A Tribute to John Lingenfelter (1945-2003)

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JMarine25
John Lingenfelter died last year on Christmas day. He died at the age of 58, and more about him can be read at this website:

http://obit.zwickjahn.com/obit_display.cgi?id=94816&listing=Current

I know that this is more than 6 months past his passing, but as I looked through the "Cars in General" thread, I haven't seen a thread on Lingenfelter, so I feel that I will give people a chance to show their respects for Lingenfelter. Like to contribute? Reply now.
 
Hiya! :D :O :lol:

I really admire John Lingenfelter. With such reputation in NHRA, Mr. Lingenfelter will always be remembered throughout NHRA a member and some record holder. His company is a a well known to all whenever we talk about 1000 HP american muscles. It is an honor to him that the Corvette/Z06 that his company fixed up with upgrades is named "Lingelfelter" Corvette. I look to this accomplishment with such high performance stats of the Lingenfelter Corvette that Mr. Lingenfelter is a hard wokring and devoted person to his company and the crowd of NHRA and even to ourselves. I pray for his family after death that they can cope with his death and to conitnue on with the "Lingenfelter" name with them and to do what John Lingenfelter always do best: On the Track
 
What a sad loss to the automotive industry. He'll be missed. i hope his successor is equally talented and that he/she lives up to the Lingenfelter name.
 
Sad to hear and will be missed, what caused his death? 58 is quite young.
 
John was in an accident at the NHRA Sport Compact World Finals, he passed away due to complications from that accident.

R.I.P
 
Monster7
John was in an accident at the NHRA Sport Compact World Finals, he passed away due to complications from that accident.

R.I.P
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Really! I didnt know.

R.I.P
 
Sad, he made such awesome cars like the twin turbo vette and the h2 hummer. I believe he was in a coma when he died and what a horrible day to leave, on christmas day. I feel sorry for his family since now they will never have the same christmas. RIP John Lingenfelter.
 
Sorry to butt in on this, but this kind of thing really pisses me off:

ND4SPD
what a horrible day to leave, on christmas day. I feel sorry for his family since now they will never have the same christmas.
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Let's have a look at the calender and find a good day for one of your relatives to die...

It doesn't matter what the day is. You remember it.
 
Actually he was recovering finely until they gave him some medicine that he was allergic to. I miss Lingenfelter, my buddy Eddie has a '95 Impala SS and '94 Buick Roadmaster with the 383 kit, both of them move, despite being so heavy and all. I was actually also kinda waiting for Lingenfelter's name to pop up somewhere. His drag-racing expericences is one of the reasons his 700 Twin-Turbo Corvette was (and still is, untrounced even by the Ferrari Enzo) the world's quickest-accelerating street-legal car. (MT recorded 0-60 in 2.99 sec) Lingenfelter Performance Engineering (LPE) is a top-notch organization and they're arguably the best aftermarket tuner for Corvettes. Undeniably the best known (remember the Sledgehammer?). I'll miss John, he was one of the better tuners.
 
You're right, I was misinformed.



"During that event John’s car lost traction and hit a retaining wall at about 190 MPH. John was on a world record setting pace. In typical Lingenfelter fashion, he had been going for the record. John was rushed to the Pomona Valley hospital in critical condition.

John had internal injuries and broken bones. His most serious injury was a fracture of several vertebrae and a head injury. At the hospital John regained consciousness and responded to the voice of his wife Cindy. From that point on, he never stopped fighting. The medical staff involved was always amazed at John’s resiliency and will to live.

California doctors stabilized John’s condition and an operation to repair his damaged vertebrae was completed. John could move his arms and legs. Ten days later the doctors withdrew the sleep inducing drugs and John woke up. John recognized wife Cindy and others. He was removed from life support, improved and John asked Cindy to take him home. Soon, his doctors deemed him strong enough to be moved back home to Indiana. John was transported to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, an experienced trauma facility servicing both the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Indianapolis Raceway Park.

