Rocket Man

Tether car racing began in the late 1930's when some people decided to put a model airplane engine on a board with four wheels. Within a year, there was racing of beautifully built cars that resembled the oval track cars of the period. Engines especially designed for cars soon pushed the speeds to over 100 miles per hour. By the early 1950's, they were going over 150 mph using the legendary Dooling 61 engine in a car that had ceased to look like anything on a big car track.
Today, they are going over 200 mph with Italian and American engines in cars that look more like a bullet with the wheels inside the slim body. The Eagle Engine by John Ellis has set numerous records over the past several years.
An international competition is held with cars in four different classes, depending upon engine size. Running on alcohol-oil fuel and using tuned exhaust pipes, the engines peak out at over 44,000 rpm in the smallest class. The cars run on a special circular track held to the center post by a wire tether. The person running the car stays on the outside of the track and the helper in the center assists the car off the line, stabilizing it until it reaches about 80 mph and then steps onto a small platform on the center pole until the car is shut off at the end of the run.

[@themadscientest]

Fun fact, tether car racers were the first ones to play with nitromethane as a fuel, drag racing enthusiasts realized what it could do and then top fuel was born.

[@tommypetraglia4688]

Boy you must be a barrel of laughs at a party

[@themadscientest]

@@tommypetraglia4688 ...and then see you trying to say I'm not all that funny.

[@chromehuffer3250]

I didn't know that, thanks for the fun fact :)

[@senatorjosephmccarthy2720]

@@tommypetraglia4688 , How's that?

[@jareknowak8712]

Not sure but nitro might have been used earlier in aeroplanes.

[@JuicyFruityify]

It's really refreshing to find out about something you never knew existed.✨ (Volker, thank you)

[@MysterX79]

I fully agree, 40 now and I'm into motorsports all my life. I never heard of those cars and they drew my attention right away. (btw you surely meant to say "never knew existed.")

[@tony7810]

Can't wait to see when you add a GoPro or some kind of camera where we can see from the car point of view

[@mrobviuos74]

That is an Awesome idea! Edit: There is a video of just that! Search gopro on tether car. It is now where even close to these speeds, but it is pretty cool. That is until you get nauseous from the view! 😁🤢

[@johnd6980]

At 90 g's I doubt it would be possible

[@dinil5566]

There you go kzbin.info/www/bejne/q5jVmZeVlr1-hac

[@sebastienhache7493]

I assume the go pro would capture the same thing over and over again about 100 times.

[@mcspikes1]

It looks quite interesting but I would rather have been able to hear the cars instead of the music.

[@nzsaltflatsracer8054]

I lived near this track at the Whittier Narrows Park back in the late 80's & would hear these things wondering wtf they were & eventually found the time to check it out. We were on the verge of going 400 at Bonneville back then.

[@l1u1c1k]

I’m glad I’ve seen this I can get on with the rest of my life now

[@DiHandley]

Amazing! I had no idea this sport even existed. Have there ever been any race related injuries?

[@tonywright8294]

One person dies every meeting.

[@slvrktman7824]

Cool looking blur!

[@Leo9ine]

The editing of that opening sequence was fantastic. The rest was okay, but you absolutely nailed that intro.

[@JustJake77]

Learned something new today.... Today has been a good day.

[@78Biggmike]

How long till Elon Musk enters the Tether car scene with an electric rocket car?

[@LCMNUNES1962]

PERFEITO 👍👍👍 🇧🇷

[@Dan-un4vt]

Only 3 tracks ? in the USA ? tells us it's not for everyone !

[@A3Kr0n]

I can't believe there's three tracks in the country. Why so many? LOL! I'm just yanking your tether!

[@bystryi-silnyi-ru]

Thank you!

[@christopherjustus6667]

I have a question. Can you put a small g-force sensor in the car? It would be cool to see how many g’s the car is pulling at full speed.

[@tonywright8294]

No it’s against the law

[@senatorjosephmccarthy2720]

The raunchy racket some call music was distracting and Irritating.

