experience high horizontal g's like a dragster popping it's chute, unless the airplane lands on aircraft carrier or hits something. I know F1 cars can sustain 4 to 6.5 g's in all four directions for an entire race, which must be brutal on the drivers.
John 17:2-3 (KJV) As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Je'-sus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
I used to watch Sammy Miller at Miami Hollywood Dragway in Florida lots of times. He was very humble and very nice to my son every time he talked with him. When you stood in the stands the shockwave would push you back as Sammy flew past. R.I.P. Sammy.
@@Zaroonkhan6071 in normal over the counter concentrations its practicaly harmless but in the concintrations used in rockets and such (50%? 10%?) It commands respect.
@@Zaroonkhan6071 It needs to be a super high concentration, and then injected into an oxidizer pack in order to react and generate the thrust. They used to spray it through metal(silver?) mesh screens, which caused the chemical reaction.
@@Zaroonkhan6071hydrogen peroxide at high concentrations is also known as a monopropellant. I like the last commentary above me mentioned you can spray it through Catalyst just like your catalytic converter and your vehicles and it causes the spontaneous reaction where it decomposes and releases excess gas which can create thrust which is why they use it in spacecraft for the correction end navigation thrusters. But nothing stopping you from using it as a single propellant exhaust in a drag car either
Well, think about it. There was so much safety built into the car. Even when he did crash, he survived it. The car was arguably safer than many more commonplace things in life.
I was at the pod in 1984 when he ran the 3.58, I can tell you that it was something that’s stuck with me ever since and spurred my love of anything that had an engine (or rocket) ever since.
Not sure what year I saw Sammy at Santa Pod but DLT judged a wet T-shirt competition and a pro fueller crashed. And I remember the music they played while Sammy was on the line sounded a bit like Tubular bells but it wasnt
Never been that into drag racing but really enjoyed the background to this guy followed by the actual footage which is pretty incredible to watch. If it looks that fast on camera I can't imagine what it would be like to actually experience such acceleration.
@@yourmomdx I guess it’s all relative. Overall I prefer rally driving with all its twists and turns. Anyway, each to his own. The world would be pretty boring if we all liked the same thing.
I was thrilled to see this pop-up on TH-cam. I was close with Sam and still think of him often. You got it right, he was a gentleman, and a genius, a fierce competitor, a self trained engineer, and did the best Donald Duck voice I’ve ever heard, even better than Donald duck himself. You should hear about the rocket street car he made. That will be a story for another day…
Not only was it the fastest pass ever, but has to be one of the most planted and least sketchy passes I’ve seen at those kinds of speeds too! Thanks for sharing.
I’ll never forget Sammy….Great Guy. Winner of the Funny Car title at the 1971 NHRA GrandNationals in Sanair , Canada At the Custom Car Show @ the Coliseum in NYC, in I think 1973 My friend Norman Blake took a photo of me in Sammy Millers Wedge shaped Top Fuel Dragster….great memory… Another one was at Raceway Park in Englishtown NJ. 21 Funny Car Racers came out for a benefit race to support fellow Funny Car racer Arnie Swenson who had been injured in a Funny Car fire. They ran, I believe 2 rounds and in I think the second round? Sammy ran a 6.72 second pass which at that time was only .03 hundredths of a second off the NHRA National Record. Sammy Miller is a true legend of racing and it’s an honor to remember this great gentleman! Thank You Sammy for great memories! 👍🏻😎
RIP to all the great legends of the jet cars. I wish I could remember the year it was,but my memory fails me. I was at the U.S. NATIONALS, during a break in rounds, they had a jet car make an exhibition pass. It was the red LAVA car. Each time he burped it,the control tower windows would fluctuate...bad! We kept waiting for them to blow out,but thankfully they didn't! It's tragic when a racer passes away, but to do it working in a oil field...❤😎🏁💔😯😔😥
Never saw Miller back in the day but I did see a hydrogen peroxide rocket (same type of engine Miller used) rail dragster make a pass in the early 70’s. It was at Fresno Dragways outside of Fresno, CA. It was a 1/4 mile track with only a 1/4 mile shutdown. I will never forget the total silence followed by a sudden deafening shriek from the engine. As I recall the car ran around 300 which was WAY faster than any nitro powered rails ran at the time. We were all convinced that the car couldn’t stop in time and was going to end up in a field beyond the track. Well, we were wrong and he did stop the car in time. I was so bummed when the No imagination Hot Tod Association outlawed rocket cars. They were really unique and cool.
Raisin City Dragway. Nice! I grew up around drag racing but they had already outlawed rocket cars by then. Never got to see Raisin City or Baylands either. Damn it. Were they louder than Top Fuelers? I can't imagine.
Same here. Vega H2O2 funny car in Sacramento in about 1982. Deafening shriek is a good descriptor. It blew vapor rings out of the titanium combustion chamber and nozzle just before launch. Got to see it from the loud end. 😀
I remember some news story on BBC Look East, late 70's early 80's, when Vanishing Point (great name!) appeared at Santa Pod. They quoted, as I remember, that this rocket car did Zero to 100 miles per hour in 0.4 of a second. That is not a typo, I've checked. Sammy reckoned he experienced up to 8g in that admittedly quite brief time, but hey, I believe him! What a hero! Thanks for sharing this crazy stuff. Love and peace.
@@kgkbuugj _"...if einstein was so smart to make this sh*t up about age and stuff..."_ He didn't make anything up; he discovered it. Relativity is scientific fact.
I personally saw a twin engine rocket car exhibition run once. It was pretty wild. The announcer said the car exceeded the track speed limit. I didn't even know the track had a speed limit. You learn something new every day.
I saw one named Natural High in Rockingham NC in 1978 or 79.I think that Sammy guy was driving it.The next year and later we never heard or saw of it again
I saw him in Vanishing Point in the late 70s (or was it a few years later?) at Santa Pod. I’ll never forget it. There was a godallmighty bang as the thing (allegedly powered by a rocket from the lunar landing module) took off. Virtually every window in the overhead control bridge shattered. I swear that Sammy had passed the quarter mile post before the glass landed on the tarmac! What a fabulous event to witness.
