stitcherbob
Nitro Member
I still have not seen any good video of this. All I see on you tube is some Yahoo with a cell phone camera filming more of the burnout than the lap. Anyone got a link to a better video ?
I still have not seen any good video of this. All I see on you tube is some Yahoo with a cell phone camera filming more of the burnout than the lap. Anyone got a link to a better video ?
I couldn't disagree more. The angle of the hit was straight in 90 degree T-bone. Anything in close proximity, had there been no wall, would have been toast. That wall actually might have kept him alive as dirt and other debris could have entered the driver's compartment and knocked his head off as he rolled.It would have been a spin out if it had been on the street. Many of you have never seen a track without walls, Fremont, San Fernando, etc. Saw many cars spin out, or get off the track and back on.
In this particular case, the track was way more dangerous than the street would have been.
I couldn't disagree more. The angle of the hit was straight in 90 degree T-bone. Anything in close proximity, had there been no wall, would have been toast. That wall actually might have kept him alive as dirt and other debris could have entered the driver's compartment and knocked his head off as he rolled.
I was at Sonoma in 1997 when Carrie Neal died. There were no retaining walls past the finish line that day. She tried to scrub off speed by leaving the track past the retaining walls. A friend pulled double duty that day - he took photos for both National Dragster and the county coroner. All racing was cancelled for the rest of that day. The next day, retaining walls were in place for the length of the shutdown area.
Those walls keep people alive - racers, spectators, track workers, and assorted photo guys and gals who know when to duck.
there are no walls in street racing....only telephone poles....and army tanks
Those walls keep people alive - .
Say what? Extreme out-of-balance G-forces killed him, not a wall.Not always, with out trackside walls I believe we would still have Eric.
Say what? Extreme out-of-balance G-forces killed him, not a wall.
Yes, the car hit the wall. No, the hit did not cause his death. What caused his death was the extreme shaking from the out-of-balance tire that literally shook him to death.if this site has the correct info, then it could have been both
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Medlen#Death
http://www.competitionplus.com/drag-racing/news/9355-eric-medlen-project-saving-livesAfter Medlen’s accident the first area that Dimarco and the Ford team studied was the area surrounding the driver’s head. This was the source of Medlen’s injuries and the data gleaned from the accident influenced them to widen the surround and begin simply with adding more padding. This move helped reduce some of the loads on the driver’s head.
The brain trauma that caused Funny Car driver Eric Medlen's death last week likely was the result of severe tire vibration and not the impact of the ensuing low-angle crash against a retaining wall during a test run in Gainesville, Fla.
That's what [URL='http://www.chron.com/search/?action=search&channel=sports&inlineLink=1&searchindex=gsa&query=%22NHRA+Powerade+Drag+Racing+Series%22']NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series
http://www.chron.com/sports/article/Tire-vibration-blamed-in-driver-s-death-1632486.phpdrivers and crew chiefs were told at a safety meeting conducted by John Force Racing via teleconference before Friday's qualifiers.