Weekly
Column
Click & Clack Talk Cars
By Tom and Ray
MagliozziDear Tom
and Ray:
I am a student in Boston with a
car that is originally from texas. I have a 1996
Chevrolet G Van that has more than 150,000 miles
on it. The car had been working really well until
last fall. Basically, I have to jump-start my car
every time I want to turn it on. So I bought one
of those portable jump-start boxes, because I got
tired of praying that someone would be in the
parking lot whenever I needed to go anywhere. I
am hoping that you might have an idea of what I
can do to fix it. - Hannah
TOM: You must have made a lot
of new friends, Hannah. That’s a great way
to meet people when you’re new to a city.
RAY: Two things come to mind,
Hannah. The first is very simple to fix. I think
you might have a dead cell in your battery.
TOM: A car battery is made up
of 6 cells.
RAY: If one cell in your
battery is dead, the battery might only be
producing 10 volts instead of 12. The starter
motor needs a full 12 volts, or it just
won’t move. You might hear the starter
lurch, or you’ll hear a clicking sound, or
nothing.
TOM: The solution to that is a
new battery. That’ll cost you 75 bucks. Just
flag down one of the guys in your parking lot and
say: "Excuse me, my car won’t start.
Would you mind putting in this new battery for
me?"
Or go to a gas station, and
have them do it, Hannah. Because they can check
for the other possibility; a current drain. It
could be something like a light in the glove box
that’s staying on all night.
TOM: Or a fellow student
running his laptop all night from your cigarette
lighter .
RAY: It’s very easy for
your neighborhood mechanic to test your battery
and your charging system, and to check for a
current drain. That shouldn’t cost very
much. But I’d bet on the battery. Good luck,
Hannah.
RACING
By Greg Zyla
Q: Greg, who was the first
driver to go more than 300 mph in the
quarter-mile? I say it was Kenny Bernstein, but
my racing buddy says it was Eddie Hill. They both
drove Top Fuel dragsters. I know Chris
Karamesines was the first to go more than 200 in
his Top Fueler, and my buddy agrees. But could we
be wrong, and was it a jet-car driver that did it
(run 300), like Art Arfons? Also, what is the
fastest run ever recorded in drag racing? —
Edward S., New Port Richey, Fla.
A: Eddie, what a question! If
we select the first 300-mph driver based on the
Top Fuel dragster configuration, you would win,
as Kenny Bernstein was the first to do it in a
piston-actuated, internal-combustion Top Fuel
car. He did so on March 20, 1992, at Gainesville,
Fla.’s NHRA Gatornationals. Eddie Hill,
meanwhile, was the first to run in the
four-second range when he drove his Pennzoil
rear-engine dragster to a 4.99, in 1988, at an
IHRA race at the Texas Motorplex.
The first Top Fuel driver to go
more than 200 mph was, indeed, Chris "The
Greek" Karamesines, who on April 4, 1960,
clocked an 8.82 at 204.54 mph at Illinois’
Alton Dragway.
A rocket dragster was actually
the first vehicle to go more than 300 mph. The
most famous rocket driver of all, however, has to
be the late Slammin’ Sammy Miller, who drove
his Vega- and Mustang-bodied rocket Funny Cars to
numerous 3.7-second runs. He holds the record as
the fastest driver in sanctioned quarter-mile
asphalt drag racing, with an all-time best of
3.583 seconds at 386.26 mph.
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