(Photos by Charles Wickam) – It isn’t too much of a stretch to say that nitro burning top fuel engines use the hardest core speed parts we know of inside of them. Believe it or not, the engines still have some hot rodding left in them as there are several different cam grinds around the pits that different teams use along with a couple different theories on stroke and other stuff. During the 2014 O’Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals, Charles Wickam was our man on the ground shooting photos and documenting the action. He went the extra mile and hung out in the pits for a portion of the weekend shooting the photos in this gallery and others.
What’s neat about this collection of photos is that you’ll see cool parts, like the head below. You’ll see guys wrenching their asses off as well. You may sneak a peek at a famous welder working on a race car, the rear end out of a top fueler, and even some nice valvetrain parts. If you are a gearhead, there’s nothing better than watching the silent coordination of a top fuel team service a race car. It is frenetic, insane, and choreographed to the last possible operation. Any one mistake could cost the team a round or worse, hurt the driver.
Between the parts and the action in this gallery, there is something for everyone –
Huge thanx to Bob Lawson team manager for Kalitta Motorsports for giving me access to their teams pits
You do great work Charles. I met you at the Austin ISCA show in January. I have the black Hemi Dart and was asking you about the Kemah cruise night.