[@doomsday891]

👍💪 Hello to modelers from Russia!

[@superbmediacontentcreator]

Nice little video...

[@Dan-sd5bm]

The cars sound great Why music?

[@terrinewman7390]

motor? are they electric?

[@blue03r6]

I'm almost 95% sure there was one of these tracks located at lunken airport in cincinnati ohio

[@tommypetraglia4688]

Google it. He said there are only 3

[@joewoodchuck3824]

I see the power. So with that much power, why do the cars need the help of the guy in the center?

[@shoddyproductions9793]

It looks like the guy in center helps get the tether up to tension which happens once the car gets up to speed ? If he wasn't there the tether might just start wrapping around the pole ?

[@stpbasss3773]

Maybe they are geared so high they can't start on their own

[@garyh4458]

The cable has inertia would pull the car into the center.

[@keithklassen5320]

I figured the cable would drag until the speed is high enough to hold it taut.

[@garyh4458]

@@keithklassen5320 It will.

[@normg2242]

It's awesome! But what does the guy in the middle do?

[@hammeys1]

keeps the line taught on starting and once the car is pulling hops up on to his platform out the way.

[@normg2242]

@@hammeys1 ooh okay, that makes sense. I guess while the car is not going fast, it has the tendency to veer off. Thanks ☺

[@josephdeffendoll3056]

Now you know who will carry the mail.

[@patrickkennedy2533]

i wonder if the wire out the back keeps it grounded

[@danielclarke7975]

I’d imagine its a wheelie bar

[@mice1m1]

Tungsten tip wheely bar.

[@contarinifamily2183]

There used to be one in Toombul,Brisbane. Australia.

[@Mrypants31]

Contarini Family still one at tingalpa model air craft club

[@gerry343]

Esoteric.

[@Grubbet]

But how do they stop them?

[@Tosca_666]

Out of fuel!

[@WiliiamNoTell]

where in Indiana is the track. would like to see them run. how much is a starter car. great video thanks for sharing!

[@bradosborne5044]

Jackson Park, Anderson, Indiana

[@WiliiamNoTell]

@@bradosborne5044 thank you greatly appreciate it!

[@mikebeatstsb7030]

What's his name..?

[@ottelo7773]

Imagine getting hit in the leg by one of these at full speed😖😖😖

[@bjj21]

All I can think is, lipo, giant brushless, big gear and aero. I bet 300 is mph realistic

[@frowy1]

Yeah. Shame you can't see it.

[@Random_Dragon_Furry]

This is a lovely engineering sport intelligent Minds tuning and adjusting engines trying to be the fastest

[@joshuapalomaki6970]

PETITION - To have the watermark in the bottom right slowly go down to empty as the video progresses and ends. | sign here \/

[@tommypetraglia4688]

8 laps at 162 mph takes 6.2 secs so you dont have a lot of time to think Me: when I oversleep and have 15 mins to make it half hour commute

[@themadscientest]

So I read this...

[@noway57]

This must be a weird northern thing

[@jareknowak8712]

It is known also in Europe and Australia.

[@ralph5450]

Even slowing the video down you can't see the car

[@angelzipp]

It's amazing how people can find ideas to waste their time...! LOL!

[@Mr._Issu_Fresh]

So basically this are the kids back from the day. That never grow up. Well we boys will be boys.

[@daleolson3506]

The music junked another video 👎🏻💩

[@flosh2walkthrough672]

Anyone else watch this because they thought it was a POV video? Clickbait

[@danielreiss1156]

The music Sucks!

[@ralph5450]

Even slowing the video down you can't see the car

[@jaac7027]

This should be an Onion news video segment

[@trlprk]

Very cool, is that nitro legend Steve O’Donnell pushing the cars?

[@dmeemd7787]

best fuel and heads from that guy for cars (dunno about these)

[@ZZ430T56]

Next episode we are going to watch paint dry