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

Agree

I've seen the armco wall in the corners "move" tons of times when cars have hit it (about the same as a SAFER Barrier does in all actuality.

I'm not 100% sure what the answer is to cars getting this high. The Axle from Paul McMahon, the front bumper/part of the frame from Nate Mosher, the front axle that flew out of the 20 car and injured a safety worker in 2011, Jimmy Evans out of the park, and other crashes I have seen @ Knoxville (and other tracks) would not have been any different with a fence like NASCAR tracks to where the fence if curved over the track (in all actuality, it probably would have made the outcomes for the drivers even worse, as they would have been headed toward the poles at a very bad angle.

I think tethers for axles would be good, just not sure where on the car the tether would have to be attached to to ensure it doesn't fly off anyway (clear back to the roll cage maybe). Austin Johnson's car was cut off from the front of the motor forward (as have been many of these types of crashes) a tether to the frame would have done nothing, as the frame was gone.

Jimmy Evans in the Dan Motter 71M.

1972 Nationals Tommy Marshal from Dallas Tx was the one that went over guard rail off of two and crahsed through quantsit hut. The car is the #8 car that has been on display at Hall of Fame.

Curt Grogan

Way back in the day there were grain bins that sat outside of turn 2 where the Hall of Fame is now. One of the Welds (can't remember if it was Greg or Kenny) went over the wall in turn 2 and stuck the front of the car into the side of the grain bin. The rear of the car was up off the ground and corn poured out of the grain bin.

I was there the night Jay Opperman went over the fence in turn 3. It was Jay's first night at Knoxville and the rumor at the time was that Jan had told him it was possible to run a full lap at Knoxville without ever lifting. I have pictures of the car after the crash, not realizing that Jay had been fatally injured. The cage (such as they were at the time) came apart in the crash.

Mike Waddell in the 360 Nationals hit an I beam backwards. . I was sitting in row 25 or so, just behind that I beam. . . I will never forget how that car went flying into that and just slammed to do an instant stop. I thought for sure the outcome was not good. I do believe it ended his driving career but I think he might be part owner of a team now?

Austin Johnson, the driver that went over the wall on Saturday night, has written a blog about Saturday night's crash and Knoxville Raceway safety. Please check it out at http://blog.austinjohnsonracing.com/

We'd love to hear your comments!

Like him on facebook at: www.facebook.com/austinjohnsonracing81

Find him on Twitter: @ajracing81

Find his website at: www.austinjohnsonracing.com

what pit area, we pit in infield

Very well stated BigGMan.. Please read Austin's blog, he has some great insight into the situation.

so who was the punter?

the 2 x 4's need to go and the fence needs to be about another 10' taller.

I sure would like to see some video of the hit and crash! See what happened for sure.

Want to know what happened to the 81? Ask the 2 of Dobesh...he may know.

After reading Austin's Blog I have to say I agree with MOST of what he wrote.

The only thing I don't agree with is the "unavoidable contact". In the other forms of racing he wrote about, they all have 1 thing in common: Mirrors. Sprint cars do not have mirrors (or spotters - they tried 2 way radios in the late 80's/ Early 90's, it was a collossal failure becuase it allowed drivers to "block".

While I agree accidents should be reviewed (for malicious intent to wreck someone or intentionally wreck someone like when Danica INTENTIONALLY wrecked Hornish after the checker in the Nationwide race), I don't agree with penalties for unavoidable contact in any form of dirt racing as there are other things to consider. Such as, the track changes (and drivers change their line). Austin himself typed that he had run the top the entire race and decided to run the bottom going into that corner and then went for a ride.

What if the scenario had been the leaders trying to lap him, the leaders are generally watching the track so far ahead that they had seen him run the top consistently while they caught him and then went to pass him and he dropped down right where they were and had caused the wreck? Everyone in the stands (and on the message boards) would have been bit$hing that he changed lines and caused the wreck.

I did not see the accident, but I have seen many that are similar to it. A driver changes lines thinking no one is there and boom, they hit another car and there is a wreck (usually they both end up crashed though).

I do agree that more catch fencing needs to be added, however you could build the fence 40 feet tall and there is no guarantee that a car, parts, or pieces won't exit the raceway given the right kind of circumstances.

If the cars are going so fast (in Austin's words), maybe they should institute more rules to restrict the speeds ala NASCAR (take away downforce by making the wings smaller (or remove them alltogether), harden and narrow the tires up, reduce the engine size and make the track so sloppy or rough that no one would dare run wide open). Wait, that was the 60's and 70's... Maybe we should have no limit on the motors, wings, tires (oh, that was the 80's).

