At 2 grand, the last thing you need is pretty gear - old Racer SST advert

[kleggo 138]

Would love to find a hi-res copy of the advert.

See post 5 here

https://www.dropzone.com/forums/topic/55088-old-parachutist/

 

Nancy and John had their act together!

[kleggo 138]

yeah i know, it's just SST, not Racer SST.

[dudeman17 267]

SST

Struggle Struggle Thump

Some people used to say that as Struggle Scream Thump, but most SST jumpers were not the screaming type.

[pchapman 261]

1 hour ago, kleggo said:

yeah i know, it's just SST, not Racer SST.

The actual ad states, "The SST's -- both the standard and the new Racer -- are delivered with ripcords and housings as standard equipment"

So there is an "SST Racer", the fancy new model, which I'm guessing just got called / renamed the "Racer" later on.  So in casual conversation one could indeed probably call the Racer version of the SST a "Racer SST". 

It isn't quite the same, but one could describe a Micron container as a Vector III Micron or one of them Micron Vector III's.

[wmw999 2,117]

And, since I owned an old SST as a backup rig, it very, very, quickly went to just being called a Racer. SST was just so you knew who it came from.

Wendy P.

[riggerrob 558]

Pop-Top chest-mounted container was designed by Dan Poynter to help shorten the line-up for Ten an Speed Star competitors.. John Sherman's first piggyback container was the Super Swooper Tandem introduced during the mid-1970s. SST was a Strong Pop-Top chest type container sewn on top of a crude main container. Circa 179, Sherman introduced the SST Racer with a tapered, wedge-shaped reserve container to reduce the risk of snagging the top of the door frame. Back then Racers were the sleekest and slimmest rig on the market. Other manufacturers soon joined the race towards slimmer containers by plagersizing through-loops, etc. from Racer ... and the race was on!!!!!

Eventually, Sherman/Jump Shack/Parachute Labs dropped the "SST" part of the name and simply called most of their containers "Racers." Over the years, Racer got so many minor improvements that they are no longer compatible with original Pop-Top components. I thing 

[kleggo 138]

but where is that hi-res image?

[JerryBaumchen 1,047]

21 hours ago, kleggo said:

Would love to find a hi-res copy of the advert.

See post 5 here

https://www.dropzone.com/forums/topic/55088-old-parachutist/

 

Nancy and John had their act together!

Hi kleggo,

I remember seeing that ad back then and thinking, 'He could not be more right.'

Jerry Baumchen 

[airdvr 197]

On 6/1/2022 at 2:25 PM, JerryBaumchen said:

Hi kleggo,

I remember seeing that ad back then and thinking, 'He could not be more right.'

Jerry Baumchen 

This ad and the fact that the DZ was a JumpShack dealer led to me to 3 purchases over the years.  As an FNG I could strongly relate to the message :)

[RV8 7]

I owned 2 Racer SST's....was very happy with them.  Don't know where "struggle struggle thump" came from.  Mine always worked just fine.

[dudeman17 267]

6 hours ago, RV8 said:

Don't know where "struggle struggle thump" came from.

It came from gallows humor, blue sky black death. A large part of the culture back then made grim jokes about everything, whether it was warranted or not. If you were around then, you ought to remember that. The reality, though, is that many of the sport's most respected survivalists jumped those rigs. And swore by them. While they weren't all that popular by volume, they had about the strongest owner loyalty.

[wmw999 2,117]

I had a reserve ride on a first generation Racer because I couldn’t get the pud out of the rubber band (borrowed gear…). My arms were too short to have good leverage, so it was just like doing a bicep curl with your arm behind your back. Not a strong move.

No issues with the SST i had for awhile as a backup rig

Wendy P. 

[riggerrob 558]

1 hour ago, wmw999 said:

I had a reserve ride on a first generation Racer because I couldn’t get the pud out of the rubber band (borrowed gear…). My arms were too short to have good leverage, so it was just like doing a bicep curl with your arm behind your back. Not a strong move.

No issues with the SST i had for awhile as a backup rig

Wendy P. 

That "struggle ... " was often caused by sloppy packers who were too lazy to learn the finer points of packing pull-out pilot-chutes.

I watched one woman have two reserve rides - during the same day - because she did not understand how to pack a pull-out.

[RV8 7]

A couple of my jumping buddies would routinely mess with me and would say "you're gonna die with that rig!"    Seriously though, I really loved my SST's  they were comfortable, light, and the pull-out and bridle routing was about as simple and clean as it gets.