Sammy Miller - YouTube clips

[hornet]

Seems to be some "new" footage of Sammy Miller popping up on YouTube lately, so just thought I'd flag it, as they're well worth watching. I'm still fascinated by Miller, even though I only got to see Vanishing Point run once in (I think) 1986. My notion of "fast" has never quite been the same since. Anyway, the clips...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ChA9HUicUk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5Hqatj8-GY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CX6Lcz8XPk

[kestral]

It's a shame the peroxide is not available like it used to be. Nice to see the video clips but it far from the real thing. If you ever saw Miller Run you never forget it.

[Muddybum]

I never got to See Sammy in action but everyone always talks about it, wish I could have witnessed it with my own eyes. Thanks for the clips anyway I have passed them to all my drag racing buddies.

Cheers
Si

P.S 4 Days to go!

[Jon C]

kestral said:

It's a shame the peroxide is not available like it used to be. Nice to see the video clips but it far from the real thing. If you ever saw Miller Run you never forget it.

Eric Teboul is distilling his own now.

[hornet]

I love the top end clip of the side by side race - the speed of Oxygen as it goes under the gantry is mind boggling.

[BB-Q]

Where is Vanishing Point now? It should be on display somewhere. The Science Museum maybe?

[Jon C]

hornet said:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ChA9HUicUk

On that first clip, (with I believe Al Eiredam in the Funny Car), who is the guy standing on top of the finish gantry? I cant imagine risk assessment letting that happen now...

[Benni]

On that first clip,I was wondering what the BANG sound(s) was,
when the cars were in the shutdown area, now I think :
It is the Sound of the parachutes unfolding,
unaudible when a TF Dragster is racing........am I right here ?
I gave the usual salute to Sammy before Eric did the 5,5 at the NitrolympX,
so that people do not forget the name, saw Sammy myself @ Hockenheim in the 80s.
Cheers,
Benni

[hornet]

BB-Q said:

Where is Vanishing Point now? It should be on display somewhere. The Science Museum maybe?

I think (from a question raised in a previous thread) it's in the hands of Vincent Perrot and Bob Feeler, renamed "Satanic Machine". I've been trying to find footage of it in that guise, as the Perrot/Feeler racing website mentions them setting an acceleration World Record with it in 1998.

http://www.perrotfeeler.com/index2.htm

They apparently have a new car called "Hydrogene" - anyone know anything about it?

[nitromaniac]

On July 7th/8th,1984 at Santa Pod Raceway, SammyMiller ran an amazing 3.583 et/386.26 mph in the Vanishing Point rocket funny car. This still stands today as the quickest 1/4 mile pass ever on a dragstrip anywhere in the world.

[Time Machine]

nitromaniac said:

On July 7th/8th,1984 at Santa Pod Raceway, SammyMiller ran an amazing 3.583 et/386.26 mph in the Vanishing Point rocket funny car. This still stands today as the quickest 1/4 mile pass ever on a dragstrip anywhere in the world.

You know I am amazed no-one else has mentioned that at all on this forum, you'd have thought such a (debated) run would have been discussed at least a little bit.

[hornet]

Think it was discussed at length on DW. Perhaps less contentious than (for example) the "did Fireforce run 336mph?" debate, given Miller's previous form. Not as if he hadn't been in the 3s prior to then. Still a legend either way.

[liner33]

Benni said:

On that first clip,I was wondering what the BANG sound(s) was,
when the cars were in the shutdown area, now I think :
It is the Sound of the parachutes unfolding,
unaudible when a TF Dragster is racing........am I right here ?
I gave the usual salute to Sammy before Eric did the 5,5 at the NitrolympX,
so that people do not forget the name, saw Sammy myself @ Hockenheim in the 80s.
Cheers,
Benni

If you are in the right place you can sometimes hear the parachutes open on a TF car , i clearly heard the "pop" when Micke Kagerad (spl?) tyre burst on the finish line at Santa Pod some years back

[Flying Toilet]

topfueldrags said:

nitromaniac said:

On July 7th/8th,1984 at Santa Pod Raceway, SammyMiller ran an amazing 3.583 et/386.26 mph in the Vanishing Point rocket funny car. This still stands today as the quickest 1/4 mile pass ever on a dragstrip anywhere in the world.

This might be worth pointing out to Keith so it can be used in promotional stuff for the Pod! You know, something like 'Santa Pod, the home of the fastest 1/4 mile pass in the world' or something like that!

I should think Keith Bartlett is aware of this amazing run...

[BennettRacing]

When you actually think about this run, and the huge speed of it, to go from 0 to 386.26 mph in 3.58 seconds. Love to have ago of that :-)

[MotorPsycho]

BB-Q said:

Where is Vanishing Point now? It should be on display somewhere. The Science Museum maybe?

Anthony Billinton still has the Mustang

[hornet]

topfueldrags said:

sorry am getting
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
been down here before, is (or was) Sammy Miller the fastest or not?

Edited by topfueldrags on Monday 3rd September 16:49

Interesting assortment of thrust powered lunacy on that site. Think I've seen that 206 on YouTube before. As for the rocket, it says "...will drive this year" rather than "has driven", but can't see when the site was last updated, so who knows?

I'm also a bit puzzled, because the Perrot/Feeler website lays claim to a "400m" record in 1998 (621kmh). Plus there's the whole Kitty O'Neil debate as well. What exactly constitutes a recognised quarter mile record? Does it just need to be over a measured quarter mile or on a permanent strip? Measured by approved equipment/sanctioning body and so on?

[Eurodragster.com]

nitromaniac said:

On July 7th/8th,1984 at Santa Pod Raceway, SammyMiller ran an amazing 3.583 et/386.26 mph in the Vanishing Point rocket funny car. This still stands today as the quickest 1/4 mile pass ever on a dragstrip anywhere in the world.

I was there for, and have a video of, the 3.58 which was run on the Sunday of the 1984 Cannonball. The terminal speed was not given as 386 mph at the time. IIRC 280 mph was read out on the PA. I would go and dig out the video but right now I am packing my stuff for the Finals (major job which takes a couple of hours). Maybe later. But it definitely was not read out as 386 mph after the run. And, incidentally, in those days they didn't keep a third decimal place on ETs for record purposes so the third dp was never read out nor published, although the timing system did show the third place and more I believe.

[Eurodragster.com]

Further to the above, here is a word-for-word transcript from the video of the 3.58.

(5-4-3-2-1-whoosh, and Sammy disappears into the distance, crowd goes wild)

John Price: It looks as though it's going to be a three! Can we have the time through from the Tower please?

Tower: 3.58 seconds

John Price: 3.58 seconds!

(Crowd goes wild again)

Tower (almost inaudible): Two hundred and eighty five miles an hour

John Price: ...(inaudible) can you repeat that again please, what was the speed?

Tower: Two hundred and eighty five

John Price: Two hundred and eighty five

(Video ends)

[MotorPsycho]

from reading elsewhere Sammy did run 386mph over a 1/4 on the salt flats, which is probably where the confusion has come from

regards Kitty O'Neil, there was no one there, it was on a notoriously unreliable pneumatic timing system, and I haven't seen any similar numbers - so in my mind Sammy is the all time quickest

• this is based on opinion, and from reading around the subject, so don't shoot me if I happen to be wrong on parts