Sammy was a sweetheart of a person he was married to my cousin God bless him God bless her I love her so much with all my heart and all their children what a beautiful family. Sammy was just a super super cool guy. People need to know who Sammy Miller is he was unbelievable and what he did. One of a kind Father, husband' true gentleman
I got a hunch that he was something special by the way that car went down the track looking like it was on rails. Insane acceleration and speed, yet the car looks like it's just chillin, out for a Sunday drive ;-)
Remember seeing him at Santa Pod a few times. I may even had been to this event. Great bloke, always willing to talk to everyone wandering in the pits. I remember him replying to a question about the g forces and he said " it goes a little grey". Balls of steel
Cool. I know it's not G based greying out but the grey comment reminds me of Joey Dunlop's answer to a question about how he could maintain the stupidly high speeds they run on the narrow 'bumpty' A roads at the Isle of Man TT. "I keep the grey blur between the green blurs"
R.I.P. Sammy Miller, only just heard of him, what a performer ! 3.58 Secs in 1/4 mile ? Wow ! Only recently became aware of drag racing, always knew it was there, but didn't take too much notice for whatever reason. Thanks :)
Sammy Miller was a genius, a guy that saw promise in a couple of local kids who were as dedicated as they could be on the money they had. Tom " Tip " Donahue and I were regulars at Sammy's shop to try to help out and to learn from the master. Sammy could spend an hour with someone and tell if they were racers or should stay with " STICK AND BALL " He saw something in us and he spent a lot of time teaching us. His teaching methods were very basic. When he taught me how to build a 6-71 blower, I stood back while he built one and explained what and why. When he finished he took it all back apart, put the tools away, said " Now you do it. " and walked away. After several hours I came out of the shop and told him i couldn't do it. " There is one spot where the feeler gauge fits very loose and I can't find any damage. " He just about busts a gut laughing. That is an old blower that is for training and seeing how good these "blower experts " are. You won't see any damage because one lobe was hand sanded to be .003 loose in the middle. When you run into that, the first thing to look for is a bent rotor. You did good for the first time. " Sammy was a major factor of our evolving from a pair of motorhead kids to finishing my drag racing career with a B/FD that was Sammy's A/FD in the early 60s. We bought it from a guy that bought it from Sammy, so who better to find out how to run it. One of our first questions was " how do you monitor the engine without gauges? " Sammy said " You don't. After the second yellow, you mash it and go as the last bulb starts to dim, you don't need to be distracted by a tach or temp. The only gauge you need is that oil pressure sticking up from the block. " I asked, " what does that tell you ?" His answer was classic Sammy Miller. " If the needle hits zero, LIFT AND DUCK "
Very good job👍👍👍👍👍👍 Thank you for clearing up this misinterpretation for someone whom was a friend of mine... ...Lots fans had confused the two passes for years but yes, the 3.22 was NOT recorded at Santa Pod ! I still get teary-eyed today when watching, Kinda hard to fantom Sammy's been gone from us almost 20 years now! Still pains me but this sure helps...Total thumbs up to you sir !
It would be really interesting to do a side by side comparison with a split screen between a modern fuel dragster and Sammys rocket car. The difference would be startling. The NHRA AA/FD record is 3.623 seconds to 1000’. Their 1/8th mile (660’) ET is actually pretty close to the 3.22 ET Sammy ran here meaning Sammy crossed the 1/4 mile (1320’) about the time the fastest NHRA AA/FD crossed the 1/8th mile marker!!
To give people a “street car” comparison... Sammy’s rocket car vs a Top Fuel would be like a Tesla Model S P100D lining up against a stock 2020 Corolla SE.
I as actually off a little on the estimated 1/8th mile of NHRA TF cars. They typically run the 1/8th mile in 3.0’s. Best ever 1/8th mile by a TF car is around 3.90.
@@danmyers9372 ok, but imagine being in a nitro car, on what feels like a good pass and watching that little rocket car get smaller and smaller. I wonder if it would have been quicker in a rail.
@@DjDolHaus86 I meant what's the max G that the astronauts feel? It's not much on takeoff of course with all that fuel weighing it down, but as it burns the G just keeps on increasing 😃
@@82NeXus the amount of G you feel is relative to acceleration, not mass. As they launch with the full force of the main rockets they are under about 4-6G as the craft rapidly accelerates away from earth. The Saturn 5 rockets accelerate the payload up to about 17500 mph in about 4 minutes in order to get into orbit.
I watched him at Santa Pod in 81. He ran 2 rocket cars side by side. One was Vanishing Point driven by him (I think). The other was a completely different design like a torpedo with 3 wheels which was driven by a stunt man (who else!). Both set incredible times, from memory well into the 3’ and 350mph. To see these things fly down the track side by side was a sight I’ll never forget. I remember there being no build up. No burn out like a fuel car and no build up of thrust like a jet car, just total silence and then the scream of the rockets when they blasted off. It was one of my first ever drag meetings and I thought what I was watching was normal!
Glad to see someone do a video on Sammy Miller. Would love to see something longer featuring all 3 Vanishing Point Cars and the 2 Oxygen cars. I was fortunate enough to see him live on a couple of occations. I'll never forget it.
I Consider my privileged to have been able to witness the “Vanishing Point” rocket car on at least two different occasions at “Raceway Park New Jersey”! ! ! THE Second time I witnessed the car I was determined to see it near the end of the track, at speed! SO I was about at the 5/8-3/4 mark, opposite the pits, if you blinked your eyes, you missed him going passed you!
I too saw it at Englishtown back in the day. That was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. Dead silent. The WHOOSH!!! It was astonishingly fast. Then silence as people were sort of absorbing what they just watched. Then the little black floaters in the air like when you get an oxy / acetylene torch too rich. Simply incredible.
“Slamming” Sammy was a friend through my auto parts business, he lived in Ft Lauderdale and ran with us at Hollywood Dragstrip out in the Florida Everglades. He eventually had to go to Europe to not be harassed by NHRA. RIP my friend, you were a great guy that I miss.
For some reason this was always low keyed in drag racing. I never knew why and this the first actual footage I’ve ever seen. All I knew was NHRA banned it and that was that. Thank you for sharing what I knew about for since the 70’s but was never able to see!
I saw him run that car at Englishtown New Jersey when I was a kid,,, I remember the whole crowd counting down to zero...total silence then it was gone....I'll never forget it, that car was awesome....
I was at "The Pod" in 1984. I normally watched and smiled, calmly enjoying the spectacle. When Sammy went up in "Vanishing Point" I was up clapping and cheering my head off like a deranged schoolboy... Wow!!!
Can you please give a detailed explanation of that day please? This looks insane and would definitely like to know more of someone who were there...and never heard of this record.
@@JUNIOR43950 Detailed explanation? It’s over 40 years ago! All I really remember was some strange music being played over the PA system and I think they had a tipper truck with the bed up for a blast shield. There was a lot of vapor like a cloud then this loud pop and 3 seconds later this great whoosh noise as he went past 1/4 mile.
@@andrewstoffel1170 yeah that was long time ago...guess you forget the details...thanks anyway for taking your time and explain it a bit more, this just boggles my mind how fast it is by just watching a video can't imagine how it was to spectate it in person as you said 40 years ago...and sorry for my English is not my main language.
being pushed rly hard and ofc a ton of downforce, then the 'chute popping, yes. far different from the torsional forces on a conventional chassis, with engine driving wheels & tires.
