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

Fans should NOT be in the pits at all..After the last engine or event is finished only..When I worked at the track from mid 70s to mid 80s everyone, No matter who you were had to wear WHITE PANTS that were clean..That way drivers and push vehicles could see you..One night a local good reporter came in the back gate..Didn't have WHITES on..He said do you know who I'am..I said yes and I don't really give a shit..He talked to the owner and he sat in the stands till races were over..

this thread seems to be one Ive givin some thought to lately, and sadley I hate to admit it, as a driver I "demand" or should i say  (request) the right of way in the pits,  expessially when the engine is fired  and the car is under its own power, rather than a safety situation it is a major inconvienance to a driver and crew sometimes when someone pokes out where they dont belong and consiquently causes a stahled a car ,besides someone feeling foolish ,  theses things fight to idle at 15mph sometimes , when the engine is cold  (they sometimes act cold blooded) some people will understand this mechanical issue. some will not, a car that is chuggung when the driver is holding the brake puts positive tension in the driveline (now some specifics are different than others) but, pulling a car out of gear in a "chugging" situation doesnt come easily, 90% of the time when a car is released from "in" gear it is under a "freewheel" condiotion the driveline isnt experiancing a gread deal of load and any driver will tell you this is most common when he will pull the car out of gear and coast in on his brakes to his final resting spot ,  alot can happen in the blink of a eye at less than 2000 rpm , sure these cars are light, but the human body is no match for a 1400lb sprinter , Recently after a night of competition, i pulled into a parking lot almost habit that pedestrians were looking out for me,  truth was they wernt , i felt foolish, nothing even worthy of coment happened,  but,  I quickley realized the habit I had become use to from the previous night, these were coworkers of mine, random heavy equipment in route commonly, high vis vests ect are common , here is a few things i use commonly when im in the pit areas and like to try stay within guidelines too, oddly in pitareas pedestrians do NOT have the right of way, if you understand this rule, you have a chance of doing well with no incident 

1. when selecting your etire for the evening  choose one of your shirts that is bright,  high visibility, flourescents are best, search some of the t-shirt sales, pick a driver or race shirt you like BUT make sure its bright !  refrain from the darks or black, wear those for afterparties ect just not tonight .... if your kid is going (different topic, but "if") take thier light up shoes, excellent idea! hold his/her hand 100% of the time , no exceptions

2.dont walk randomly in the open, cars will utilize open space too and from, walk near the trailers/fences,garbage dumpsters ect , but, keep note who is coming and going, always keep a exit route, something to block a car if a problem comes your way, alot of times i will walk thro makeing sure to tag my foot on a trailer ramp occasionally, if street cars/stock/sprints ect  are out make note if thier trailers are empty they will be returning during your quest 

3. walk with your ears pealed behind you, if you feel you hear someone coming or even just a car running behind you, look and look again, just to make sure someone isnt "coming in hot".. it happens all the time..

4.watch the heat races ,hotlaps ect and make sure you notice the popularity of one area that conjests with activity, refrain from that area , while its in its "rush"  mode. let things settle, and quickley cross open areas expessially if your on foot.

True that, I fully realize promoters are actually a big part of the problem either because of ignorance or they just don't care. 

I believe it is called 'back gate revenue'

To me, one of the biggest problems in the pits are 4-wheelers being driven like they are race cars.

The closest I ever came to being a statistic was in maybe the largest 'pits' I was ever in, San Jose CA.  An owners wife driving her Escalade having a conversation with her passenger and not even looking straight ahead came within an inch of flattening me.  I was ten feet off the pathway she was to be driving on, watching it happen in slow motion, I never moved, it was eerie, all I thought was I can't believe this is the way it ends, lol....I saw at least a dozen drivers have to hit the brakes and kill the engine over the years and the vast majority of the people involved were guys not paying attention, not women or children...

This is a great topic and something important that does need addressed.  We do need fans in the pits but they do need to be educated on pit edict.  So should push trucks and 4 whlrs. 

As the other poster said sprint cars do not like to be lugged down they do not idle. I have had push trucks idle in the pits and make me stall the car, and before anyone says it they were not pushing or waiting to push a car just sight seeing in the pits. I have had people walk in front of the car , right down the middle of the road without a care in the world. When I see people walking like that it is very aggravating but I like to kick the car out of gear because I have to; but then I get right up behind them and rev the engine. When 850 hp howls 2 feet behind them it gets their attention and they jump turn white and hopefully learn a lesson.

Also 4whlr need to be slowed down also. I was in the pits at Attica, and you know how the trailers park on both sides of the horse track; well a person on a atv came flying down the horse track between the trailers and he would have never been able to stop if some one walked out. They track should have yanked him of the atv and out of the track.

On final point I know how tight the pit area is and some with poor lighting because I own and drive a 410 in central pa.  In my opinion no sprint cars should come into the pits in gear. We have enough push vehicles to get cars back to the trailers still running.  Does anyone remember what happened to Ray Evernhams crew man at Bridgeport the other year, he would have died if not for the quick action of some people near by. Also the other year at Port Royal a car stuck in gear and hit three cars and broke car owner Clair Ritter leg . Thank God that is all that happened it was bad enough but could have been so much worse. I say the only time sprint cars come into the pits in gear would be during races of course so they can get of the track and out of the way. Time for the tracks and racers to be proactive for safety not just reactive.

