Drag Illustrated Issue 113, September 2016 | Page 24

Dirt solely crew chief on his Funny Car with his son, Chad Head, doing the driving, meaning the ideas may come even more freely and regularly now, especially when it comes to safety. Because without ideas, without the chance to innovate and invent, there might not be a Jim Head, Funny Car and Top Fuel driver, six-time NHRA national-event winner—including the U.S. Nationals in both nitro classes—and crew chief. Why? Well, he jokes his epitaph will state he was “not a good crew chief because he couldn’t win races, but he was a good inventor.” That may be a stretch, but there was a distinct reason he moved to Top Fuel in 1980 after a limited run of less than a year in a blown alcohol car. “I gravitated to the class because of the unlimited nature of it,” Head ex plains. “You could really do anything you wanted. It was whoever got to the other end first. That’s what attracted me. I’m an engineer and I was born a mechanic. I was always thinking of different things to do with a race car. As a sportsman racer, you’re limited to a number of things. When I got to Top Fuel, the sky was the limit; you could do anything you wanted. The technology skyrocketed.” Head played a significant part in that, and it’s a major reason why he’s still as involved in the sport as he is 35-plus years after making the leap to Top Fuel. The limitations of being an independent one-car team have always been there, of course, but the chance to race and apply the constant ideas have always made it worth it, minus the occasional “Monday after the race, after I got my ass kicked.” Head was one of the first drivers in the NHRA to have onboard computer technology on his dragster, a move he deemed necessary to catch up to the rest of the class. The clunky recorder was as primitive as you could expect for an onboard computer of the early ‘80s. It spit out raw data of just numbers on printer paper, a rough semblance of what was to come in 1984 when Ron Armstrong developed the Racepak computer. But Head’s idea and application was a quantum leap for the sport and an indication of what was going to come. “The reason we had one is because I didn’t know what I was doing and I had to somehow catch up,” Head says. “Even though I wasn’t that young, I was really behind the power curve as far as knowing how to tune them. The on-board recorder was a big deal.” These days, or at least this year, Head has faced frustration much of the time. Once known for great 60-foot and 330-foot times, Head’s Funny Car has provided one quandary after another in that regard. He points to the transition to the laid-back headers in the class, which has brought on one of the most spectacular periods of racing 24 | D r a g I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com in Funny Car history, as to when the struggles started. With 3.80s now becoming the norm, falling behind can be akin to a freefall in space. Head is working hard to get it back, running a career-best 3.894 at 328.62 mph in qualifying for the Seattle event this August, but it remains a constant battle against the elite in the class. Just when Head’s team reached the .860s for a 60-foot time, getting into the .850s became the new requirement to compete at the top. His 2.23 to the 330-foot mark once would be considered a solid run. That is, until 2.20 and 2.19 became the norm for top contenders. Still, Head’s car has shown promise in recent races, giving him an indication of what the next step might be to remain in the midst of this latest Funny Car renaissance. “With a single-car team, it can be ugly, especially when you get lost,” Head laments. “Ironically, back in the day with my Funny Cars and dragsters, I was probably the quickest 60-foot guy and the quickest 330-foot guy out there. I didn’t make that much power, I did it all with clutch. That was the old days. “We lost our ability to 60-foot and it’s been extremely frustrating for us. Running a nitro car is a balance between clutch and motor, and a big function of the motor is fuel system for sure, timing curve and how you run the clutch. It’s a balancing act between the two and when you are a single-car team, especially when you get lost, there’s nobody to talk to per se. It’s been a struggle,” he continues. “I know what to do. The clutch wants significantly more and the track will take significantly more. They’re really minor changes. We’re working on the fuel system and the timing curve is huge because we can manipulate it, well, infinitely.” The transition to the laid-back headers is certainly a major point, but Head also points to a new tire and flawless track conditions for the rapid ascension in performance. Playing catchup in the current environment can be like head butting a brick wall, as gone are the days of trying to survive a single-lane track. You must be fast and you must be fast all of the time. “It’s hammer and tong,” Head stresses. “You have got to get really good 60-foot times, really significant 330-foot times and the rest pretty much takes care of itself. If you don’t have an open mind, you’re sunk. You really are. I’ve made some changes in the last six to nine months. You have to pretty much do what it’s asking for and give what it’s asking for. Again, the headers have changed combinations, obviously for the better. The key for the Funny Car class is to take advantage of the headers, take advantage of the tires, lean on the track when and if it will take it, and clearly it’s been taking it.” Head marvels at new tire capabilities and the consistent improvements seen in track conditions. “The race tracks are phenomenal,” he says. “NHRA’s race track prep has just gone to a complete new level. It’s been getting better gradually and Seattle was the culmination. The track was perfect. You couldn’t smoke the tires. I was trying and I couldn’t do it.” Head credits Bandimere Speedway’s Larry Crispe and his revolutionary tire rotator as the launching point of the change in track conditions. “You can put down that rubber and make a great race track,” Head says of the machine that counter rotates a set of four side-by-side slicks under pressure against the track to lay down a new, Issue 113 PHOTOS: NHRA / NATIONAL DRAGSTER, DRAG ILLUSTRATED ARCHIVES JIM HEAD