It's insane to think you could pass the starting line at top speed in a Ferrari and he could still take off from a dead stop and pass you, lol. That's absolutely mad.
Sammy was a very nice guy! I met him, in Ft. Lauderdale in 78 & 79. He was a regular in the auto parts store I worked at. He had a heck of a sense of humor and loved practical jokes. He came in one day drinking out of a Prestone anti-freeze bottle! We kind of freaked out until he laughed and said it was just lemonade. I got to hang with him in the pits and, yeah, I remember his 3.94 in Fla. Ah, the 70's!
I was there during Sammy Millers race,I think it was 1983 in Zandvoort.And it was a run on 1/8 mile.The firetruck in the back off Sammy had blown out windows.
Another reason why I love the 70s & 80s what an amazing car imagine driving it on the street a rocket car and we think a 1K HP street car is extremely powerful.
It’s all relative… go drive your hydrogen peroxide rocket car down the street and see how many miles you can go all while there are cars running 6s that can drive from state to state. Using the word “we” means you think the same way as the super fast street car you think sucks. This video was cool to see but there’s no reason to compare apples to oranges lmao
I actualy watched this run in real live as a kid. I was at Zandvoort that day seeing making that run. Never forget it, the heat coming from that car and not being able to follow him, his car flashed by before my eyes and he was gone. Most impressive run I have ever seen. And I believe Henk Vink made a pass on his rocket bike the same day, and there where even jet cars. So this day was a real treat of speed.
I was there for the weekend. There also were a few Top Fuel dragsters and funnycars, Top Fuel bikes, Pro Mod's at the 1/8 mile dragstrip Zandvoort. Henk Vink also was there with his twin engine Top Fuel and his rocketbike.......
Holy shit, it looked just as cool as it sounded. Never saw a dragster making a turn while slowing down. That's some 1960s style showmanship. Totally bad ass. 5 stars for maximum entertainment. The half mile would be even cooler. Might break the sound barrier.
In 1976 on July 4th I saw the "Age of Aquarius" rocket car lay down a 4.44 at 298 mph in Puyallup. I was standing beside the track about 60 feet from the start line and I'm certain that it left the ground for a second.
I know what you mean, it would leave so quick you couldn't always follow it, it was suddenly yards down the track & disappearing fast. I saw the 3.58 & also blowing the windows out of the tower, can't remember if they were same or different runs. I remember the flame shockwave diamonds in the exhaust appearing to chase the car down the track. Awesome.
My brother in law worked at Schiphol (Amsterdam Airport) and had seen the car during his work. The car was shipped in a steel frame and he'd been standing there for a while, looking at what he thougt was a massive exhaust 😁 When I played him the video (literally a video recording) he recognized the car and finally understood why the 'exhaust' was that big. I must have played that video at least a hundred times. I had another video of a drag show, with a.o. Sammy Miller, in the US and it had a guy in it that had built a 'Wild West' stage coach copy, but with a big V8 in the back. It threw a lot of flames and ran almost the entire track on it's rear wheels. Lost the video, searched the internet, but never found it again. Just realized how the meaning of the words 'drag show' can change in time 😁
Back in the 70's there was a lot of wild exhibition vehicles. Great times to see guys with big balls to put on a show. I watched a guy at MCIR in Ohio with a rocket powered go-cart. It was faster than T/F diggers at the time. Awesome!
I had a neighbor that had a rocket car, rocket dragster, and a rocket go cart...Fred Goeski was his name. He didn't even have a regular drivers license!
@@radiocontrolsoul No, not NHRA, IHRA still does. It was for safety reasons to give more run off room to slow down as a few ran long and were killed. Most famously was Scott Kalitta.
In Germany there would still be a passat tdi tailgating him
:-D.. watta joke ! but not impossible, there's a chance, always. it just funny imagine if it could happen what the driver in this 28k hp car would think when he realize it (what the.. (?_?))
Also those damn Audi drivers, they always are up tailgating people
@@potatoavacadonion1025 And then the Check engine warning would hit them hard
And he would scream " was'n das für 'n Kombi?"
@@romansenger2322" wasn mit dem Ding los, das geht ab wie sau! "
I was there that day, when interviewed as to why he couldn’t quite make the 300mph in earlier runs he said “I black out at 298 mph and my thumbs come off the dead mans handles, causing the chutes to open” , after the epic 308 mph run he was again interviewed and asked how he had stopped himself from blacking out, his answer “ I still blacked out but I had taped the handles down so the chute couldn’t open. Absolute hero.
wow
incredible
No way
Holy shit LEGEND. I wonder how he even stopped lmfao
@@michaellk2254 After you climb Everest in your sleep, what is there left to accomplish? That's what he did, in his drag race, for a drag racer.
402MPH! That's freakin' nuts!
ITS LIKE COMPARING A HYABUSA TO A TRICYCLE...
YOU PEOPLE ARE RIDICLESS...LMAO
@@davethompson8283 I was just going to say that!
You can reach 530 mph easy with more engines.
@@iamarizonaball2642 what in a quater mile?
@@neiltitmus9744 535 miles per hour. 861 kilometers per hour.
Man the curve on that track was almost too close for comfort to be heading towards it at 400 mph! To say the parachute is a must would be a gross understatement.
They've turned that into an 18 degree banked turn now for the upcoming F1 events.
At the time of the video it was called 'Bosuit' wich means 'out of the forrest' because when the track was built it was actually coming out of the forrest 😁
They later renamed it to the 'Arie Luyendijk' corner.
It wasn't as close as it seems in the video though.
If the video is from the 80’s then that is the old Bos Uit. The one from the 90’s onwards is even closer. It is also banked now as rikkierikkie said.
Do you know whats in the curve? A field with rubble and cobble stones....
Rockets and parachutes really don't mix well. Parachute, what parachute? We're just dragging some flames behind us!
I thought the same thing.
Decades ago the Winter Nationals in Arizona was held at beeline Dragway. At the time this drag strip was far out of town next to the dry Salt River, between Mesa and Fountain Hills. Occasionally cars would overshoot the end of the strip and they would end up in the river bottom which wasn't all sand. Many times the cars came back in pieces after driving over River Rocks 8 to 10 in around.
At that time top horsepower was right at around 2500 HP. And of course we had the likes of Don perdone, Tom McEwen, Big Daddy Don Garlits, and Connie Coletta who later had a home three houses down from mine at Stellar Airpark. It was amazing to watch him do vertical takeoffs with his Lear. LOL
I was there for that run and video doesn't do it justice. That car sent a shockwave out that is really weird to explain. With the exception of the Saturn V launch at MSD(minimum safe distance)this was something that you had to be there to truly understand the power.
I saw several Vanishing point runs and like you say seeing is believing... Hearing the few little pops and parps for the show does nothing to prepare you for the explosion you hear and feel when it leaves the line!