By the end of November John was looking forward to going home to Decatur and was scheduled to begin rehabilitation in several days. John was cracking jokes with the nurses and telling his wife Cindy about a new motor he was building in his head while he was confined to a bed. But Methodist doctors discovered that the neck operation performed at Pomona needed to be repeated. John's rehab would have to wait a few more days.

Everybody who has ever known or met John is not surprised that he would survive and come through all the adversity when most would have given up. His will to live and recover is incredible.

On Friday, November 29, 2002, just over a month after his accident at Pomona, John was prepped in Indy for a second operation to repair his still damaged vertebrae. John was administered a drug prior to anesthesia. John had a reaction and went into cardiac arrest. The medical staff worked to reestablish his heart function, which they did. However, John entered into and remains in a "semi comatose state".
 
Whoa there Famine, I didn't mean to make anyone mad, I just stated that its horrible when you celebrate a famous day or somethig while mourning the death of a family member. I mean its a shame for his family to not celebrate christmas the same way ever again, I just meant that his wife kids reletives. etc use to celebrate this day and shower everyone with gifts, now they have to mourn Johns passing on such an eventfull day. So I'm sorry for making anyone else mad because of that comment.
 
Victor Vance
Actually he was recovering finely until they gave him some medicine that he was allergic to. I miss Lingenfelter, my buddy Eddie has a '95 Impala SS and '94 Buick Roadmaster with the 383 kit, both of them move, despite being so heavy and all. I was actually also kinda waiting for Lingenfelter's name to pop up somewhere. His drag-racing expericences is one of the reasons his 700 Twin-Turbo Corvette was (and still is, untrounced even by the Ferrari Enzo) the world's quickest-accelerating street-legal car. (MT recorded 0-60 in 2.99 sec) Lingenfelter Performance Engineering (LPE) is a top-notch organization and they're arguably the best aftermarket tuner for Corvettes. Undeniably the best known (remember the Sledgehammer?). I'll miss John, he was one of the better tuners.
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Hiya! :D :O :lol:

Just wanting to say that there is a bit newer one with 1,100 HP from Lingenfelter in case you want to know, but I think you want to see!! :O :O

HP = 1,100
0-60 = 1.97 SECONDS :crazy:
Top Speed = 230 MPH
1/4 Mile = 8.95 @ 153.7 MPH

And from reading the magazine I have about it and from the site, said to be street LEGAL :crazy:

Site:

http://www.corvettefever.com/featuredvehicles/153_0308_lingc5/index.html
 
McLaren'sAngel
Hiya! :D :O :lol:

Just wanting to say that there is a bit newer one with 1,100 HP from Lingenfelter in case you want to know, but I think you want to see!! :O :O

HP = 1,100
0-60 = 1.97 SECONDS :crazy:
Top Speed = 230 MPH
1/4 Mile = 8.95 @ 153.7 MPH

And from reading the magazine I have about it and from the site, said to be street LEGAL :crazy:

Site:

http://www.corvettefever.com/featuredvehicles/153_0308_lingc5/index.html
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Not buying it.

0-60mph in 2s would require an average acceleration of 30mph/s, or 44 feet per second per second. Given that the acceleration due to gravity is 32 feet per second per second, you're looking at an average accelerative force of 1.375g.

What street-tyre can cope with that?

The car may be "street-legal", but I seriously doubt the tyres it ran that time on are.
 
The baddest, fastest, coolest looking car I've ever ridden in is an LPE Twin Turbo C5. 650rwhp on medium boost/pump gas. Well over 800hp high boost/race gas. It's the only car I've ever been scared of. I'd post pictures of it if photobucket wasn't being such a ***** right now.

Of course it's sad that he died. He made some badass cars, and was an icon in the car tuning/performance industry.
 
Famine
Not buying it.

