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

In response to the death of Scott Kalitta, the NHRA announced that effective with the Mile High National's next weekend in Denver, all Top Fuel and Funny Car races will be shortened to 1000 feet (instead of 1320 feet) while they evaluate what happened, why and how to prevent it in the future. The Mile High National's is also scheduled to be the first event that John Force's new design car will be mandatory for all Funny Cars. Force's chassis was created in response to Eric Medlin's death last year....the first in 30-something years for FunnyCar/Top Fuel.

The article can be found here:

http://www.thatsracin.com/247/story/16180.html

Quite a bold step, I can't imagine WoO, USAC, etc being able to make a similar move in response to a tragedy. NASCAR has done something kind of along those lines with the requirement of HANS, better inspection of seats and belts, but this is even more radical than the COT.

I think it's a cluster f**k, a knee jerk reaction to a terrible, freak event. Drag racing is quarter mile racing... the end.

This move has the support of all the racers. Matter of fact, many of them want to go to 1/8 mile.

much of the engine damage occurs in the last 200 feet!

Lincoln 1845 ft/.35 mile T1=118MPH 
Eldora 2287 ft/.43mile T3=135MPH
Port 2716 ft/.51 mile T3=TBD
Grove 2792 ft/.53 mile T3=135MPH
Selinsgrove 2847 ft/.54 mile T1=136MPH
"I didn't move to PA from El Paso in search of better 
weather." Van May

BRR, let me guess.  You got that quote from Jim Head when they were interviewing him at Englishtown.

I'm not a fan of the 1000' track either.  Just as in any sport but in this case drag racing the crew chief can make the "wick" burn past 1320 feet if so desired and live.

While the NHRA "evaluates" what happened?

He hit a wall, head on, that's what happened. I don't buy this "the explosion knocked him out"

The car was wheel hopping bad when the chute didn't come out, telling me he was on the brakes, hard.

Stupid NHRA...spends how much on "safety" then they race at a track with a concrete wall across it at the end.

My October trip the NHRA event in Vegas just went on hold. The engine damage DOES occur at the top end but won't they just run different gearing now and still turn the p1ss out of it at 1000 feet? This could be the beginning of the end to big time drag racing.

The press release states that the switch to 1000 foot runs is temporary while they figure out how to prevent it from happening again.

http://www.nhra.com/content/news/30355.htm

Kalitta couldn't stop cause the chutes got tangled up when the body blew off. Why don't they put an emergency chute under the body, which will open after body leaves the car?

I would imagine the insurance companies involved with NHRA may have a say in this deal. If ...and I mean a big if ..they would launch one of those 2 fuel division cars into the stands at half track or wherever ....  game over. I know Kalitta's deal happened at the run off area but you can bet the insurance companies underwriters, lawyers and loss prevention specialists are reviewing the entire situation.  I agree with Michael_N .... what ever length they use the crew chiefs will gear accordingly.

p.s. the shorter the track  ..the more reaction time becomes the difference between next round and on the trailer.

R.A.

S.H.S.

persoal income tax was supposed to be "temporary" also. the car was clearly being steered and braked as it was going down the shut off lane, which by the way i hear was the shortest on the tour. it is a shame that scott was killed, but at the end of the shortest shut down area on the tour they had a concrete barrier and a big crane boom for tv. for the past few weeks all that was being said on broadcasts was how much nhra was doing with regards to safety and making the cars safer. then wham! the drivers have been complaining that they don't have enough room to slow down if they have problems for a while. i believe nhra has a gear ratio rule in effect, and if they stay with it maybe what they are doing will help to calm the storm. would 320 feet have helped scott? i don't know as so far i haven't seen any views of the crash other than the espn release. if this is what they have to do to keep the sport going for now so be it. even if i along with others hate to see tradition changed. i find it hard to believe they would go back to full 1/4 mile runs after this change. even if they take other steps in the future like making shut down areas longer and finding ways to stop the cars better. i just do not see them going back to what could be percieved as being more dangerous after taking steps to make things less dangerous.

That's exactly my take on it as well, The wheels hopping tells me the loud pedals off and the brakes are on. Update the facilities don't shorten the run. Not necessarily longer but remove the walls at the end (obviously a good start) and put a high speed catch device / water barrier in it's place

Kalitta crashing into a 30-40 ft long water barrier at the end of the track you would think would take out the fatality speed factor..

I don't think the wall mattered as the next thing he would have hit would have been the trees. Yeah, concrete is harder than oak but not much. If the shutdown area was of concern then shame on NHRA for allowing the owners/promoters to even host a race at that facility.

Just like in sprint car racing... the race tracks are the problem...

An airport has thousands of feet of run off room for planes that are going 150 mph when they land. Why does a dragstrip with 330 mph speeds have so little?

Drivers die when they hit walls and get hit by other cars. In sprint car racing the cars are getting safer but the tracks aren't If NASCAR has soft walls. Why can't sprint car tracks try soft walls??? Would Steve King be alive if Knoxville had soft walls from the bottom of the wall to the top???

There's something to be said for racetracks without walls. Its not always possible but its one less thing to kill someone.

Ben T.

"If you're gonna run the bottom, you might as well get 
a real job."

correct and it was expressed by others in the following days.

these guy bust ass harder than anyone in motorsports to get the engies ready between rounds...not like the 20 minute sprint car quick change with other crews helping.

how many runs does the Wesmar drag engine last between refreshens?

if it can do 3000 feet, you better give them a call and start taking orders...

Lincoln 1845 ft/.35 mile T1=118MPH 
Eldora 2287 ft/.43mile T3=135MPH
Port 2716 ft/.51 mile T3=TBD
Grove 2792 ft/.53 mile T3=135MPH
Selinsgrove 2847 ft/.54 mile T1=136MPH
"I didn't move to PA from El Paso in search of better 
weather." Van May

To my understanding the NHRA does not "allow" track owners/promoters to host a race at their facility. The NHRA rents the track from the owners and brings in ALL of their own people to run the entire show.

Take a look at the Englishtown track and the run off area using the aerial image option on MapQuest.

Hard to say how old the satphoto is but in that photo the sand trap is terribly short (obviously).

Many years ago, at the Fremont (CA) Dragstip the NHRA would not run the fuel cars due to a short run off area.

Still, while waiting for the sprint cars at the oval track at Baylands (Fremont, CA), I saw a guy named Bob March go straight into a bank of dirt at the end of the drag strip because of a stuck throttle. Killed instantly and I think it was some kind of comp class dragster.

Those sand traps and barriers don't do a thing when a car is travelling at a high rate of speed.

BTW, drag racing for me lost a lot of appeal when guys with practically no experience, get into a fuel car and win races with very little time. Then you got the women too. Ashley Force was crying when she got out of her car after a blow up and John was in her face. Obviously dad is pushing her to maybe where she don't want to go??? Drag racing is more about car and crew chief IMO. And now, no more 1/4 mile drags...see ya!

"Just the facts ma'am", Sgt. Joe Friday, Detective, 
LAPD

Assphincter says what?

I was fortunate that my dad was the shop foreman for Ed Pink Racing Engines from 1968-1977 when they built engines for Don Prudhomme, Don Schumacher (Tony's dad), Ed McCulloch, Pat Foster, Barry Setzer, Steve Carbone, Larry Dixon, Sr., Raymond Beadle, and countless others. That was back in the day of single magneto engines, one spark plug per cylinder and pure 100% nitro, run whatever the hell you brung and hope you brought enough!!!