I think it shattered the tower windows
Due to some work we did on one of the test pads at China Lake, got to watch them test a Saturn V. LoL, it burned up that entire $3million dollar 6 months worth of work in about 10 seconds, spauling the very concrete the project was designed to protect anyway. It was NOT supposed to be sacrificial.
I doubt u were there. This was years ago bro
@@thomasrobinette3227 Why would you doubt it? I was a teen when they switched from the V-12 Allisons and Merlins in unlimited hydroplane racing. Watched Garlitts several times at SIR when he was still sitting behind the motor. It was the 70's and 80's for crying out loud. Some of us are actually still running around with functioning brains.
Feel very privileged to have seen Sammy run many times at the Pod and also side by side runs with both Al Airedam ? and Allan Herridge in the Oxygen car.
Spent a few nights with him in The Hind having a few bevvies and listening to stories of his exploits. What a lovely gracious guy he was. He was well loved at The Pod and it was a sad day when we heard he'd been killed by a freak explosion at his work place in the states.
Thanks for the wonderful memories Sammy lad !
Grandson: "how fast did your car go?"
Grandfather: "I needed to wear a Gsuit"
... and a diaper.
@@freeagent8604 LMAO good one
It could make your occult aortic aneurysm burst, you know.
Did have your ultrasonic scan yet ? I had.
Gordon freeman
Grandson: " .....and how many G's did you reach "?
Grandfather: " All OF 'EM!"
I was looking at it, thinking "where is the engine for 28k HP?" Then I hear that it's a rocket car, and it all made sense...
Bro it tells you before the video starts
Stupid to even think an engine would make 28k horsepower
@@who_nextwitthaplex6507 It can and did, this isn't your average 350 Einstein
Big ass container ships have piston engines bigger than a house that can make tens of thousands of horsies.
Wouldn't it make thrust and not horsepower?
Almost cried here, his name still on my mind since 1976, I read it on a magazine called Jet Cars & Rocket Mania, I was a teenager in Brazil and just started to dream to come to America. Now I'm old and I'm here. Mission accomplished!
proud of ya
Did some poking around because I didn't hear why the record runs weren't counted in the video (maybe I missed it?) but it seems like it's because they weren't backed up with another run within 1% which is required by NHRA and FIA rules from what I've found. Still a very cool pass.
Sup Jesse?
Where've you been?
Millers rocket car was pure exhibition. Then they were outlawed due to too many deaths
the 1% rule did not exist back then, and the FIA did not set the rules for drag racing in europe until many years later, i was fortunate enough to witness the claimed 3.58 at the pod, it certainly seemed quick at the time, but as the years have passed you have to remember that back then drag racing timing data was pretty basic, no timing boards or slips, no 60 foot times or 330 half track times to compare a run, even as a spectator you relied on and had to believe whatever the man on the tannoy told you..........at a time when the track owners were keen to get the sport talked about, hype or fact? maybe both, but many years later i'm still not sure even after seeing it.
@@promodpromod with today's technology, and people having a hard time hitting 5's on regular car build, I dont see how 30+ years ago they were able to do it.
If that were the case, 30 years of technology would put us in the "0.12" quater range. Shouldn't even take a second.
holy shit imagine being thrown back into the seat at like hyperspeed then immediately flung forward again when the chutes deploy, that shit is ridiculous
... and then have to steer the car left around the track after chute deployment, with that "my eyes exploded on me" feeling after the forward then reverse G force pull.
Imagine what the seat belt looked like
Imagine what would have happened if the shoots didn't diploy
@@lucastraman706 Mans would have disintegrated on the wall
Eyes all sucked back in your head, then thrown back out! Owww😵💫😳
It still amuses me that the official UK land speed record is 301mph, yet the lap record at Santa Pod, still held by Sammy Miller almost 40 years on, is 386mph 😂
Do you have to run the same speed in two directions like salt flats? That’s probably why
@@silverbulletgarage309the fact they have to run 2 ways and average the time to set a record is silly. If you went 500mph (I know ludicrous number) in one pass that should no doubt be the record. Duplicating it only shows reliability. And this event was recorded so why is this 400+mph run not a record?
@@xDPx-zh7vr Duplicating it does not just show reliability. It removes the possible benefit of picking a course that goes downhill and makes it much less likely to have a tailwind both ways.
@@youtubeaccount9058 I mean no speed record should be set on a "downhill" course. But if you shatter the record one direction and then break down and can't go back it doesn't count. Which is absurd.
@@xDPx-zh7vr World record speed runs have always been an average of two runs in opposite directions to negate any benefits a tail wind might give.
Spent an evening with Sammy in the Santa Pod Cafe one Artic Easter. An absolute gentleman and someone who was happy to talk cars with a 17 year old and his mates.
Lucky man!!
Me too 17 yes old ,and he was a total gentleman and funny
Good God, the last half of the quarter mile the car picked up some serious speed. It looked like it was on its way to break the sound barrier but ran out of track and probably fuel next. What an amazing feat of engineering that I doubt not too many people know about, Rest In Peace Slammin Sammy
This footage shows an attempt to do an under 2 sec. 300+ mile run over the 1/8 mile.
@@Joop.23-2-63 his time was 1.98 sec @ 299 mph on the 1/8th
There's only been 1 jet car that's ever broke the sound barrier. It was the Brits, on a very long course at Black Rock Dry Lake(yes, the same dry lake where Burning Man happens every year), Nevada on Oct 15, 1997. Jets were popular "Exhibition" cars in drag racing & did pretty well as tractor pullers in the past but technology in piston engines, blowers & power adders have surpassed anything a jet can do on a land vehicle. Jets are much cheaper to run than a blown fuel motor which must be totally rebuilt after every 1,000ft pass.
Wouldn't that have fun at Bonneville Salt Flats
The amount of G's that person pulled must've been absolutely crushing!
He blacked out constantly.. He talks about it in a few interviews.. He is absolutely reaching 8+ G's.. Pretty sure Top Fuel Dragsters reach close to 8 G's so, its probably even higher.
Literally
total and utter bs, oly about 5 maybe 6 g's at the max, but stopping at over 300+ miles per hour in a top fuel car is around 11 g's its fact people the most g's ever recorded in a drag car jet or top fuel at take off is around 5g's but stopping them is around 11 g's which is why the drivers have to close their eyes to stop them from popping out of their heads its a fact look it up people?
@@7071t6bro fighter jet pilots literally have to train w 10 g forces n they can’t close there eyes. The eyes popping out of head is bs otherwise we wouldn’t have pilots to fly fighter jets n there r many vids of them training w 10 g forces
@@DoomedBySociety I'm not an expert, but fighter pilots experience high positive g's doing maneuvers like turning or pulling back on the stick. They experience high negative g's pushing forward on the stick and diving. I don't think an airplane would ever experience high horizontal g's like a dragster popping it's chute, unless the airplane lands on aircraft carrier or hits something. I know F1 cars can sustain 4 to 6.5 g's in all four directions for an entire race, which must be brutal on the drivers.
