Scott Kalitta

our prayers go out to the Kalitta's...SecondWind Racing
god speed Scott...we miss you

 

Just saw that, Dave. Man that sucked.

Can't believe we have to keep updating our chassis', but the NHRA doesn't require any track updates.

Plenty of shut down area, but God forbid you have to use the 40' wide sand trap with the CONCRETE WALL behind it.

 

i seen the wall tonight after watching it today and wondering how and why this happened the wall kinda explains alot and a sad day in drag racing i hope nhra now will mandate longer tracks for the top fuel guys they make you update your cars now it should be better tracks

god speed scott

 

I don't think a longer track would have helped... There should be improvements in the over run of the track. IE: more than just sand and a net that couldn't stop a stork.

Course, that concrete wall did a good job stopping the car.

 

How about 50 feet deep of Hydro Barrier stop the car and put it out at the same time?

 

I was just thinking,why don't they make the fire bottles go off of a temp sensor and not a manual switch?
Our thought and prayers are with the Kalitta family and friends.

 

Editing this response

E- town and Redding, are two east coast tracks that have a public road at the end of the property, so the wall is there to protect the public, there should be a longer sand trap and three catch nets, two and three activated when #one net comes out half way, & so on with # three. a concrete wall is not the answer. NHRA should listen to the drivers,it's there ass on the line. Jim Head said the fuel guys want to race for 1,000 ft. on the espn race yesterday.[/QUOTE]


"Mr. Terenzio, (and others in this forum)
Being fairly new to Alcohol racing, I haven't been to a lot of the NHRA tracks on the East coast. I am from Central Florida and know all of the tracks around Florida. I have, however, watched the races on ESPN, showing the top hotrodders in the alcohol / fuel classes.
After Scott's crash, we, in this forum, have gone from "the tracks are too short and we need more protection" to, "we need to only race to the 1,000 ft. mark".
I truly believe that all of the racers and NHRA officials should step back, ........figure out what really happened with Scott's ride and make intelligent decisions from there.
If I were a track owner, I would logically be looking at protecting my ass, should someone's ride run through the "safe zone" and go into the net.
Being a driver, I don't want to hear that crap, I want a longer sand trap, two or three safety nets, and God forbid that there is a concrete wall at the end of that!
I truly believe that NHRA and the racers can work this issue out. We, as racers, have to be persistant. We need to talk to NHRA, "insist" in a manner that will make them understand that we are serious about our belief's.
If that doesn't work, .................. IHRA bound!"
Dave Baker
Lakeland, Fl.

 

"Mr. Terenzio, (and others in this forum)
Being fairly new to Alcohol racing, I haven't been to a lot of the NHRA tracks on the East coast. I am from Central Florida and know all of the tracks around Florida. I have, however, watched the races on ESPN, showing the top hotrodders in the alcohol / fuel classes.
After Scott's crash, we, in this forum, have gone from "the tracks are too short and we need more protection" to, "we need to only race to the 1,000 ft. mark".
I truly believe that all of the racers and NHRA officials should step back, ........figure out what really happened with Scott's ride and make intelligent decisions from there.
If I were a track owner, I would logically be looking at protecting my ass, should someone's ride run through the "safe zone" and go into the net.
Being a driver, I don't want to hear that crap, I want a longer sand trap, two or three safety nets, and God forbid that there is a concrete wall at the end of that!
I truly believe that NHRA and the racers can work this issue out. We, as racers, have to be persistant. We need to talk to NHRA, "insist" in a manner that will make them understand that we are serious about our belief's.
If that doesn't work, .................. IHRA bound!"
Dave Baker
Lakeland, Fl.[/QUOTE]
The tracks aren't to short , just at some tracks the shutdown is to short for 330 MPH race cars, At that speed if you crash into any thing, the only thing that will save you is a miracle, Jim Head got it right, 1,000 ft. just for the fuel cars. I have no Idea how it would be done, It would be confusing to have two finish lines, may be different colors at the stripe. talking to NHRA is likened to getting an audience with the Pope, ain't going to happen. IHRA sounds good to me, if i was still racing.

 

How about a tail hook and device like what stops the F-16 on a carrier? The least expensive answer is 1000 foot for fuel. Additional safety devices like longer sand traps, hydro barriers, and "Soft Walls" should also be installed. If everybody in the pro classes stayed home a couple weeks things would change in a hurry. Come to think of it at 1000 feet Goodyear may even be able to make a tire that would stay together.

 

Keep the ideas coming Mybe some one will liswten and we wont loose anymore drivers. Them were some realy good ones.