0-60mph in 2s would require an average acceleration of 30mph/s, or 44 feet per second per second. Given that the acceleration due to gravity is 32 feet per second per second, you're looking at an average accelerative force of 1.375g.

What street-tyre can cope with that?

The car may be "street-legal", but I seriously doubt the tyres it ran that time on are.
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The tires that were used for those numbers are 100% street legal. They are Mickey Thompson E.T. Streets in size - 26x11.5-16. Which the article clearly states.

How often do you race/attend the drag strip Famine?
 
Monster7
The tires that were used for those numbers are 100% street legal. They are Mickey Thompson E.T. Streets in size - 26x11.5-16. Which the article clearly states.

How often do you race/attend the drag strip Famine?
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Never. Why?

The article mentions several 1/4 mile runs on "Mickey Thompson E.T. Street 26x11.5-16 "cheater" slicks which are--swear to God--DOT approved" (which wouldn't be legal in the UK - there must be a minimum of 1.6mm tread depth over the centre 75% of the tyre) but doesn't say what tyres the 0-60mph of 1.97s was done on, only that "Motor Trend" magazine did both tests.
 
Because if you had seen how hard a C5 launched or another car using these tires, you wouldn't be doubting the times Motor Trend posted. This picture should speak volumes -


And this isn't the UK. :)
 
I wasn't doubting the times. I was doubting the fact it was pulled on full street legal tyres. I cannot believe that slicks are street legal anywhere in the world - they would be lethal the second they encountered any water.

Why is my attendance, or not, at races or dragstrips relevant to this?
 
The bottom line is - The tires used to get those times are fully street legal. No they wouldn't be good in the rain/water, but neither would a car that makes over 1100hp.

If you attended the track once in a while, you would know what tires bite and which ones bite. Of course track condition and suspension setup play a big roll, but when you see cars with factory suspensions cutting low 60ft's, you look at the tire.

For the record this car on 'every day' tires runs to 60 in a little over 3 seconds.
 
Monster7
The bottom line is - The tires used to get those times are fully street legal. No they wouldn't be good in the rain/water, but neither would a car that makes over 1100hp.

If you attended the track once in a while, you would know what tires bite and which ones bite. Of course track condition and suspension setup play a big roll, but when you see cars with factory suspensions cutting low 60ft's, you look at the tire.

For the record this car on 'every day' tires runs to 60 in a little over 3 seconds.
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Which is none-too-shabby (official world record for a production road car is 3.06s). However, 1/4 mile times don't interest me at all, and as a consequence neither does drag racing.

So, could he drive through all 48 contiguous states on those "cheater slicks"?
 
I've heared about these tyres, what I've heared is that they are legal in very few places (I might be wrong but thats what I've heared). But the time that car set with them is pointless witohut timing other supercars with the same tyres on. The official record for a production car I though was 2.8 in an RS200 EVO, I know a Tiger T100 with two engines and AWD beat that but it only managed one run in one direction so it wasn't counted. However i you put thoes tyres on that T100 and got it to do a run would that T100 beat that Vette, probably, would that RS200 on thoes slicks beat that vette with thoes tyres, probably. Giving a time with tyres that can't be used to time a cars run elsewhere is pointless.
 
Famine

So, could he drive through all 48 contiguous states on those "cheater slicks"?
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No - no question in my mind the tyres would make the vehicle considered an "unroadworthy vehicle" for the reason you stated - extreme danger in the rain. That's only if a police officer knows what he's doing, though.
 
M5Power
No - no question in my mind the tyres would make the vehicle considered an "unroadworthy vehicle" for the reason you stated - extreme danger in the rain. That's only if a police officer knows what he's doing, though.
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They're roadworthy, street legal, DOT-approved tires. The police would have to eat it.
 
DOT-approved and street legal are two very different things. The DOT must approve all tyres sold for safety purposes, but it doesn't mean they're street legal. I'd love to know state-to-state definitions regarding what's street legal.
 

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