Too bad they didn't have Dragy back then, he would've cemented himself at the top of the leader board!
Jesus Christ, i could only imagine how the gs would feel like
on a linear scale, that’s an average of 5.7 gs
@@jonathanlindgren409 god dayum, fighter pilot level.
HMMMM A *JET*???
John 17:2-3 (KJV) As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Je'-sus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
He was certainly getting up near the rocket sled tests of the 50s and 60s
I used to watch Sammy Miller at Miami Hollywood Dragway in Florida lots of times. He was very humble and very nice to my son every time he talked with him. When you stood in the stands the shockwave would push you back as Sammy flew past. R.I.P. Sammy.
Hydrogen peroxide is no joke 3.22 quarter mile is blazing. RIP sir and thank you for doing what few could.
Is it combustible ? because I have a bottle of hydrogen peroxide for cleaning purposes.
@@Zaroonkhan6071 in normal over the counter concentrations its practicaly harmless but in the concintrations used in rockets and such (50%? 10%?) It commands respect.
@@Zaroonkhan6071 It needs to be a super high concentration, and then injected into an oxidizer pack in order to react and generate the thrust. They used to spray it through metal(silver?) mesh screens, which caused the chemical reaction.
@@Zaroonkhan6071hydrogen peroxide at high concentrations is also known as a monopropellant. I like the last commentary above me mentioned you can spray it through Catalyst just like your catalytic converter and your vehicles and it causes the spontaneous reaction where it decomposes and releases excess gas which can create thrust which is why they use it in spacecraft for the correction end navigation thrusters. But nothing stopping you from using it as a single propellant exhaust in a drag car either
It is very dangerous as well. In WW2 Germany had an H2O2 rocket fighter plane. Many of the pilots were melted alive when the fuel leaked
Driver runs 3.22 second pass:
Announcers on stadium loudspeaker "And that was Vanishing Point, with an e.t. of 15 seconds, a new world record!"
"Looks like he let off early with a MPH of 94"
The 3.22 was done in The netherlands on Zandvoort raceway btw no this rule didnt apply there
@@danielstokker I thought I heard counting down in Dutch
@@wuppieigor You did
And there will still be people saying... wait till the new bugatti comes on it will be quicker bla bla xD
"We have a rocket. What should we do with it?"
"Put wheels on it!"
That was utterly insane. Life is strange as he died outside of a car 🤔
I think it was related to using Hydrogen Pyroxide though.
Yeah, he was using a process invented by someone else that involved hydrogen peroxide to stimulate an oil well, basically fracking.
Well, think about it. There was so much safety built into the car. Even when he did crash, he survived it. The car was arguably safer than many more commonplace things in life.
@@jimstenlund6017 crazy
What's really insane is he died the day I was born... I had to listen twice to that statement...
Saw him at Miami Hollywood speedway many times. It was a lunar landing rocket and was incredibly loud!
Too bad nasa didnt use it to land on the moon!!
Holy crap Ron you're on the internet? man what's world coming to Lol
How's it going man
@@Trucker-Belly the rockets were supposed to go to the moon but were used on cars and in washing machines instead..
@King Vegemite 😂👌
You mean the rocket used in the lunar lander?
I did a quick calculation and he was pulling 5.7 g's *average. That's insane.
I imagine all the sweat must have gone back inside during the run 😆
That's top gun territory ✈ 😅
I was at the pod in 1984 when he ran the 3.58, I can tell you that it was something that’s stuck with me ever since and spurred my love of anything that had an engine (or rocket) ever since.
I was stood there next to you - it was unbelievable! But it definitely happened.
Not sure what year I saw Sammy at Santa Pod but DLT judged a wet T-shirt competition and a pro fueller crashed. And I remember the music they played while Sammy was on the line sounded a bit like Tubular bells but it wasnt
Me too! 👍👍
Never been that into drag racing but really enjoyed the background to this guy followed by the actual footage which is pretty incredible to watch. If it looks that fast on camera I can't imagine what it would be like to actually experience such acceleration.
Glad you enjoyed it!
it doesn't really sound like you get to "experience" such acceleration, because when you do, you black out!
Dude how do you not like drag racing?? 🏳️🌈
@@yourmomdx I guess it’s all relative. Overall I prefer rally driving with all its twists and turns. Anyway, each to his own. The world would be pretty boring if we all liked the same thing.
@@daveshongkongchinachannel that’s a respectable answer. Enjoy your rally racing 👍🏼🏁
Made the 1/4 of a mile look like 1/8 of a mile
I was thrilled to see this pop-up on TH-cam. I was close with Sam and still think of him often. You got it right, he was a gentleman, and a genius, a fierce competitor, a self trained engineer, and did the best Donald Duck voice I’ve ever heard, even better than Donald duck himself. You should hear about the rocket street car he made. That will be a story for another day…
Not only was it the fastest pass ever, but has to be one of the most planted and least sketchy passes I’ve seen at those kinds of speeds too! Thanks for sharing.
I'm sat here wondering how he even steered it. Must have been a lot of experience feeling every move.
Sammy knew what he was doing, when you think of the other pioneers remember Sam
I’ll never forget Sammy….Great Guy.
Winner of the Funny Car title at the 1971 NHRA GrandNationals in Sanair , Canada
At the Custom Car Show @ the Coliseum in NYC, in I think 1973 My friend Norman Blake took a photo of me in Sammy Millers Wedge shaped Top Fuel Dragster….great memory…
Another one was at Raceway Park in Englishtown NJ. 21 Funny Car Racers came out for a benefit race to support fellow Funny Car racer Arnie Swenson who had been injured in a Funny Car fire. They ran, I believe 2 rounds and in I think the second round?
Sammy ran a 6.72 second pass which at that time was only .03 hundredths of a second off the NHRA National Record.
Sammy Miller is a true legend of racing and it’s an honor to remember this great gentleman!
Thank You Sammy for great memories! 👍🏻😎
Very cool, thanks
No problem!
@@ronsmith2587 I saw Al Segreni run at Napierreville Quebec Canada.
this pass is cool and all, but nothing will top that 3,000hp mustang pass you uploaded. That shit was fucking nutty
RIP to all the great legends of the jet cars. I wish I could remember the year it was,but my memory fails me. I was at the U.S. NATIONALS, during a break in rounds, they had a jet car make an exhibition pass. It was the red LAVA car. Each time he burped it,the control tower windows would fluctuate...bad! We kept waiting for them to blow out,but thankfully they didn't! It's tragic when a racer passes away, but to do it working in a oil field...❤😎🏁💔😯😔😥
Thanks for the awesome stuff you guys post @urbanhillbilly. Yall have one of the best channels around for racing!
