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

My solution to this serious/dangerous situation, is not allow anyone in the pits if you are not on a race team/crewmember. I have spent my share of time in the pits as a crewmember, and it is always hard to try and watch out for the "fan" walking around with his head firmly planted in the darkest place on his body. Let the fans come into the pits after the races are over. Just sayin.

Rim Rider

This is one of the most intelligent discussions I have ever seen on this board.

There have been a number of good points made for racing fans, whether they're in the pits or watching from the stands. (And no matter whether they're relatively new or long time fans of the sport.)

Several of you are also doing a great job of helping educate other fans as to how to behave, stay safe, and have a great experince at the races.

Kudos to all the great posts on this topic!

As far as the youth issue, I know some kids from racing families that are more 'pit smart' than a lot of people there.

A good rule to teach new people: When the cars are firing the team with the open spot behind the hauler is where you DON'T go.

One of the things that scares me I'm not sure people have mentioned is p'd off drivers. I once witnessed a sprint car driver angry from a situation on the track fly off at full speed, drive between rows of haulers and to his spot at the back of the pits without ever slowing down. I was writing a story for the local newspaper that night and stopped in his pit afterward, he said "hey I was mad, they shouldn't have made that blankin call on the track." I told him that would make a great quote for the story I would have had to write about the person that was killed at the races that night if they'd have been in the wrong spot.

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some tracks notice this problem and try to fix it. I-55 had a problem with their push lane. people would walk right by it while cars were coming off of it. i had to yell several times at people one time or they would have got hit. last time i was there I-55 had someone stopping people. every little bit helps.

I dont know how to fix it besides allowing so many people per team but then that ruins it for fans with common sense that like to look around before things start. After the drivers meeting is over i find a safe place and dont move until after qualifying. like at Sedalia i was on the stage and sorta safe and out of the way.

the one thing I was going to mention in this thread you touched on a bit, the term "Whites" as a driver its extreemly difficult to see someone wearing black or dark colors in general , we commonly exit a well light racing surface only to scrambel back to the trailer essentually driving in a cave with no headlights , 90% of your favorite race car driver has a white or flourescent shirt for sale in his souvineer trailer, Please! Please! wear your brightest cloaths, mowing over a spectator or crew member would absolutly change my perspective of racing as a fun family sport, afterall win or loose we all would like to attend another race, next weekend or what have you, the people not educated or pit attendance regulars ( someone said , "pit edicut")need this the most, nobody likes to watch over someone so they dont step out into a bad situation, I become extreemly nervous letting "part timers" enter my pit for a night of up and personal space with the crew and car , its a great way to feel the emotion the true story , and personal level of racing, BUT, this just isnt TV, Just be careful guys and enjoy the season, injury free , the next friend or family that would like to enter my pit on a given night, ill print off this thread and tell them to read carefully and reread if they missed something .. anyway, take care!

*edit... and yeah, I55 gets pretty thin. That entrance and exit was not designed for Sprints.

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L&L Fabrication

Last year at the Doty Classic I saw 2 boys no more than 10 or 11 almost get hit as they were walking right thru the push-off lane during qualifications, to the point where the sprint car had to lock up the brakes and stop.

I know it's partially if not mostly a parenting issue but that situation seriously needs to be addressed.

I was in the pits about a decade ago at San Jose Speedway and got the scare of my life. It wasn't a sprintcar it was Dennis Roth's wife in a big white Escalade. As she approached I noticed she had both hands on the wheel but her head was turned directly sideways talking to the front seat passenger and she was veering to her left. Had I not jumped backwards I wouldn't be typing this today and she has no clue this even happened, lol.....

Still love husets 

Cell phones can kill you in other places. Five-10 years ago a trucker talking on his cell phone stepped right in front of another truck that was on the move and got squashed.

The police said that the driver who hit him more than likely didn't even realize he'd hit someone and didn't stop.

They never did figure out who accidentaly hit him.