IMO, it was a bad accident where Austin was lucky that he was racing in the 2010's instead of the 60's, 70's, 80's or 90's, as he more than likely would not have survived an accident like that in those eras. The safety equipment (and fences, and safety personnel and training) have come so far since those days that the drivers (and the fans, officials, crews, etc.) don't realize that they ALSO have some responsibility in how they drive.

I hope Austin makes it back this weekend to race and we have a SAFE weekend for ALL of the competitors, fans, officials, staff, etc..

I think it's a hard call in Sprint Car racing. I can't from the cockpit point of view but from the stands the decisions on most race winning moves are a mixture of sense and gut instinct, I read a statistic that a motorcyclist has an average 1.6 sec decision to make in an emergency situation that either means life or death. I would imagine these sprint car drivers are at that level of decision making in every race. Obviously some are blatant & intentional and should be dealt with but to start calling drivers on making moves that a sprint car needs to make to win or advance in the short time given and at the speeds they drive is crazy.

An example I want to use is B.Brown & R.Martin at the 360 Nationals a few years back. Brown came hell bent into 3 and absolutely smoked Randy Martin into the wall ending his Nationals. From the stands it looked blatant as hell. Everyone boo'ed the hell out of Brownie! Do I think Brian meant to punt Martin into the wall and destroy both cars? Hell no, I'm a Brownie fan but not die hard, I do feel he is a hard and clean racer but just made a poor decision in that 1.6 window.

Like I said, this is a bleacher call and the cockpit could be completely different.

I read in "Lone Wolf" where Doug said something to the effect that he knew when he had mastered his sport because he could really forecast what he was going to do a half lap ahead of time and the race almost seemed in slow motion.

I think you and I agree...

It is a hard call, what looks blatant from the grandstand (or the official booth or on video replay), can sometimes be just a racing accident.

I don't know when Austin decided he'd run the bottom in 3 & 4, but I know if I was the guy behind him I know he's been running the top the last XX amount of laps. I dive in to go low since I'm close enough (or I've been running that line or even the middle of the track) and all of a sudden the car in front of me changes lanes completely at the VERY last second, so reaction time is nill for me to avoid him.

"Avoidable Contact" rules have no place in dirt track racing unless it's a wreck caused AFTER a yellow. "Avoidable Contact" is (1) difficult to police, (2) open to OPINION, no facts can be used to determine if it was avoidable or not because it only takes 16 seconds to make a lap @ speed on the track and the decision(s) made by the drivers only give someone about .5 seconds to re-act.

My BIGGEST complaint of the night is the #82 car in the 305's. He was at the flagstand (on the opening lap of the race) when the RED came out for the wreck in turn #2, yet he continued on PAST 2 wrecked cars (ALL other cars on the track were stopped before he was and he was the slowest car on the track all night).

He finished 3 laps down in his heat race (6 lap race total), and went a lap down before the leader completed 2 laps in the 305 feature, so he was running 1/2 the speed that Jason Johnson, Clint Garner and the leaders were.

I realize that he is out there trying to make laps and get better (for that, I applaud him). But, if you're doing less than pace truck speed, het can't get your car stopped without going almost 1/2 way around the track, maybe you shouldn't be out there with 20 other cars.

I truly appreciate those who have taken the time to read my blog, thank you for the kind words, and I am glad that it has sparked an interesting debate. Vande, I agree with you in the fact that we don't know if there was unavoidable contact in my case, this is why I have kept the other drivers name out of this. What I am saying, and it sounds like you agree, is that there should be reviews in place. If nothing else so that drivers know that it is being looked at. My wife pointed out last night that I had already started running the bottom for 2 laps prior (not changing my story, just was corrected by someone that was watching). I feel that the lack of mirrors should play into the overtaking driver's decision, and as paintboss points out we do not have much time to make them. He also pointed out malicious intent, I honestly do not think there was malicious intent in my wreck, and didn't want it to come across that I thought that. If it came across that way, I apologize. Also, I do NOT think the cars are too fast, if that were the case I shouldn't be in one. I wrote, "These cars are faster than ever, and the racing is as competitive back through the field as it has ever been. With that the safety needs to advance." As the cars have gotten faster the safety needs to KEEP advancing. I agree with your statement about being thankful to be racing in the 2010's as I stated how thankful I am to ButlerBuilt. I just don't want us to become complacent, and say that we are as safe as we can be. I am still a rookie at this, and love that quote by Wolfie in his book, and hope someday to have even a fraction of the understanding he did behind the wheel. But until then I know that I am fallible as we all are, and am trying to get up to speed in these amazing cars as safely as possible. Thanks again for reading and discussing; this is what I had hoped to do with the blog, so to me it is a success.

-Austin Johnson

Cheers!