A PROactive look at divisional track safety - Armco and Shutdown

Please take the time to read my column at dragracingonline.com and come back on here and give us your comments, agree or disagree. Before we even get started, let's try to keep this one level headed. If you disagree with me, just state a simple reason why.

http://dragracingonline.com/columns/hanna/x_8-1.html

I have already sent this out to all of the Division Directors.

 

safety

you really have to keep safety in perspective. how much is a trip to the hospital going to cost you. in 1994, i know that the going rate then for a lifeflight trip from the track to the hospital was about $22,000. that's not including an extended stay in the hospital, lost work, and any effects it might have on being able to perform your day job.

if (insert your favorite tuning guru name here) calls you up and says, hey, Acme Machine is making a double inverse widget diverter that will not only pick your car up a tenth, but your parts will last 20% longer. not to mention it's black chrome and looks bitchin on the car. i know for a fact they work. we put one on johnny doe's car at the end of last season and i'm not kidding you it picked up a tenth just bolting it on and the bearings and plugs looked like they were out of the box. all it costs is $2500. they only got a few left, do you want me to put your name on one?

most alky racers wouldn't have made it that far. they would have wanted one about the middle of that paragraph, but alot of racers are on a budget. it's going to make the car faster, it's going to make it cheaper to run, and it looks cool. 99% of alky racers really, really want this part. it works on bae and veney heads, roots, screw and a/fuel. this isn't just the trick of the week, it's the trick of the decade.

you're on a budget tho, and you're spending all you can as it is. but to quote jack nicholson from "a few good men".....You WANT that widget, you NEED that widget...this isn't one of those bolt on and get the tuneup right for a fractional point of boost....this is THE part. only costs $2500. you keep telling yourself that. how much is left on that credit card?? you hem haw around on it, you tell super tuner that man, i just can't swing it today. we just got a couple of boxes of clutch parts and that tapped out the credit card and that retainage check on the job you finished a couple months ago isn't supposed to hit until a few weeks, if they pay it. super tuner has a good history with you and tells you, hey, i know wiley at acme, and if you say your're good for it, it's going to take a couple of weeks anyway because they are still making them by hand since there is no way you can make a double inverse part on a cnc. at least not until they come up with a seven axis machine. i can vouch for you and get it shipped COD if you say you're good for it in 2 and a half weeks. i'm telling you, you bolt this on and it's a tenth. you want me to put your name on one? they only have three more left without a name on them and then they have to go back to making single inverse parts for another three weeks. you can come up with $2500 in three weeks right?

this far into the phone conversation, your mind is numb, and it's like chasing a good looking woman, you just say a simple "Sure...." we're talking a tenth. and it costs less to run. and it looks cool. and you have 3 weeks to come up with the money. any one of the above was enough. super tuner hangs up and marks you down for an order, calls wiley up at acme, makes the order on his 60 day terms and anxiously awaits his 25% cut. meanwhile back at the ranch....

nhra comes out with a proven safety rule that will significantly reduce the risk of serious injury in most accidents. the newest device for next year is the Langhorn system, named after it's designer, FJ Langhorn. this thing is so advanced the first few drivers that had it wasn't even sore the next day. they vividly remember every detail of the crash. tireshake doesn't give you a headache anymore. it's really neat and costs $2000. nhra thought it was neat and required it for top alky down to top dragster.

what a sorry bunch of sob's that don't have a clue what it costs to run these cars! thats what some think because i've heard it right out of their mouth. hell if they want it to be so damn safe, why don't they just run it to 330 ft? you lament having to buy and install the Langhorn device because it's not only $2000 bucks, it takes about 3 days to properly install. it's tedious. nhra tech and managment officials end up at the ear doctors due to severe burns. they get cussed that much....

the moral of the story is hardly anyone bitches about go fast parts for under $5,000 if you can get one before the other guys in your division. but damn another round of safety upgrades.

before we bitch about how much new safety equipment costs and how much of a pain in the ass it is to install it, ask someone who's sat in a hospital for a few days how much that cost. ask them how much of a pain in the ass the rehab learning how to walk was. if you've got the balls, complain to that person how much of a pain in the ass the install was.