Never saw Miller back in the day but I did see a hydrogen peroxide rocket (same type of engine Miller used) rail dragster make a pass in the early 70’s. It was at Fresno Dragways outside of Fresno, CA. It was a 1/4 mile track with only a 1/4 mile shutdown. I will never forget the total silence followed by a sudden deafening shriek from the engine. As I recall the car ran around 300 which was WAY faster than any nitro powered rails ran at the time. We were all convinced that the car couldn’t stop in time and was going to end up in a field beyond the track. Well, we were wrong and he did stop the car in time. I was so bummed when the No imagination Hot Tod Association outlawed rocket cars. They were really unique and cool.
Raisin City Dragway. Nice! I grew up around drag racing but they had already outlawed rocket cars by then. Never got to see Raisin City or Baylands either. Damn it. Were they louder than Top Fuelers? I can't imagine.
The fact that Fresno county doesn't have a real drag strip is a damn crime
Same here. Vega H2O2 funny car in Sacramento in about 1982. Deafening shriek is a good descriptor. It blew vapor rings out of the titanium combustion chamber and nozzle just before launch. Got to see it from the loud end. 😀
@@811lily Seems tracks everywhere are shutting down.
I remember some news story on BBC Look East, late 70's early 80's, when Vanishing Point (great name!) appeared at Santa Pod. They quoted, as I remember, that this rocket car did Zero to 100 miles per hour in 0.4 of a second. That is not a typo, I've checked. Sammy reckoned he experienced up to 8g in that admittedly quite brief time, but hey, I believe him! What a hero! Thanks for sharing this crazy stuff. Love and peace.
Zero to 100mph in 0.4 second is about 11g.
according to einstien, he should have been a bit younger by the end of the run
False, he would have aged less relative to those who had a slower velocity.
LOL if einstein was so smart to make this sh*t up about age and stuff then why didn't he invent a thing to make HIM younger??? 🤣😂
@@kgkbuugj
_"...if einstein was so smart to make this sh*t up about age and stuff..."_
He didn't make anything up; he discovered it. Relativity is scientific fact.
Lol you need to read up on relativity.
@@nateg08
_"Lol you need to read up on relativity."_
OK, I will.
Which of my assertions do you believe is factually incorrect?
I personally saw a twin engine rocket car exhibition run once. It was pretty wild. The announcer said the car exceeded the track speed limit. I didn't even know the track had a speed limit. You learn something new every day.
I saw one named Natural High in Rockingham NC in 1978 or 79.I think that Sammy guy was driving it.The next year and later we never heard or saw of it again
I saw him in Vanishing Point in the late 70s (or was it a few years later?) at Santa Pod. I’ll never forget it. There was a godallmighty bang as the thing (allegedly powered by a rocket from the lunar landing module) took off. Virtually every window in the overhead control bridge shattered. I swear that Sammy had passed the quarter mile post before the glass landed on the tarmac! What a fabulous event to witness.
I remember that! Great days at The Pod.
Watched him many times at the Pod and he was a Gentleman and had time for everyone.
I'm old enough to remember when Big Daddy Don Garlits record 243mph was thought unbeatable.
Fun fact: he experienced an AVERAGE acceleration of EIGHT G's over the course of the quarter mile.
5.69 Gs
It's not 8 but indeed 5,69 G
I think 7 gs is when someone dies from gs
@@hippycow1006 fighter pilots often hit 9g on max g turns, so no, 7g isn't lethal, for a fit person at least
@@hippycow1006 Also, certain people have experienced over 50 gs for very small durations of time, albeit with many injuries afterwards.
Sammy was a sweetheart of a person he was married to my cousin God bless him God bless her I love her so much with all my heart and all their children what a beautiful family. Sammy was just a super super cool guy. People need to know who Sammy Miller is he was unbelievable and what he did. One of a kind Father, husband' true gentleman
Had not heard of "Slamming Sammy Miller" and the 3.22 1/4 until today. Shared the video with my Son. So Amazing... Thanks
Thanks for the update.
I got a hunch that he was something special by the way that car went down the track looking like it was on rails. Insane acceleration and speed, yet the car looks like it's just chillin, out for a Sunday drive ;-)
Sammy was indeed a gentleman, once met never forgotten.
God bless
What was the 60ft & 1/8th times?
Don't top fuel dragster run around there?
Remember seeing him at Santa Pod a few times. I may even had been to this event.
Great bloke, always willing to talk to everyone wandering in the pits.
I remember him replying to a question about the g forces and he said " it goes a little grey". Balls of steel
Cool. I know it's not G based greying out but the grey comment reminds me of Joey Dunlop's answer to a question about how he could maintain the stupidly high speeds they run on the narrow 'bumpty' A roads at the Isle of Man TT.
"I keep the grey blur between the green blurs"
R.I.P. Sammy Miller, only just heard of him, what a performer ! 3.58 Secs in 1/4 mile ? Wow ! Only recently became aware of drag racing, always knew it was there, but didn't take too much notice for whatever reason. Thanks :)
3.2
3.22 this is a huge mistake you are making
3.22 at 402 mph is a record hold by Kitty Oneil in a track in Mojave desent.
Sammy Miller was a genius, a guy that saw promise in a couple of local kids who were as dedicated as they could be on the money they had. Tom " Tip " Donahue and I were regulars at Sammy's shop to try to help out and to learn from the master. Sammy could spend an hour with someone and tell if they were racers or should stay with " STICK AND BALL " He saw something in us and he spent a lot of time teaching us. His teaching methods were very basic. When he taught me how to build a 6-71 blower, I stood back while he built one and explained what and why. When he finished he took it all back apart, put the tools away, said " Now you do it. " and walked away. After several hours I came out of the shop and told him i couldn't do it. " There is one spot where the feeler gauge fits very loose and I can't find any damage. " He just about busts a gut laughing. That is an old blower that is for training and seeing how good these "blower experts " are. You won't see any damage because one lobe was hand sanded to be .003 loose in the middle. When you run into that, the first thing to look for is a bent rotor. You did good for the first time. " Sammy was a major factor of our evolving from a pair of motorhead kids to finishing my drag racing career with a B/FD that was Sammy's A/FD in the early 60s. We bought it from a guy that bought it from Sammy, so who better to find out how to run it. One of our first questions was " how do you monitor the engine without gauges? " Sammy said " You don't. After the second yellow, you mash it and go as the last bulb starts to dim, you don't need to be distracted by a tach or temp. The only gauge you need is that oil pressure sticking up from the block. " I asked, " what does that tell you ?" His answer was classic Sammy Miller. " If the needle hits zero, LIFT AND DUCK "
Very good job👍👍👍👍👍👍
Thank you for clearing up this misinterpretation for someone whom was a friend of mine...
