8 year old dies in Junior Dragster accident in Australia

[ProStockJunkie]

8 year old dies in Junior Dragster accident in Australia.

https://thewest.com.au/news/wa/fath...ter-fights-for-life-in-hospital-ng-b88657241z

 

[Paul]

So sad.

 

[fueller42]

Not the kind of news I was hoping to read when I first logged in.............
does remind me however, of the reason that we all ended up here, it all started with a devout love of a sport, which more than likely began much like this poor young racer, as a family event, with dreams of one day holding a trophy of some kind, and sharing the joy and camaraderie and fellowship of a like-minded group. No agendas, no team orders, just racing for the joy of racing. It is always a dark day when we lose a racer, more so when that racer is a child. My deepest condolences go to this family and circle of friends...........

 

[stitcherbob]

never would have imagined a junior dragster driver could die with all the safety precautions they have...we cheated death regularly on our minibikes, bicycles and winter sleds back in the 70's and didn't ever realize it

 

[FABMAN]

Children are the most precious and this breaks my heart to her this happened. Our prayers go out to the family and friends.

 

[ironpony]

very sad..............

 

[megadeth]

I’m so saddened! My heart goes out to her family and friends during this extremely difficult time.

 

[ProStockJunkie]

She did come from a racing family. She was on a licensing run I believe. She was so excited about the new helmet she'd just received. So far I haven't read anything about the cause of the crash.

I dont believe I've ever heard of a Junior Dragster fatal or even serious crash.

 

[ironpony]

I read that when she went to make the turnout she slid into the wall hitting the barrier end sideways at the cockpit.

 

[ProStockJunkie]

I read that when she went to make the turnout she slid into the wall hitting the barrier end sideways at the cockpit.

I read that when she went to make the turnout she slid into the wall hitting the barrier end sideways at the cockpit.

I heard the throttle stuck or she didn't get out of it before making the turn off, hit the barrier going too fast.
There should be an official report soon I hope.

 

[mike]

As I mentioned to Jackee on facebook my friend was picking up his kids from their run and he watched it all unfold. She's gone to make the turn, and whether or not the throttle got stuck or she didn't get off the gas is unknown, the only thing I know is she was going too fast to make the turn off and hit the gate side on. It was her first ever run. A very sad and heartbreaking deal.

 

[turbo ken]

Very sad deal, it wouldn't be too hard to make a shutoff device like the fuel cars do when you have a beginner driving a jr. I know of a couple of parents that made a radio controlled device to shut the car off when their kid first got into a car. Having been around jr dragsters for almost 20 year now, most accidents (usually involving new drivers) I've seen were caused by a stuck throttle.

 

[TSK]

I copied this from another site:

It was her first full pass down the strip. The track has a swing out section of the wall that the juniors use to exit the track. She has come down the track and tried to take the turn and contacted the end of the wall that's exposed when the gate is open. She has hit the end of the wall side on effectively, right on the cockpit. It happened at less than 30mph as she had only turned 8 on Thursday and was in the beginners class with speed restrictions. It's just an accident. Not the tracks fault, not the track staffs fault, not really the little girls fault either. Just one of those one in a million accidents that had the worst possible result.

 

[Just Paul]

Truly a very sad deal. Unbelievable really. I just can't imagine what the parents are going through.

My boys are 5 and 6, and we had been keeping an eye out for beginner Jr. Dragsters. The wife saw this deal and sure put the brakes on that pretty quick.

 

[stitcherbob]

Truly a very sad deal. Unbelievable really. I just can't imagine what the parents are going through.

My boys are 5 and 6, and we had been keeping an eye out for beginner Jr. Dragsters. The wife saw this deal and sure put the brakes on that pretty quick.

I hope she comes to realize that this has to be the only death ever in junior dragster....

don't punish the little ones for a freak event that happened on the other side of the Earth...