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

Even in a serious discussion on safety, you had to go with snarky name calling?

I think your statement is very accurate but considering how violent that wreck was, it may not have made any difference.  Unfortunately the sport we love can be very dangerous at times.  We can try hard to make it better but with those speeds and unpredictability of the action on track, some serious injuries will occur.

Watching the YouTube video of the crash test organization crashing a sprint car head-first into a wall and watching it crumple up tells me that any crash can be potentially fatal.

I would love to see taller cages and maybe halos on the cars but with a direct impact on the top of the cage, I'm not sure what it would take to keep the driver safe.  It would be interesting to see Jason's cage and understand how it was damaged from the concrete barrier.

I agree with you. The key is how to reduce the impact severity whenever the cage makes contact first, or for that matter makes contact at all with a wall. Especially those walls in the corners where direct high speed contact is more often made. Glancing impacts on the straightaways are far less violent, and a glancing impact is more common there.

ahh, come on... "Captain Obvious" ain't so bad....

I personally wasn't all that impressed with the crash testing thing on the sprint car frames.   It looked dramatic but they also didn't state how much force was being used and how they determined the amount of force that would be appropriate.   I'm not saying what they did wasn't legit necessarily, but is it possible that they used more force than necessary to make it look dramatic?    

I believe wrecks that are fatal have many elements. One part could be the individual tollerance factor of a persons physical make up.

The years I have watched racing, low center of gravity wrecks, such as fast barrel rolls and fast low end for end mixed with sideways rolls seem to be some of the most harmful. The other is hitting ones head on stationary objects such as poles, fence posts, walls. 

Maybe some one could figure out a way to keep cars from barrel rolling so bad and slow the G-force.

I have also wondered if the large rear tires add to the initial force.

Race fans talk about solutions because they care.
 

im not here to point blame, or give my opinion on what happened or why it happened, or what caused it cause i never saw what happened, just a picture of that area of the racetrack.  But all i keep thinking is a simple treated 4x4 to mount a billboard to. It would shear off on impact. And thats not to say that couldnt hurt someone either, but im baffled at seeing that big steel i beam...just my thoughts and whats been on my mind..

The cars are safe enough. Something improves every year on the car. Just an unfortunate set of circumstances. If the top wing would've stayed on, that might've helped cushion some of the blow, you never know.

If the drivers were that concerned with safety, maybe more would use a rock screen, wear a fire proof head sock, or even use arm restraints? And these 3 things aren't mandatory in the rule book, just RECOMMENDED! 

Remember last year when a 360 crashed over the fence at Knoxville? It's glorified in this article and a "testament" to the safety of the cars and track that no one (drivers or spectators) were injured.

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/sports/motor/auto-racing/2017/05/30/knoxville-iowa-viral-video-sprint-car-crash/354363001/

Very unfortunate with what happened last weekend....yes tracks can try and make the track as safe as possible for fans and drivers or make improvements, but racing an open wheel sprint car on dirt with 900 horsepower turning 8500+ rpm's weighing 1400 lbs wtih a big right rear tire with 8lbs of air in it with 23 other drivers on the racetrack at the same time with the same goal of trying to win a trophy....bad things can happen...........

when the good lord calls your name...

the best drivers take many unnecessary risks every night. No rock screen or head sock.

Wooden posts make sense to me too....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMSzkyqLnlk .... crash at 1:50 and 2:50 are similair to what happened at beaver dam,          YOU tell me how many of these drivers walk away IF these wrecks happen at beaver dam...NONE of these drivers in ALL these wrecks were NOT hurt.

“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science 
gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.” 

"NONE of these drivers in ALL these wrecks were NOT hurt" ??????? 

Thats why double negatives are a no no...

Are you saying they all got hurt?

"double negative"??...there is no double negative..only facts... TWO deaths in TWO years is ONE too many!...beaver dam is a UNSAFE track...PERIOD!. iv'e been going to EVERY trophy cup and witnessed crashes there similair to and worse than what happened at beaver dam at tulare..the video speaks for itself. the FULL crash fence ALL the way around the race track DID IT'S JOB...NO FATALITIES!

“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science 
gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.” 

Racing is dangerous but is it really any more dangerous than getting in your vehicle and heading down the highway to the store? I would say statistically the amount of people injured or killed in race cars isn't any worse than people injured and killed automobiles ratio wise. Its unbelievable how many are killed or injured in vehicles every day. You just think of it in a different way if it's a racecar it' like oh my gosh it' so dangerous. If you see a fatal automobile crash do you think of it the same way? My job is dangerous. I have more of a feeling of being in danger at work than in my racecar. Freak accidents are always going to happen now matter how safe you try to make the sport although we should never stop try to make it safer. I feel like a car hitting the the top of the cage poses the most danger. Heavier cages may work some but I don' know how much. 

#1 man, spot on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ascot was the greatest of all time..

West Capital wasn't half bad either..

Life is good...

I looked but could not find the article that talked about the parameters they used for the testing.  I think it listed the speed, etc. used in the test.  I'll post a link if I can find it.  It's absolutely possible the testing wasn't totally legit, although I'm not sure what their agenda too not have accurate data would have been.  It wasn't like the NBC crew loading up chevy pickups with molotov cocktails so the gas tank would ignite on cue.

I didn't think that crash was very representative of the wrecks normally encountered in sprint cars but someone would need to donate some chassis for additional testing.  The glancing blow off the wall and rolling over or the bouncing up in the air and coming down hard (think Kevin Swindell) would be the wrecks I would like to see some research on.

And notice the clearance between his head and the top of the cage - not more than a couple of inches.  And it's not like Donny is a tall guy.

I would note though, that Knoxville did make some changes on that end of the track.   When we went there last year for the Nationals they had reinforced the billboards with steel cables.   They had also brought that up about a foot or so above the billboards.  Who knows, but maybe they have at least prevented another car from winding up on the highway?   

Another thought on that in regards to the billboards at Beaver Dam. After reading your post, the thought came to me that at some point, the officials at Beaver Damn anticipated or considered that a sprint car could end up against the billboards. Why else would they have been placed on steel beams? The elements?  Wood poles aren't as structurally strong but they do last a very long time and can endure quite a lot regarding wind and weather. Regardless, if they did anticipate a car reaching the billboards the number one priority should have been focussed on trying to prevent that. At least the premise at Knoxville seems to be to keep the cars inside the track area as best they can. 

Wooden posts break and act like Spears.  When I was a kid late 50s to early 60s my dad would only attend stock car races.  He spent some time in NJ after being in France in WII and racing started up again.  He went to some Big Car aka Sprint races and saw a guy impaled by a broken wooden pole and mom didn't want the kid seeing anything like that.  

Stan Meissner

Keeping the car on the track poses another risk...getting hit by another car. The only fatality I've seen at the race track occurred when a flipping car was struck by another competiter. 

A