Annie Whiteley into the sand

[NITRO JUNKIE]

Sam, I disagree. The teams are the best developers of safety items, the NHRA just needs to manage the sport.

Why not try to change how deep the gravel is ?

 

[MFRACING]

With all the moisture there over the weekend, I would think the sand would be stuck together and firm. They probably should have graded the sand a bit every day.

 

[Pete]

With all the moisture there over the weekend, I would think the sand would be stuck together and firm. They probably should have graded the sand a bit every day.

Its not sand, its pea gravel or something similar. Not saying it wont firm up, but its not the same as sand.

 

[mikebcurve]

Sam, I disagree. The teams are the best developers of safety items, the NHRA just needs to manage the sport.

They were formed in the name of safety and that should be their objective first and foremost. It would be in their best interest to make the sport as safe a possible unless they want to lose the ability to secure insurance.

 

[Jeff]

Why not try to change how deep the gravel is ?

So you guy's think the end of the track is not safe enough? You are certainly entitled to that opinion and some tracks are safer than others, but Dallas has to be one of the safest longest shutdown areas we race at. That gravel is freshly fluffed and plowed before every national, she had not gone to the bottom of the gravel by any stretch. Do you want her to run into a wall of gravel? Do you want them to build a gravel ramp?

It is not sand by the way, it is pea sized gravel.

Or would it be better for teams to continue to develop safer and more consistent parachute systems? Chutes that aren't as prone to getting tangled? Should a driver in a four wheel braked car who KNOWS they are going into the gravel try to lock of the front end brakes before going in to flatten the tires and have the body on the ground (just a wild ass thought, but a consideration .... these front tires don't take even a second of being locked up at speed to wear completely through). when you go in should you absolutely have the tires all locked so they dig through the gravel and not roll on top of it?

Simply said, in most cases, I think the NHRA has done almost all they practically can to make the tracks safe, the brains that can push us to the next level of safety are on the racing teams.

 

[mikebcurve]

I don’t think anyone was saying the NHRA hasn’t done a lot of work to make the top end safer. They should never stop looking into safer ways. It’s not like they have done all they could and should just sit back and say we are done. I agree the teams share in that responsibility but if history has shown anything its that racers are more focused on going faster rather than being safer until a tragedy wakes them up. Having said that I hope there is a lot of work to stop the bodies from flying off the track. It’s only a matter of time before someone is hurt. I don’t have all of the answers. I’m just having an opinionated discussion and I’m not trying to start an argument. It scares me every time someone goes into the trap at a high speed and makes it to the net.

 

[TooTall999]

What seems lost in this discussion is what they're trying to accomplish with the "sand trap". The idea is to slow and stop the car while keeping the driver as safe as possible. Bent cars can be fixed, but the driver only has one life.

 

[NITRO JUNKIE]

I don’t think anyone was saying the NHRA hasn’t done a lot of work to make the top end safer. They should never stop looking into safer ways. It’s not like they have done all they could and should just sit back and say we are done. I agree the teams share in that responsibility but if history has shown anything its that racers are more focused on going faster rather than being safer until a tragedy wakes them up. Having said that I hope there is a lot of work to stop the bodies from flying off the track. It’s only a matter of time before someone is hurt. I don’t have all of the answers. I’m just having an opinionated discussion and I’m not trying to start an argument. It scares me every time someone goes into the trap at a high speed and makes it to the net.

I agree if you listen to nomex effect Antron was on it last night and had a idea he said have a 2 piece body that connects with Zeus clips and if it blows it will blow the front part of and keep the driver safe that was his idea but you still have a a flying part.