During June of 1999 Railfair was held at Sacramento. This was when UP 844 had her boiler tube failure.This event also introduced a new sport to the world, Shay drag racing.This event was the idea of Jim Wrinn and Martin Hansen.The eastern entrant was Graham County Shay 1925 which had been recently restored at Historic Spencer Shops in NC. www.ci.salisbury.nc.us/nctrans/Rolling_stock/Steam/1925/1925info.htm
The races were over 75 yards from a standing start.On thursday the #1925 had times of 11.9 and 14.57 seconds, while #1 had times of 16.66 and 16.41 seconds. On friday the times were 13.38 vs. 15.61 giving shay 1925 a clean sweep.
Have there been any more of these races since ?
Every year, Bandimere Speedway holds a truckfest that features everything from pick-ups to large semi rigs. One of the truckers I know has a custom Peterbilt, with a heavily modified Cat in it. He ran an 18 sec. pass in it. And this is around 6000 feet above sea level. There’s a lot of stock pick-ups that can’t do that!
Still, the concept of a Shay Drag Race still seems odd to me. Tractor Pull, Tug of War, Hill Climbing contest, yes. Drag Races? Still seems odd to me.
What happens if you tossed the steam, water and replaced the shay cylinder with a AC traction motor; threw a desiel generator into the fuel bunker and hooked it up?
There is nothing new under the sun. Way back in the early 70’s, the late Joe Luber[a.k.a. Ralphie the Rhino] had a bunch of tee shirts printed up for his Pro Custom Hobbies. The bright red tees were lettered on the front, “The Good Guys Wear White”; the back plugged his P.C.H. with the slogan, “Member of the Shay Racing Team.” I still have one.
BTW, amongst the staff at old Pro Custom Hobbies was Lee Riley, who went on to bigger things at Bachmann, and Nolan Null who pretty much did the same thing for Life Like.
Guess “Big Daddy” Don Garlits (spelling?) and “The Snake” Prudhomme have nothing to worry about.
As to offbeat races, I’ve watched my brother race farm tractors. One of the neighborhood guys had a high clearance (larger-diameter wheels and tires) Massey-Ferguson that was (comparatively) wickedly fast.
They got to18 mph in 75 yards. That does not sound to bad. I would like to know if our Editor was on board as it was his idea.
But of course!
The idea came from and old Jeff Terry Studio ad that used to run in Trains back in the early 1970s. It was for a t-shirt that said: Shay Racing Team.
When Cathy Taylor at the California State Railroad Museum told me that Oregon’s Mount Emily No. 1 would be joining the 1925 at Railfair '99, Martin and I got to talking and dreamed up the race as a way to help break our two small engines out of the pack. And it did… we had about 3,000 people at each Shay race.
As for riding, I rode with Engineer Paul Hess and fireman David Seniw on one of the test runs for the crowd. I’d no sooner than set my Nikon down in the cab than David came over to me and advised: You might want to hold it; when we go, things in this cab start moving. He was right. She’s got acceleration!
As for additional racing, there’s been no other opportunity that I’m aware of.
I one of the many TV specials currently on the topic of the Star Wars movies, George Lucas explained that the inclusion of some many very fast vehicles in the movies was to cater to the public’s fascination with speed. Guess that goes for Shay fans, too.
For the sake of historical preservation, it is probably just as well that more races are not planned. Imagine the modified stock division.[:D][:D][:D]
