Kloeber tuning the Monster for remainder of ‘08

Tuner Mike Kloeber started the 2008 season as the crew chief on Bob Tasca’s fuel coupe, was let go and then recently hooked up with Bob Gilbertson to tune his flopper at zMAX Dragway earlier this month.

Now the tuner, who took Clay Millican to his former IHRA Top Fuel prominence, has been hired to tune Kenny Bernstein’s Monster Energy Drink fuel coupe for the rest of the ’08 NHRA season. Kloeber and Monster FC driver Tommy Johnson Jr. have worked with each other in the past in a Top Fuel dragster operation.  (DRO file photo by Ian Tocher) [9/23/2008]

Longtime NHRA Director of Emergency Services succumbs

Dan Brickey, formerly the Director of Emergency Services for the NHRA’s Safety Safari, has passed away after undergoing a heart transplant.

Brickey, 58, joined NHRA full-time in 1991. Prior to that he worked as a member of the safety team at the Indianapolis 500 for 10 years and spent 13 years in occupational medicine at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. In 1979, Brickey became the part-time medical director at then Indianapolis Raceway Park. A Navy corpsman during the Vietnam War, he trained as a physician’s assistant and worked in his home state of Indiana for five years in a family practice, performing most of the duties of a full medical doctor.
In the 1990s he was responsible for training NHRA’s division safety teams to help them fashion their local operations in the manner of the NHRA Safety Safari.

Funeral arrangements are incomplete at this time.  (photo courtesy NHRA) [9/23/2008]

Boat capsule for drag racing use?

Seen at the San Diego IHBA race was James Brendel of Hondo Hulls who has over 110 capsules in use. He has built what he calls the best roll cage design capsule ever. He reportedly puts a special oil inside the frame rails and uses nitrogen instead of oxygen in the tubes. The oil keeps the capsule from rusting from the inside out. There are two pressure gauges on the capsule so if the racer or crew notice any loss of pressure they can fix the leak.

Brendel is taking his capsule to John Force Racing this week for Austin Coil, Bernie Fedderly and John Force to check out to see if they could use his new system in TF and FC chassis of the future. [9/23/2008]