i'm sitting here trying to think of a devil's advocate and trying to think of a frivolous mandatory safety upgrade on nhra's part. i'm drawing a blank, so i'll get back with you on that one.

hell i'm even guilty. i was scared to death of the hans device because i thought it would give me trouble getting out of my tight fit car. i swore by it after one pass, much like everyone told me i would.

i'm sorry for the rant, but i've heard more than a few people bitch about mandatory safety upgrades over the past few years. just remmeber someone paid a price for that upgrade, they're usually not on a whim.

going back to the original topic. like i said in the column, we spend thousands a year on safety equipment and upgrades. if it aint right, you can't race. there is absolutely no reason, money included, that tracks should not be held to the same standard. if you didn't have the money for lateral pads, a seat insert and roll cage shield, nhra would have told you to call back when you did have the right stuff. it's just not right to ask some tracks to get rid of their armco guard rails or shorten the track.

armco is the old style guard 'rail' like you used to see at most tracks, and still see at many tracks. the old post and rail system. at the speeds we travel, it's like a 270 mph bandsaw with a bunch of posts to hit as well. it's dangerous, it gives, and doesn't do a very good job of containing the car. as dangerous as armco is, your racecar hitting grass/dirt at a high rate of speed may be worse. if that car can get a dig into the ground, it really really sets up a bad roll.

real long rant short. it's like the famous "6 p's" Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. safety equipment is very cheap if it prevents a serious injury. if it was a go fast part, we wouldn't think twice about it. try to take a step back and think of safety rules in the same light.

 

Divisional tracks

Since I haven't been to every track, I was going to rely on other people's memory of some of the tracks, which have armco, etc. Luckily, it's 2008 and we have youtube, so i've taken a look at some of the divisional tracks out there to see which ones have Armco, etc.

Div. 1
Atco (it's at the very, very end of the shutdown)
Cecil County -reverse turnout just past the finish line. Is this closed off for the divisional?

Div. 2
Bradenton - Armco at very, very end of shutdown
Reynolds - Armco just past the finish line in right lane, hard to tell how far down the Armco starts in left lane

Div. 4
Noble - Armco past the finish line

Div. 6
Woodburn - Armco past the finish line

I don't know if I've left any out, but that's the best I could tell from the youtube videos and personal experience.

 

recerts

Dale,

I'm not going to defend the entire safety industry and say there's never been a company make a buck off a rule change or recerts. The SFI certs do insure a level of quality. Recerts help make sure the parts are doing what they're supposed to.

Take for instance yearly bellhousing recerts...if they weren't recerted every year, sure as hell someone would run an unsafe bellhousing.

If you think you're doing business with someone gouging you, do business with someone else.

As far as shopping costs for safety equipment, that's kinda like shopping for the cheapest surgeon...On the same note, I know from experience what it's like to race on a shoestring budget.

I'm not really going against you here Dale, because I know what you mean, just looking at it from both sides of the fence. These companies are in business to make a profit, not to mention keep the lights on. Just playing the devils advocate. I'll also say there's been companies go over the line before.

 

shutdown areas

i just listed the tracks that have armco, i think we need to take a look at shutdown lengths, sandtraps-nets, and obsticles at the ends of some of these tracks. this is where i need to lean on some of your experience to list some of the dangerous run-offs.

I know Noble, Okla, runs off into a steep railroad track enbankment. I've also seen numerous alcohol sessions ran while the train is going. That could be a disaster. There was a car last year that ran off the end of the track at a decent clip that folded the car in half. There is no net.

Reynolds, Ga. has a steep berm at the end of the track. I think a SG car hit this wide open last year and ramped over the berm.

Then again, some tracks may have no net, but run off into a corn field, so it's not that big of a deal.

Bottom line, if there's dangerous obsticles off the end of the track, there needs to be a sand trap and some nets.

I'm not trying to call tracks out, it's just let's take a look at some glaring issues and fix them before someone get's hurt, then fix the problem. If the track can't afford to fix the problem, then maybe the divisional should be run somewhere else.