Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

What caused the car to break for the wall?

Within hearing distance of Tri City Speedway

If Carson Macedo has to sit out any races. I would expect Cole Macedo to fill the seat. 

Word on the street is alot of radius rods breaking at knoxville. Im guessing the way the left front bangs the inside berm

Thank God this crash happened at Knoxville. Thank God he only got minor burns on his neck. Bruises and a broken rib. That's bad Enough. but I'm gonna bring the subject up again. What if this crash had happened? At one of these other tracks, the outlaws go to. And one of the corner workers was in T shirts and shorts. And only had a 5 pound fire extinguisher. What would the outcome have been? I have brought up the subject before of, why the outlaws Doesn't? have. Their own traveling safety. team / fire team with them. There is no reason they shouldn't have that. This was the perfect example. But when I've brought it up before, I've gotten my ass ripped. By several people. that this would cost too much. What?  is a driver's life worth. The Outlaws mandated a fire bottle. So last night, we've seen that fire bottle come flying out of the car and land down the racetrack. It didn't do one bit of good. It's time for the world of outlaws to have their own safety group travel with them. To protect their drivers. for something just like happened last night. No ifs, ands or buts about it. If you think it's not. talk to the drivers that were involved last night. and trying to get Carson out of the car or talk to Carson See what they have to say. Don't jump on my ass.    Glen Murra

Nasty crash hope He returns quickly He was in pursuit of Gravel on a track that both nights allowed front row to win and all the cars were fast .It seems when time trials are in low 15s the racing  is too fast for passing. You have to give Brad and Gio credit for helping get Macedo out . Fire is one of the things most drivers fear. The last few short track races have been more entertaining to watch but lots of speed and Brown and McCarl and actually Williamson showed they will be ready fot Nationals

That is a good idea to have its own safety team.  Yet if WoO a traveling series needs one should All Stars, High Limit and USAC as well? 

Gary Allbuagh

Problem is the money for a full time traveling fire/safety crew would come from the profit of the big wheels and they don't want to let go of any of their cash. But I agree with you on that's what is needed and should be done.

I watch lots of dirt racing and nearly every track has a poorly equipped "safety" crew. Some are in street clothes. A few are wearing protective clothing, and almost none wear helmets. That tells me they can't properly handle a fire so a driver, or drivers, will pay the price. As long as drivers are willing to race under those conditions, nothing will change. Thankfully, Knoxville takes driver, and safety crew, safety seriously. I pray Macedo gets well soon and glad it wasn't more serious.

Just an observation, but the response by the safety crew seemed a bit delayed when compared to years past. How much is the new inside guardrail chain link fence hindering the safety worker's ability to get to a wreck? 

They were right there as soon as the car stopped. I thought they did a pretty good job and the end result proves it. I'm sure they will be reviewing it to see what they could do better in the future. 

One thing I wonder about is how visible the flames were in the moment in person up close. Methanol fires are hard to see and more than one of the safety guys started their pants or feet on fire trying to put it out. Makes me think it was not as visible as dirtvision made it seem. 

Very scary incident but the Knoxville safety team is top notch.

The safety crew got air with their side by side coming off the infield and where stopped with feet on the dirt before the cars around the crash came to a full stop. I think their response time was adequate. Appears like a slow process getting him out but if the fire was out and there was no danger it is ok to take their time and check a few things before moving him. From video I give them a passing grade 

Even though I may not know you, I 
care what most of you think!

What are the opinions about how the mandatory fire suppression system did it's job? What brand was he using?

I would complement the other drivers for wanting to help Carson, but I saw one problem there.    Those guys also caught themselves on fire and then the safety crew had to use fire extinguishers on them.    I would say the best fire crew in racing having to use resources to help out drivers that weren't involved in the fire to begin with doesn't seem like a really smart thing.   

Something broke in the front end,  it's so unfortunate that when you combine speed and many other factors the driver has no chance to get the car slowed. I'm thankful for the containment seats and other safety items  drivers have today, I'm not  crazy about the left side of these cars enclosed as they are. In my opinion I think that only slows down the response of whomever is trying g to get a driver out. The chassis did it's job, the safety crew did there job and Carson will race another day and that's really what matters. 

i assume we have all seen the video on youtube shot from a suite near turn 4. that guy did a great job. when i watched it with my son he noticed the fire supression bottle had come out of the car and was spraying foam in multiple directions as the car was coming to a stop. as bad as the wreck was, and the damage to the chassis, i'm not terribly surprised it got loose. can anyone verify that this was the case?

dougl

I would agree that if the track doesn't meet a higher standard of safety, including the team, more people need to be hired for that specific race. I'm guessing more than 50% of the tracks have a fire crew that someone described earlier. 

The Knoxville safety team is top notch and have members on every corner with multiple years of experience. Wade Aunger did a good interview with this team. There are gaps in the fencing that allow the crews to park their vehicles. This team has also trained for multiple scenarious. 

I'm certain Knoxville will review what happened and see if anything can be improved. 

Glad to see Macedo walk out of the hospital with what could have been a worse case scenario. 

Keep It Real

You are correct, that was the fire bottle that left the car about halfway through the crash. I dont know if any of the different clamping systems would have held that bottle in place in that crash. I think we are going to see teams protest the bottle being mandatory. I was actually happy the bottle came out of the car, imagine that bottle bounding around in the cockpit with his legs and feet or worse if it got up in his lap.

At the end of the day, he's ok. 

There is going to be a lot of discussion of many different aspects; mandatory fire bottles, drivers getting out to help (impeding process of fire and rescue, see note below), brake rotors, tethers, fuel tanks, fasteners, etc...

I have no problem with the drivers getting out to help another driver in a dangerous situation, there will be some conversation about that situation if any seconds were lost by them being in the way of the fire and rescue team. Of the hundreds of race tracks that raced this weekend, I would say that less than 5 tracks in the country would have been able to handle that situation. 

What Carson went through is just a reminder of what Doug Wolfgang went through. Hopefully no one has to die before they do something about it, if at all possible.

Has anyone heard why they needed to cut the belts? 

Anyone heard if he will be out for a while due to his injuries?