Another Racer Killed at E-Town

[Alan Roehrich]

Originally Posted by W J

Carl, up in the mountains of northern New England---Vermont especially, they have run-away ramps off steep highway grades and hills for the semis and tractor-trailer rigs. They construct these ramps of very fine pea stone---maybe 1/4-3/8" diameter stone. Ramps are very soft and up to 2 feet deep. Maybe the fine pea stone would do a better job making the run-away racecar dig in and drastically slow it down better than the sand, but who knows?.....a tough thing to speculate---coming into a trap at a high speed---for sure....WJ

That's one of the ideas I was talking about. It'll stop 80K pounds at 75MPH or faster in 100 feet or so.

The problem is it may shred the cars.

It's beginning to look a lot like we've got a bigger problem, and maybe shortening T/F and F/C to 1K feet isn't going to solve it. Unfortunately, it looks like NHRA is only looking at slowing the cars down. And trying to force a few tracks to get up to some sort of barely adequate minimum that may not be enough now.

NHRA needs to do a ton of testing, same as NASCAR did in 2001 and 2002 after Dale Earnhardt got killed. The problem is it will cost a ton of money. You need a place to test, maybe 1/2 dozen or so of each type of car, and a way to get them to hit the speed trap at speed, in a controlled manner. You might get pro teams, at least the few big money pro teams, to pony up an old worn out car or two each, maybe. But you need to test the sportsman cars, too. Where are you going to come up with all of those, and the time?

I'm just asking questions because I don't know the answers.

NHRA is going to have to come up with some seriously solid answers and results, especially if they're going to try to force track owners to spend massive money to upgrade. They're going to have to make sure the upgrades work, and make sure the tracks get a return on the investment, too.

But remember, it ain't just the pro cars or the alky cars that go off the end of the track. Don't forget Woodro at Gainesville, Pete at Orlando, or Wayne at Reynolds.

I skipped over something in the previous post. What works for a speed trap for F/C, T/F, P/S, and the alcohol classes could be deadly for a sportsman car and driver. Lets say you come up with something that would stop a 300MPH F/C with no chutes and no brakes. What happens when a 120MPH Stocker hits it? Say the F/C stops in 60 or 100 feet, but the Stocker stops nearly instantly. Or maybe it is a 140MPH Super Stocker, or a Comp car. What about a 200MPH Pro Stocker or a Pro mod car? It might save one guy, and kill another.

Both NHRA in particular, and drag racing in general, have gotten way behind the curve here. We've been pretty lucky, relatively speaking, in that these runoff crashes have not killed spectators or people on roads just driving by. It's a terrible thing that our friends are getting killed driving race cars, sportsman or pro, I'm certainly not minimizing that, not by any stretch. We've lost several to these crashes in the last couple of years, 3 F/C drivers, fuel and alcohol, come to mind right away (maybe one was a health issue). God forbid one go through that grove of trees and get on that road, or off the end of another track and into someone.

[Earle Holt]

Very sad. Prayers for his family.

[X-TECH MAN]

Its coming.......Its not what people in these classes want to hear and the Associations are afraid of losing spectators. Shorter racing surface and/or slow the damn cars down (a lot) with rule changes with the engine specs allowed. Even the Pro Stocks of today need to be slowed down. Thats a lot of kenetic energy at the speeds they run today. Most dont want to hear it but if these cars are not slowed down no one will be able to get insurance in the future to put on a race and drag racing as we know it soon no longer exist. Without insurance nothing will happen except for the crazies who run at outlaw tracks. The staus que has to change.

[WheelsUp]

Originally Posted by X-TECH MAN

Its coming.......Its not what people in these classes want to hear and the Associations are afraid of losing spectators. Shorter racing surface and/or slow the damn cars down (a lot) with rule changes with the engine specs allowed. Even the Pro Stocks of today need to be slowed down. Thats a lot of kenetic energy at the speeds they run today. Most dont want to hear it but if these cars are not slowed down no one will be able to get insurance in the future to put on a race and drag racing as we know it soon no longer exist. Without insurance nothing will happen except for the crazies who run at outlaw tracks. The staus que has to change.

What is "staus que"?

[mopar68]

Originally Posted by WheelsUp

What is "staus que"?

He meant status quo:

Main Entry: status quo
Pronunciation: \-ˈkwō\
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin, state in which
Date: 1807
: the existing state of affairs status quo>

M68

[WheelsUp]

Originally Posted by mopar68

He meant status quo:

Main Entry: status quo
Pronunciation: \-ˈkwō\
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin, state in which
Date: 1807
: the existing state of affairs status quo>

M68

Right on mopar man!

[X-TECH MAN]

Im not the greatest typist. Never claimed to be. All that is going on and wrong with drag racing today and you worry about a friggin' typo.

[Tom keedle]

Originally Posted by WheelsUp

What is "staus que"?

i think that's a high priced thing used in playing pool

[WheelsUp]

Originally Posted by tomslik

i think that's a high priced thing used in playing pool

That is funny!

[FINESPLINE]

How many people must be sacrificed before the NHRA takes this seriously ? The idea of the pea gravel from a truck runoff is a good starting thought but you are dealing with 50 to 80,000 lbs. at 60 to 70 mph. It is the weight sinking into the gravel ( gravity ) slowing it down. We are dealing with 2000 lbs trying to take off ( wings & things ). As well as the cars are built , I can see the gravel getting into the cockpit at those speeds. I believe you would want a ballistics suit on. Ever watch one of the CSI shows as they fire a bullet into a jello like substance to test ballistics. Well , I believe that may be the direction to look at and it will not be cheap.A life is too precious to ignore or gloss over the problem. ------Just my thoughts.------John