 

1000 foot...no..racing is 1/4 mile keep it a 1/4 mile let's knock down cubic inch and back off the blowers and nitro percent and get it back to a drag race you can watch....instead of a pedal fest..just 2 cents here..Dave
www.myspace.com/daveloweswr

 

WILL, what you see on TV is not what you would have seen in person HD or not. Dept perception is way off, Were going to have to Waite for the TV Ralph Camden, was waiting for, 3 Dimensional

 

I'm not a kinetics engineer, but I can't believe that any drag strip has the capacity to safely stop a car traveling 250 MPH at the top end. Chutes out, 100 MPH or less maybe.

I wonder if technology from the mag-lev train projects could be lightened and used to decelerate a car, with the associated hardware mounted in the track?

 

My thoughts sincerely go out to the Kalitta family. This is a terrible tragedy and nothing changes that. But maybe we can learn something from this horrible event. The NTSB publishes accident reports, most frequently on aircraft crashes. I think the theory there is to learn from a tragic event.
One of the things I have noticed over the years is the knee-jerk reactions in the racing community to an accident. The reaction that affects us as racers the most is the new and 'improved' safety rules that arise from a crash. I have had some thoughts about this situation.
#1. Is there an investigation?
#2. What about the 'black' boxes Ford installed in the funny cars?
#3 How about letting the racers know what happened?

I want to learn from this. I wouldn't want this to happen to me or any other racers ever again so how about somebody fill us in so we can learn and hopefully prevent it in the future? The NHRA secrecy surrounding accidents is total BS. We can't change the past but maybe we can learn from it.
Dave Germain

 

OK as I watched Drag Racing this weekend I started to think out of the box a little and wanted to share some Ideas that fell into my head concerning stopping. OK on the parachutes how about a device at the finish line that sends a signal to the passing cars and deploys the laundry as you pass buy? Also on the shoots what about a device that works off of percussion that is mouted on or near the engine if the blower bangs the shoots go. It could use inferred or even a simple safety wire to the blower its self if it moves it breakes the connection and sends the shoots out. It could also be hooked to the fire extinguishers that if they go off the shoots go out. Or installed to the burst panel (on the blower)

OK on to breaks and tires, make all the pros run 4 wheel disc breakes yep even the dragsters. Make the dragsters run a tire the width of the funny cars. Make the funny cars run a wider front tire. Move the weight around to make the front brakes more effective. Install anti skid devices for the breaking system. Also install a computer that in the event of a blower or motor boom automatically applys breaks in the anti skid mode until the car is stopped. It could be activated by any and all of the events listed above. Have Goodyear design a front tire for all the pros that has stopping as the priority.

NHRA should apply VHT at the finish line to the end of the track to help apply maximum traction for the new maximum breaking devices.

Install air bags (wont help in every situation) but may have saved the life of Nascar #3.

Install a front wing with maximum down force on the nose of funny cars but under the body so it dose nothing untill the body blows off, but once its gone it would apply downforce.

Most of this stuff would help if the driver is knocked out but is something you would still have some controll over it you were awake. As an example you can still steer a car even in anti skid mode. Some of this would slow the car down because of the added weight but NHRA has been trying to slow them down for a long time. last thing if the carbon fiber breaks cant survive the emergency stop put dual disc and rotors on each wheel and use them in series once one is too hot let the 2nd take over or on a timer, outer rotor for the first 2 seconds and then both.

 

One Net on cables

If all of the other previously mentioned systems fail to slow a car before the end of the track then,

As long as a car is between the two concrete walls and less than 15 feet in the air when it gets to the end of the track, a catch fence with cables connected to either an electric or hydraulic brake would be completly sufficient to bring the car down from speed at the end of the quarter. The system would be set to the car weight prior to the start of the run. Any engineering firm could work out the length required to stop a car travelling X mph in X feet with a loading of X g.s

Every aircraft carrier uses a simalar system except it uses steam and is equipped with a tail hook and arrestor cable to decerate aircraft when they hit the deck.

I ain't no engineer but I think this kinda system would work better than multiple nets, sand traps etc. By the way you ever see how long a tractor trailer runaway pit is or an formula one runoff....that is before formula one started removing them because they were so inneffective and unpredictable at deccellerating a car at speed.

 

Quote, I ain't no engineer but I think this kinda system would work better than multiple nets, sand traps etc. By the way you ever see how long a tractor trailer runaway pit is or an formula one runoff....that is before formula one started removing them because they were so ineffective and unpredictable at decelerating a car at speed. Quote.
It looks like the sand only helps when the car is going slow, I think the racers were more concerned with not messing up the car to bad before, now I think and hope that the safety of the driver is the main concern. cars can be fixed, once your dead, there's no coming back, unless your Jesus or Lazarus. Get rid of the sand, The cars ether fly over it or hit so hard they flip over, and if you flip over the net then your screwed. Some one mentioned foam? maybe that Great Stuff that sponsor Tony Pedrigon can come up with something? As far as the engine goes take away the 44 amp mags, and give them the new 60 amp. or whatever it is that they have new, but only one. and maybe take away the down nozzle's?