driver OK report
 

I am multi-tasking and likely missed the most important announcement - is the driver OK.

I know who it was but Alan was just about to take over when it happened and nothing that counts has been said since.

There will be a delay.


Come one man


Ron

Re: driver OK report
 

I saw a report was taken to hospital for evaluation

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From DRC:

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...UMMIT#indextop

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Hell of a hit. What do you guys think about the barriers moving like that? It probably took a bunch of energy out of the impact sort of like a safer barrier, but what if the car was moving a bit faster and plowed straight through?

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It was not such a bad thing that they did move. If they did not move the car and driver have suffered more damage.

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There's a shot of the launch over in my photo thread. Roger came down hard from a pretty strong wheel stand and probably snapped something in the front end. He seemed to be kicking up brake dust when he veered right into the right lane barrier. They are not tied down and do move when banged by a 3000 pound stock bodied car. This wasn't a glancing blow, he hit it at a pretty good angle. I think I saw the car bounce before rolling across the lanes to hit the other lane wall. Speed was cut way down but the blocks of concrete moved about the same on both sides. He hit right between them on both sides. Roger didn't do the "Superman" thing and jump from the car. A driver involved in an on track accident is supposed to stay strapped in until medical people attend to him/her. The only exception is fire.


I will stop by the pits this morning and check on Roger's health.


Edit: I have talked to Cobra Jet drivers before and they say they can't see a thing down track from these high wheelies.

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Maybe just me, but both of the recent Supercars crashes seemed to be more about getting out of the groove with a small tire car that has extreme hp. I would guess they get ugly fast and maybe no one could save it once they let them go that far out under power. With the number of these types of cars increasing and getting pushed pretty hard, it isn’t surprising to see this happen from time to time. It sucks to see anyone crash. I know I have crashed up a car pretty good before and I don’t recommend it to anyone. Glad no one was hurt or they Didn’t crash into anyone else either.

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With these two recent crashes and a near miss at the Joliet points meet it has really turned my attention towards safety. I know that the 9 inch supercars have the latest and greatest safety items BUT do you ??....You dime rocket guys in stock might want to revisit the roll bar rule !! ......Not so sure I would stage against a supercar in eliminations with JUST a lap belt....155 mph vs.80 mph could get real ugly in a hurry if these crashes continue......

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I agree with the above comment. Didn't an out of control CJ come uncomfortably close to taking out a low hp stocker in time trials at Indy last year? I bracket raced against Larry McClanahan's CJ at the Lucas Oil Seattle race last year. I was not very comfortable being passed in the lights 155 to 116. And I have a cage.

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this might be the best excuse to give these factory cars their own eliminations

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I believe you are referring to Roy Hill and our beloved Marty Buth at Indy a few years ago....The near miss at the Joliet points meet was not a super car but a A SA with a single wheelie bar that drifted into the lane occupied by a I SA Buick....The Buick racer lifted immediately to avoid disaster, Thank the Lord.......

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It was Roger Comstock. Hope he's okay, probably a little sore. He has a lot of great cars and he and his wife race a lot. However even his wife had a rear quarter panel bump with the wall.
The whole problem with these cars is a lot of power, a short car and the fact that they are allowed in Stock eliminator on a little 9" tire. This is just plain STUPID. I started racing when Super Stock was first created. It was for the hottest Detroit iron (and there were a lot) from Ford, Chevrolet, Pontiac and Chrysler. Those new cars are the Super Stocks of today and should BE THERE! The supercharged ones should ALL BE IN SUPER STOCK ONLY. They are crashing all the time and with that much power it won't end soon. I raced until about 5 years ago, I still go watch, it gets in the blood. I almost got an '08 Mustang CJ when they came out but the expense of doing what it takes to make it among the fastest plus the travel expenses to hit all the divisionals, regionals, and National events and old age made me not do it. Just raced my old Thunderbolt until a person offered me a pile of money for it and I said bye bye to a car I ran for 10 years. I was done, still go when I can but happy just to watch especially the S/SS cars like where I started.

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Not sure how super stock makes them safer - big tires are not required and these cars all meet super stock safety requirements.


Ron

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Easy if they take advantage of the allowance to put larger tires on the car in Superstock... I realize that some want to cross over without cutting the car up, but it would be a better situation for those cars with the power adders.

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Yes Andy's dad (forgot your name this instant. I am old too.) I know that the safety equipment is there but I know what people have in these cars ($100,000+) It would save a lot of cars from being wadded up! I raced a nostalgia Thunderbolt in my later years and I sold it and retired just a few years ago. I was under that car after every race checking for tightness and possible cracks etc. I raced also in PSCA and saw these "small tire" classes up close and personal. Even though some ran 1/8th mile with sometimes 2,500 hp and up there were some terrible crashes. That's one reason I believe that these high horsepower cars should be in Super/S . because of the ridiculous power they have their tires can break loose at any part of the racing surface and the big tires would lessen that probability. I talked to you when you first got your V10 Dodge and am keeping current with all aspects of drag racing because it is addictive as you know!

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First, I'm glad the driver is okay. Nobody wants to see accidents of this type. The speed differential in Stock and Super Stock has always been disconcerting, now we add power adders to the mix.....Whoa.
Now, I see lots of posts referencing this as an out of control Stocker. Wasn't this accident during Super Stock qualifying?
Did this car actually have 9 inch tires on it? Would larger tires have prevented this accident? How large then?

