How Did Early Drag Racers Measure the Air?
Bob Hoffa, Altalab Instrument’s President, interviews “Big Daddy” Don Garlits. While researching the origins of air and racing, Don Garlits told me what he did back in 59 or 60 with his early nitro efforts. He had a pack of birthday candles and a fishbowl for a weatherstation . Say what? It’s true, he’d light a candle and placed a fair sized fishbowl over it. As we all remember from science class or Mr. Wizard, the candle burned out after a period of time because it consumed all the available oxygen. If the candle could produce a flame of the same rate of fuel consumption every time, the quantity of oxygen could be determined by measuring the amount of time elapsed until the flame was snuffed. Very elegant technique. Mr Garlits is an innovator and genius and this story set the tone for gathering other interesting techniques. What he did is the same every racer has tried to determine in one way or another. You have the fuel and the machine, how much oxygen is available to oxidize that f