...Lots fans had confused the two passes for years but yes, the 3.22 was NOT recorded at Santa Pod !
I still get teary-eyed today when watching, Kinda hard to fantom Sammy's been gone from us almost 20 years now!
Still pains me but this sure helps...Total thumbs up to you sir !
Really glad you liked it and I am just gutted I never got to see such a legend in action on the drag strip.
Bless the sacred memory.
The driver experienced an average 5.68 G during the acceleration from 0 to 402mph
It would be really interesting to do a side by side comparison with a split screen between a modern fuel dragster and Sammys rocket car. The difference would be startling. The NHRA AA/FD record is 3.623 seconds to 1000’. Their 1/8th mile (660’) ET is actually pretty close to the 3.22 ET Sammy ran here meaning Sammy crossed the 1/4 mile (1320’) about the time the fastest NHRA AA/FD crossed the 1/8th mile marker!!
Twice as fast!
Mostly¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Sad fact you are right.
To give people a “street car” comparison...
Sammy’s rocket car vs a Top Fuel would be like a Tesla Model S P100D lining up against a stock 2020 Corolla SE.
I as actually off a little on the estimated 1/8th mile of NHRA TF cars. They typically run the 1/8th mile in 3.0’s. Best ever 1/8th mile by a TF car is around 3.90.
@@danmyers9372 ok, but imagine being in a nitro car, on what feels like a good pass and watching that little rocket car get smaller and smaller. I wonder if it would have been quicker in a rail.
I feel dizzy just watching the video. How he kept it stable is amazing.
Let me see - no time recording and no top speed indicator - must be legit.
Bet the G forces of that launch were higher than those of an aircraft carrier's catapult
Considerably more than a Saturn 5 rocket (although sustained for considerably less time)
@@DjDolHaus86 How much G-Force has a Saturn V after it's burned through it's thousands of tonnes of fuel?
@@82NeXus depends which part of it you're talking about, most of it will be falling to earth at 1G but the capsule will be a little above 0G
@@DjDolHaus86 I meant what's the max G that the astronauts feel? It's not much on takeoff of course with all that fuel weighing it down, but as it burns the G just keeps on increasing 😃
@@82NeXus the amount of G you feel is relative to acceleration, not mass. As they launch with the full force of the main rockets they are under about 4-6G as the craft rapidly accelerates away from earth. The Saturn 5 rockets accelerate the payload up to about 17500 mph in about 4 minutes in order to get into orbit.
Loved living thru the 70s just brutal race cars everywhere in all sanctions
1984, what a year, I was 28yrs old and lived a literal stones throw from Santa Pod Raceway in the UK. Those were the happy days.
Oh my God that's so crazy, can't imagine doing that with old school suspension and old tires! That's completely crazyy
The tires a just a suggestion at that point.
When ever I watch this video I see and like how clean it runs. No huge clouds of smoke. All the energy is directed at thrust. Very efficient.
I saw this car at Englishtown on the Fourth of July in the late 70s early 80s. I will never forget it !
How the hell have I never heard of this 😲 Thank you Sr!
Awesome isn't it.. You're very welcome. More cool content on the way once I can get to Santa Pod to do some filming myself this summer!!
@@CrazySpeedTH-camChannel yeah same! You definitely got my sub. I've seen jet cars b4, but never heard about rocket cars.
Co
Co
at 0:50, Sammy Miller looks a bit like Owen Wilson.
Don't blink or you will miss it lol, that car is insane, great video man.
Q: How much horsepower should the car have?
A: Yes...
I think the answer would be more like "All of it." :)
Ohh by the way Super great video man really appreciate this one
I watched him at Santa Pod in 81. He ran 2 rocket cars side by side. One was Vanishing Point driven by him (I think). The other was a completely different design like a torpedo with 3 wheels which was driven by a stunt man (who else!). Both set incredible times, from memory well into the 3’ and 350mph. To see these things fly down the track side by side was a sight I’ll never forget. I remember there being no build up. No burn out like a fuel car and no build up of thrust like a jet car, just total silence and then the scream of the rockets when they blasted off.
It was one of my first ever drag meetings and I thought what I was watching was normal!
I was there as well. Awesome sight!
Glad to see someone do a video on Sammy Miller. Would love to see something longer featuring all 3 Vanishing Point Cars and the 2 Oxygen cars. I was fortunate enough to see him live on a couple of occations. I'll never forget it.
I Consider my privileged to have been able to witness the “Vanishing Point” rocket car on at least
two different occasions at “Raceway Park New Jersey”! ! ! THE Second time I witnessed the car I
was determined to see it near the end of the track, at speed! SO I was about at the 5/8-3/4 mark, opposite the pits, if you blinked your eyes, you missed him going passed you!
I too saw it at Englishtown back in the day. That was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. Dead silent. The WHOOSH!!! It was astonishingly fast. Then silence as people were sort of absorbing what they just watched. Then the little black floaters in the air like when you get an oxy / acetylene torch too rich. Simply incredible.
I always believe anything someone with a British or Australian accent says.
Thank you for posting this ❤
No problem 😊
“Slamming” Sammy was a friend through my auto parts business, he lived in Ft Lauderdale and ran with us at Hollywood Dragstrip out in the Florida Everglades. He eventually had to go to Europe to not be harassed by NHRA.
RIP my friend, you were a great guy that I miss.
0:02 if I had nitrous bottles for legs I might do the fastest quarter mile ever too...
For some reason this was always low keyed in drag racing. I never knew why and this the first actual footage I’ve ever seen. All I knew was NHRA banned it and that was that. Thank you for sharing what I knew about for since the 70’s but was never able to see!
NHRA Rule D/Racing Which is a Sad Thing and They Say What Goes .And What NOT ?
Huuuh, because it's a rocket car¿
@@daviclar867 Hydrogen Peroxide is really dangerous stuff though.
@@jimstenlund6017 True and that's before you ride it.
@@brucemoyers1006 I’ve heard it said that H2O2 poured onto a concrete sidewalk will 🔥
I saw him run that car at Englishtown New Jersey when I was a kid,,, I remember the whole crowd counting down to zero...total silence then it was gone....I'll never forget it, that car was awesome....
Damn, that's 27919hp more than my mom's car
I remember seeing him at The Pod twice in the mid 90's. His eyes bled after every run I think I remember him saying. It was unbelieveable to watch.
I was at "The Pod" in 1984. I normally watched and smiled, calmly enjoying the spectacle. When Sammy went up in "Vanishing Point" I was up clapping and cheering my head off like a deranged schoolboy... Wow!!!
I was stood at the quarter mile at Santa Pod that day, it was crazy to hear that whoosh go past.
@@feydespiel. there was just this loud pop as he started and then a whoosh as he went past at 300mph! Totally weird!