I would not support telling car owners what tire they should race in a given class. Apparently I'm in the minority since a lot of the blame is placed on the 9 inch tires.

Track prep? Would that really help? Or would the racers simply use it as an opportunity to dial more power into these power adder classes? I have more questions and few answers.
Mr. Bob, I'm not singling you out, you just covered a lot in your post. Thanks.

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The S/S bigger tire reply I posted really only applied to the two fastest Factory stock classes that I believe would save cars from being wrecked, not the lower horsepower factory stock classes.

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The folks that build and race these cars all know what they have. No matter the track, when you do your burnout and accept the dial, its all up to you. While driving a 105mph stocker I was passed by a car at 157 at the stripe. I laughed, looking in the mirror on and off for 4 seconds. When he went by, I swear he broke me out. Racing has its risks, lawn bowling, not so much.

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Roll bar and 5 pt harness in our O/SA Wagon. The danger is ever present when you are @ 100 at finish and your competition is 160 and on the brakes!

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I still the the old rule was best.

Build fifty if you want to run Super Stock, build five hundred if you want to run stock. At least this is how I remember it.

I have always thought the nine inch tires were dangerous on the Factory Stock eliminator cars but few seemed to agree.

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Your command of the English language is astounding! A little hint, if you knew who it was and what happened you might want to say it.

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Thank you for the compliment Fred.


Ron

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As currently published, the production run applies to body style only and not what's under the hood or skin. 500 minimum street CJ Mustangs makes that an accepted Stocker body. If I read it right. Rules state that a manufacturer may apply for a 50 vehicle exception to NHRA and these cars need not be available to the showroom. I remember talking to Larry McClanahan last year about his CJ and he said it was essentially a pile of parts ordered from Ford Performance. No VIN, title or anything.

NHRA restricts these cars to FS and FSS but that only helps for rare heads up racing at big events. Maybe run all all Stock and Super Stock cars quicker than 9.00 in a Top Stocker Eliminator?

As for the small tire/big tire debate, Comstock broke something on the front end from a wheelstand landing. How would bigger slicks change this?

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Are you sure about that? Do you hear this broken part story somewhere?

The car was going left, then back right when on the ground. Over correction?
Can you imagine the pucker factor at that moment?

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Just based on what I saw after hitting the shutter and lowering my camera. But some imply that bigger tires would have perhaps prevented the wreck.

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The way it's always been...who was in charge of changing that!!

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Thanks for your concern, bud.
However, I'm totally against changing the rules to accommodate cars that don't belong in Stock Eliminator in the first place.
I'll take my chances. ;-)

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Crashing is a bad deal, and it is hard to tell with 100% certainty what happened from afar. However, if you look at the video, the car did go to the left and was outside of the groove when it landed. The car appeared to turn hard right and leave skid marks from the rear. Now it is possible that something broke on the landing as well, but it is also very possible that something broke when he hit the wall. Those supercharged cars are beasts and if they get out of the groove, I am sure they are not forgiving at all. Hope he is able to get the car fixed.

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The aftermath

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Mark you are correct in saying these cars do not belong in stock elim. but that's just my opinion. OK....We can wait until someone gets hurt or killed but I don't wish that on anyone. It will happen again though. Kind of reminds me of the 10.5 tire nitrous/turbo cars running. Most have a hard time getting down the track in a straight line. I don't have the money to have one of these cars and doubt I would spend that kind of money to run for peanuts even if I did. Stay safe everyone and take care.

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As one of the slowest cars in SS I have wondered about these super fast cars coming from behind, but there are risks everywhere, none more so than just towing in todays "me first" traffic.

A few years ago I watched COMP where one race had a F/D against something called AA/AP, & I wondered about what kind of grease spot would be on the track had the AA/AP run over the F/D.....the AA/AP was all over his lane. That race turned out OK

Some bracket tracks run motorcycles against each other some mix them in with 3000lb cars.

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Putting wider tires on the FS cars will not solve the problem. There are a number of issues that can cause a crash.

We already have non-FS cars that go fast and are way heavier than the FS cars. When you apply the laws of physics on a fast heavy car such as an AA/S and A/S, the impact energy they carry is as dangerous as a light FS car and high speeds.

Upon the inception of the CJ's and DragPak's, I believe it was around 2010, I had a discussion with the Goodyear engineers as regards to the speed limits on the Stock Eliminator tires. They shared technical information and test data showing the current designs of Stock Eliminator tires are good up to 190 MPH. There are even a great number of Super Stock cars that use Stock Eliminator spec tires.

One thing we have to realize is that there are inherent dangers in our sport. Not only the high speeds but also the wheelstands.

Let's not forget when Bobby DeArmond and Rob Youngblood flipped their cars during wheelstands.

Add to the list the nasty crashes of Ken Etter, Paula Cotten, Kyle Ratcliff, Jeff Colvert and others.

When you launch a car and it get out of the groove, you can have problems. When your car wheelstands and you can't control it, you can have problems. When you are on the top end and hit the brakes hard and loose control, you can have problems....and you can keep adding lots of other issues that can cause a crash.

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Didn't Mrs. Comstock also crash hers at a recent (previous) race? $$$

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That goes double for me Mark, well said.

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that photo of the mustang looks like a "total" to me----lot of work(TIME & MONEY) to put that back together AND have it right too---FED 387