I was at Sedalia as well, and also noticed and observed a lot of the same things. The thing I noticed more so than the young fans, (most that I saw had their heads on a swivel) was the older ones. As the drivers where firing engines they were all over the place. Some had walkers etc. Besides not having their eyes open to their surroundings, a lot of em wouldnt have had the ability to get out of the way if they did. I personally saw a driver miss his pit and stop on down the pit lane and have to be pushed back. Thankfully HE had his eyes wide open. I've taken a few pointers myself and even though Im 32 and been around quite a few pit areas, theres always something more we all can do.

i damn near got run over by Todd Bodine a the Milwaukee Busch race in the early 2000's.

As a fan that has raced and crewed on a few cars I prefer to go to the pits when I can. I like watching them work on the cars and the adjustments they make. Like some on here my old man taught me what you do and don't do in the pits. I would hate to see rules put in place banning fans from the pits.

Ozzie07 - "there are 3 thing you never turn you back to, a bear, racecar and a pissed off woman". LOL, this is so true.

I saw Leonard Lees (I'm 99% sure it was him) right rear take a womans leg out from under her at a Tulsa Speedway WOO show in 1998 or so..I actually saw 2 other people get bumped or knocked over that night. It completely blew my mind. It was my first year working on a sprintcar but I had been racing or going to races my whole life. I had never seen anything like it other than seeing a gokart break its steering in hotlaps and go flying across the pits and into a kartstand with a kart on it and 2 guys working on it...nobody hurt there. I was completely surprised because Tulsa Speedway ran 2 classes of sprintcars every week yet the place was crawling with people who had no idea that sprinters are locked in gear and can't just stop when somethings in the way. There had been some rain which made part of the pits un-useable, along with 48 Outlaw cars and their haulers and a full field of 2 barrel cars and the pits were packed. 40 feet from the track exit people had congregated so much that there was barely a 6 foot wide path for the cars leaving the track to go thru. Everybody who I saw got hit was looking away from the flow of traffic and standing in or walking thru the pit road...I couldn't blame any of the drivers for any of the hits that happened.

To Jackhole........thanks to your dad for teaching you what was going on....I bet he was always close enough and watching you enough that he could have pulled you out of the way by your T-Shirt if anything had come close....my dad taught me the exact same way as a young teen...as far as I am concerned you had every right to be in the pits as a 12 year old, but plenty of 45 year olds have no business whatsoever in that area.

Loose is when you hit the wall with the rear of the
car, tight is when you hit the wall with the front of
the car. Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall and
torque is how far you move the wall.

And wearing Whites !!!

Larry

2 years ago i was in the pits in Knoxville for the outlaw show. I have been and always do go into the pits at the outlaws show that i go to. I was standing in turns 3/4 along the fence watching the A. After the A finished i started walking back towards the center of the pits and i glanced around and saw nobody coming. As soon as i thought i was safe, Sam Hafertepe Jr came hauling ass through the pits and was coming from the backstretch to his hauler on the frontstretch...well needless to say i about got hit and if i wasnt for my buddy who shoved me out of the way, there is no doubt i would have been spending that night in the hospital. i do understand that fans in pits need to know their limits BUT i would also expect drivers NOT be hauling ass through the pits. thought it was funny though that he had to lock them up and his crew had to push him back to the hauler...

Thanks;

I meant what I said, I know I was never the best kid and didn't listen if my dad said 'NO!' However, the times I was in those pits I was on it. I heeded his word and I was at full attention and my vision was 180 degrees with ears open.

He was the promoter of Osky and I had been around racing my whole life. I understood and was aware of at least the 'controllable' things. When he was promoting Osky, the year I was born, I guess a sprint came in and the breaks were out. He pulled into his pit stall and ran right up on the open trailer. That was my first lesson. Moved the truck several feet forward.

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I do not think this is a big problem at Knoxville. For the nationals they charge more to get into pit. I have seen a few times when people got in way, but not very often Knoxville pits are in a big circle of movement. The push trucks, and sprint cars always come from one direction, so you always look in that one direction when walking in pits.