Can you please give a detailed explanation of that day please? This looks insane and would definitely like to know more of someone who were there...and never heard of this record.
@@JUNIOR43950 Detailed explanation? It’s over 40 years ago! All I really remember was some strange music being played over the PA system and I think they had a tipper truck with the bed up for a blast shield. There was a lot of vapor like a cloud then this loud pop and 3 seconds later this great whoosh noise as he went past 1/4 mile.
@@andrewstoffel1170 yeah that was long time ago...guess you forget the details...thanks anyway for taking your time and explain it a bit more, this just boggles my mind how fast it is by just watching a video can't imagine how it was to spectate it in person as you said 40 years ago...and sorry for my English is not my main language.
I was there that day also. It was hotter than hell. I was 11. I lived in Ipswich.
Can’t imagine the strain that chassis went through
being pushed rly hard and ofc a ton of downforce, then the 'chute popping, yes.
far different from the torsional forces on a conventional chassis, with engine driving wheels & tires.
@@gzuzsavz far different but also much easier on the chassis
How to make a 3.2 second video into a long and drawn out 5 minute video
🤣
402 MPH 3.2 second quarterh mile is mind boggling. I'm excited to be a car that does 5 seconds 0-60 mph. This 402 mph driver has nerves of steel.
It's insane to think you could pass the starting line at top speed in a Ferrari and he could still take off from a dead stop and pass you, lol. That's absolutely mad.
You mean "balls"
Awesome video dude
This is exactly what i wanted to see when i typed in "fastest 1/4mile pass ever"
Thank you very much appreciate the nice words
Sammy was a very nice guy! I met him, in Ft. Lauderdale in 78 & 79. He was a regular in the auto parts store I worked at. He had a heck of a sense of humor and loved practical jokes. He came in one day drinking out of a Prestone anti-freeze bottle! We kind of freaked out until he laughed and said it was just lemonade. I got to hang with him in the pits and, yeah, I remember his 3.94 in Fla. Ah, the 70's!
That was incredible!! Gave me goosebumps.. I can't even imagine how that felt in the driver's seat.
Great reaction time on those chutes! He had them deploying immediately after crossing the line! Had to!!
I was there during Sammy Millers race,I think it was 1983 in Zandvoort.And it was a run on 1/8 mile.The firetruck in the back off Sammy had blown out windows.
Another reason why I love the 70s & 80s what an amazing car imagine driving it on the street a rocket car and we think a 1K HP street car is extremely powerful.
It’s all relative… go drive your hydrogen peroxide rocket car down the street and see how many miles you can go all while there are cars running 6s that can drive from state to state. Using the word “we” means you think the same way as the super fast street car you think sucks. This video was cool to see but there’s no reason to compare apples to oranges lmao
I actualy watched this run in real live as a kid. I was at Zandvoort that day seeing making that run. Never forget it, the heat coming from that car and not being able to follow him, his car flashed by before my eyes and he was gone. Most impressive run I have ever seen. And I believe Henk Vink made a pass on his rocket bike the same day, and there where even jet cars. So this day was a real treat of speed.
I was there for the weekend. There also were a few Top Fuel dragsters and funnycars, Top Fuel bikes, Pro Mod's at the 1/8 mile dragstrip Zandvoort. Henk Vink also was there with his twin engine Top Fuel and his rocketbike.......
Holy shit, it looked just as cool as it sounded. Never saw a dragster making a turn while slowing down. That's some 1960s style showmanship. Totally bad ass. 5 stars for maximum entertainment. The half mile would be even cooler. Might break the sound barrier.
It is so fast it really looks like a 1/8th mile
It is an 1/8thmile, 200 meters to be exact. Zandvoort is too short for a 1/4 mile track. The 402 was kph, 249 mph
I knew Sammy, great and charismatic guy. I have a couple Sammy stories and still think about them to this day.
In 1976 on July 4th I saw the "Age of Aquarius" rocket car lay down a 4.44 at 298 mph in Puyallup. I was standing beside the track about 60 feet from the start line and I'm certain that it left the ground for a second.
I saw it run at Santa pod, blink and you missed it, I can’t imagine the Gs it pulled.
I know what you mean, it would leave so quick you couldn't always follow it, it was suddenly yards down the track & disappearing fast. I saw the 3.58 & also blowing the windows out of the tower, can't remember if they were same or different runs. I remember the flame shockwave diamonds in the exhaust appearing to chase the car down the track. Awesome.
28,000 hp is just insane. I get in awe when I think 2,000hp is a lot.
J58 jet produces 160,000 shafte hp.
Yapping stops at 3:37
Thanks bro
To me, more impressive was how quickly it slowed down!
Imagine trying to stay conscious at that kind of acceleration with the G force
My brother in law worked at Schiphol (Amsterdam Airport) and had seen the car during his work. The car was shipped in a steel frame and he'd been standing there for a while, looking at what he thougt was a massive exhaust 😁 When I played him the video (literally a video recording) he recognized the car and finally understood why the 'exhaust' was that big. I must have played that video at least a hundred times. I had another video of a drag show, with a.o. Sammy Miller, in the US and it had a guy in it that had built a 'Wild West' stage coach copy, but with a big V8 in the back. It threw a lot of flames and ran almost the entire track on it's rear wheels. Lost the video, searched the internet, but never found it again.
Just realized how the meaning of the words 'drag show' can change in time 😁
Back in the 70's there was a lot of wild exhibition vehicles. Great times to see guys with big balls to put on a show. I watched a guy at MCIR in Ohio with a rocket powered go-cart. It was faster than T/F diggers at the time. Awesome!
I remember seeing the rocket powered go karts at alamo dragway insane!
I had a neighbor that had a rocket car, rocket dragster, and a rocket go cart...Fred Goeski was his name. He didn't even have a regular drivers license!
Mothers speed shop shirt at 0:54 brought back some memories Lodi NJ rt46
still has a big slaps to all drag community
“iTs jUsT gOiNg iN a sTrAiGhT LiNe” okay okay, let’s see you do better
edit:
thanks for the likes lol
Not the point. It's just boring.
That keyboard effect - you must be a teenager?
@@Tinker1950 BuT iM TwEnTY YeARs oLd
@@jacobblair6181
And puerile
@@Tinker1950 Okay okay you got me there.
And that’s for 1320 aren’t the new times for 1000 ft? So he’s doing 2.7 1000 ft? Now that’s ludicrous speed!
What's the matter, colonel Sanders?? Chicken??
@@justabouthadit5872
I fucking love chicken.
They don't run an exact quarter mile?
@@radiocontrolsoul No, not NHRA, IHRA still does. It was for safety reasons to give more run off room to slow down as a few ran long and were killed. Most famously was Scott Kalitta.
@@justabouthadit5872 No, Sir! Prepare ship for ludicrous speed!