Land speed record holder Dave McDonald of San Carlos can quickly provide a logical answer for almost any question about his hobby of choice — drag racing at Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats in his 1998 Pontiac Firebird.
He nonchalantly explained the parachutes on the back of the car with the fact that “brakes really don’t do you much good until you get down to about 100 (mph).” Nitrous oxide from the four 30-pound tanks in the car must be added to the fuel slowly in three stages to gain an extra 420 horsepower, he said, or the driver could “smoke the tires.”
“We’re shifting into fifth gear at about 280 (mph). You don’t want the car to get squirrelly at that speed,” he said.
The question, though…Â Details
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