Folks, we have gotten away from the original idea of the thread and that is the oblivious people with their cell phones and the danger it created in the original posters thread.  While the thread states a problem witnessed in the pits because of the use of the cell phone it is not solely in the pits where this problem exists.  It is EVERYWHERE!!!  I for one, am sick of the self absorbed assclown who could care less about everyone else as long as he/she can carry on their meaningless babble or text with whomever!!  Put away the cell phones in your cars, in the pits and anywhere else that you are putting people in danger or inconveniencing them.  People in the pits would not nearly be the problem if these people can think about something other than themselves!!!  Are the pits a dangerous place to be, you bet, but it could be a lot safer by people putting away the CELL PHONES!!!!!

Good insight from someone behind the wheel - thanks!

Agreed! IMO you should have to sign in with a team to get a pit pass.

A

I re-read this topic and the more I thought about it, I counted the times I could have been killed or injured badly in the pits. The number was too many. I was even where I was supposed to be, such as on top the trailer or directly in front of the hauler watching the cars go down the back stretch.  Sprint, Midget, Indy and Formula cars are "like a hog on ice" when they hit the grass.

I've had a driver pull into the wrong pit (rolling fast) and hit the trailer I was on. Been standing infront of a hauler(backside of pits) and had a driver testing out a fixed broken motor, "on the gas" just in front of all the haulers where there wasnt a road. The driver should have known better. I have been chased by a flipping car while standing in the middle of a large half mile.

I have been hit and poked with edges of wings from people in the next pit.

All that was with out being a spectator just wondering around the pits, but percieved being in an "acceptable spot.

I can't begin to count the times I have seen someone try to pick up a piece of broken header of muffler. Or try to get to an accident before the cars have stopped. Or seen a large rock and try to go out and get it.

Even more dangerous that pit  ATV's Cell phones are the unexpected events that happen from time to time. I have been totally amazed at flying debris from an exceptional on track events.

I made it off the flight deck in one piece and I find that the same principles hold true at the race track as working on the catapult crew.  Know how things flow in the pits, where they fire engines, how they exit the track.  Some tracks fire engines to put heat in them on the track and that helps avoid some of the activity in the pits.  Taking photos know your angles where they pull in if they break.  Where the push trucks and tow trucks to, use graders, light poles to your advantage.  The unexpected can happen so keep the head on a swivel.

Stan Meissner

There are to many people in the pits that don't belong in there. The cell phone problem is every where, I can't believe how bad it is. I see people not even watching in the grandstands they are to busy on there phones. I was taking a kid with me to the races but he was al ways on his phone, I told him he had to leave his phone in the car or stay home, he been staying home ever since.

When in doubt gas it!!!

Some good tips in this thread, I like to think I'm pretty safe and out of the way at all times but I'm as guilty as anyone about wearing dark clothing most of the time. Common sense goes a long way. If you're there watching the Sprints more than likely you know they cant stop, but it's best to extend that courtesey to ALL classes. Especially going to or from the track. I sure dont trust their cars could stop if I was in the way.... If you hear a car and dont see it you should be damn near running towards a trailer or fense on the side you're on. Without noticing doing it, when cars are putting heat in motors I typically pick one car to be around with my head on a swivel untill I see 99-100% are back to their pit. With multiple motors running in the pits its easy to not hear one coming up behind ya as you would if thet where on track. Made me think of a few things I can do better, hopefully all the fans who do like to be there did as well. 

Somewhere along the way black and other dark color racing shirts have become popular.  They used to always be white when they first started to show up at the tracks.  Yeah, that's right, I'm old enough to remember the races before racing shirts.  At one time when I was a kid in the late 50's a flamboyant racing t was a plain shirt with an STP or Firestone logo.  The vast majority of people wore what they always wore.  What I like to refer to as the "cartoon sandwitch boards" we wear today were yet to be invented.

One thing I learned on the flight deck, the safe places are safe 99.9% of the time but sometimes due to circumstances out of the ordinary they're not.  Note the crash at around the 1:10 mark of this video.  Huddling around the island structure was usually the safe place, not this time.  https://youtu.be/SfkFUIfwgIk

Sometimes things out of the ordinary happen at race tracks.  Last summer a non-wing Sprint got turned by another car and came straight at a bunch of us standing behind a crash wall.  I saw it coming and side stepped but a couple others didn't.  Fortunately it stayed on the other side of the wall.  It was in a spot that is safe 99.9% of the time.  Anticipating what can happen is good but there is always that small percentage of a change that rapidly moving objects are not going to follow the rules.

Stan Meissner

When the Brad Doty Classic was at Limaland I saw so many close calls. People would go strolling across the push-off chute like it was a walk thru the park during time trials. I saw a couple 12 year old kids almost get flattened one year. 

Pit lizards trying to bother Kasey Kahne for autographs as he was studying the track surface. It was a circus. 

Exactly what I was gonna say. Texting while driving, even or bicycles or walking (skateboards too!), oblivious to the outside world. Or teacher's aides texting when they should be watching the kids....

I used to think there should be open season on people who text & drive. Now I think there should be a bounty...

How about front row NBA games, multi-thousand $$ tix, not watching the game. If you don't care about the game, give those ringside seats to somebody who does..

I think everybody else covered situation in pits pretty well!