Cryogenics Notes

by Joseph Chiechi, ProSlot Drag Team

Notice:

It has been brought to my attention that some people have misunderstood a few things in my cryogenics article. In particular the part about Sonic gears. For the record we use Sonic spur gears on all of our racecars. We have not had any problem with the quality or the workmanship of their gears. In fact at the “World Series of Drag Racing” sponsored by Eagle Dist. in Fairborn, Ohio. Rodger ran a .405@121.75 and a .407@126.65 with 2 different cars in Sunday warm-ups and set the Midwest World Record at a .413@121.75 during elimination s (with a .416@121.75 as back up). Both cars were equipped with Sonic’s new 52T tapered-blank spur gears and they performed flawlessly.

As for the tooth-shearing problem I spoke about in my article. I did not mean to imply that there was a problem with the Sonic gears. I know Mike makes a good product and will stand behind every part they make and at no time did I think that the gear problem I encountered was related in any way to a lack of quality or workmanship on Sonic’s part. I attributed the problem to owner abuse. By that I mean our World Record motors will draw 250+ amps, that works out to about 2 horsepower and that is one heck of a shot to expect the geartrain to take with out some parts breakage (we snap hardened hollow axles off at the gear hub!). Our AA/FC’s were the only cars of ours to ever show this occasional problem and it was my intent to see if the cryogenics would effect the wear qualities of the aluminum one way or the other, not to correct any kind of a problem with the gear itself.

I am sorry for any misunderstanding this has caused.

The purpose of the article was to answer questions asked of me by fellow drag racers:

  • Does it work?
  • Is it worth the money
  • Will it make my cars GO FASTER?

Having an open mind and always looking for an edge we decided to do some controlled testing.

The tests were made on our own and paid for out of our own pocket as a private venture. They did not involve ProSlot Ltd., Dan DeBella or anybody else for that matter. Dan did not know we had even tested cryogenics until I asked him to post a results article on his web site. After reading the article he suggested that I submit it to the TOA for publication. I asked him to submit the article for me because he is a TOA member and he knew Ray personally. The opinions expressed in my article are entirely my own and are based solely on my test results. Other opinions may differ as well as other test results, but to my knowledge nobody has published any test results concerning cryogenics and how it effects slotcars and/or slotcar parts. So I decided to publish my findings to help answer peoples questions and to let the people judge for themselves.

Thank You
Joseph Chiechi