Ex Nascar Driver Dave Marcis

[6pt-sika]

I was just watching a show on the Speed Channel and they had a part of it about Dave Marcis ex Nascar driver from 1970 something until 2002 .

Lately he's been working with land speed records on stock car type cars and he's been doing it somewhere in Ohio .

Last month at the age of 72 he eclipsed 220 miles per hour . Granted this is done kinda in a drag strip kinda way but still at 72 years of age !

Not sure if he set the record for the type car he was driving but I can honestly say the only thing I've been in that was going 220 MPH had wings and was off the ground !

[Blaine]

Only 72? I hope I'm doing stupid stuff beyond that ...... It's not that old, for pete's sake....

[6pt-sika]

Only 72? I hope I'm doing stupid stuff beyond that ...... It's not that old, for pete's sake....

Thats all kinda relative !

I'm almost 52 now and when I was in my early twenties I'da bet money I wouldn't have lived past 35 !

[Blaine]

Only 72? I hope I'm doing stupid stuff beyond that ...... It's not that old, for pete's sake....

Thats all kinda relative !

I'm almost 52 now and when I was in my early twenties I'da bet money I wouldn't have lived past 35 !

I was insane in those days.... Didn't develop a modicum of common sense until my mid-forties....

[ketland]

I always have wondered how fast a cup car would go if you took off that fool restrictor plate and wrung the thing out.
I'd a thunk 240 isn't out of the realm of the possible.

[6pt-sika]

I always have wondered how fast a cup car would go if you took off that fool restrictor plate and wrung the thing out.
I'd a thunk 240 isn't out of the realm of the possible.

I may be wrong about the class he was trying to run in but the thing they showed looked like a Cup Car for lack of a better term . But perhaps one from say the 90's or early 2000's !

I think the best they ever did without a restrictor was Elliot at Talledaga going about 212 or 214 MPH . But you need to take in account he had a lap before that to get a full head of steam . Marcis had a push from a truck and maybe a 1/4 mile to get wound up .

Seems to me when you have those high banks etc of Dega or Daytona you oughtta be able to get some more ! I would say the day Elliot set the 212 or 214 mark he most certainly was going faster then that down the straightaways .

[ketland]

Well whatever the case my hat is off to the man, 220+ in anything that doesnt have wings is really fast. Now I have to do a search and find out what they call the cup series these days. what do the Aussies say.... Crikey!

[Rusty]

I'm not much into racing any more but don't funny cars get to 220 and more in the 1/4 mile?

[6pt-sika]

I'm not much into racing any more but don't funny cars get to 220 and more in the 1/4 mile?

He wasn't in a funny car and actually I think funny cars get close to 300 .

[J Miller]

Well whatever the case my hat is off to the man, 220+ in anything that doesnt have wings is really fast. Now I have to do a search and find out what they call the cup series these days. what do the Aussies say.... Crikey!

The old Winston Cup is now the Sprint cup and the Bush series is the Nationwide.
They got PC and did away with the cigarettes and beer.

Joe

[ketland]

Sprint cup? Somebody must have thrown a whole bunch of money at the France family to call it that. Heck i'd a just called it the
Winchester cup, as that would appeal to fans and it sounds more like the old name.

[Hawkeye2]

He was probably at the East Coast Timing Association track which is a 1 mile (they also post speeds for the half mile) track at Wilmington Ohio. They moved there from Maxton, NC a couple of years ago. I haven't been to Ohio to but I did run at Maxton a few times. The best I have done is 198.8 mph at the former Loring AFB in Maine. That was with a head wind and a missed shift. With a good tail wind and cooler air the next AM the car ran 208 for a class record but I wasn't lucky enough to be driving. I was only 67 at the time so I guess I have a few years to catch up with Dave.

[Grizz]

Only 72? I hope I'm doing stupid stuff beyond that ...... It's not that old, for pete's sake....

ditto on that one Blaine

young whipper snappers

[awp101]

I'm not much into racing any more but don't funny cars get to 220 and more in the 1/4 mile?

Yes, but that ain't the same as sustaining it over a mile or more. The speeds posted for land speed racing involve a two way average, usually a mile, and the return run has to be made within a specified time frame (usually 60 minutes).

Several years ago I was at the eye doc and an older gentleman (probably 60s) came in wearing a "Bonneville 200MPH Club" (or something similar, I don't recall the exact wording) jacket. Once he was finished dealing with the receptionist I looked at him and said "They don't just hand those out, now do they?" He grinned and said "No they don't."

That's one of the forms of racing I'd sure like to try (along with autocross, rallying and full on road course racing).