Nitromater
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Dang, that was a bad looking crash
- Thread starter TSK
- Start date
smokemasterJ
Nitro Member
Poor guy had problems all four rounds of qualifying. If there were more than 16 cars there he could have just gained from the qualifying experience. That was one wicked crash.
RebilasPhoto
Nitro Member
my friends call me Zappy
Nitro Member
NASTY 4 sure. Suprised he was A-OK, but glad he was.
RebilasPhoto
Nitro Member
Just posted the full sequence and my play by play as I witnessed it from up close on my blog. Check it out.
10 Spot / Paul Pittman crashes in Denver – Mark J. Rebilas Blog
10 Spot / Paul Pittman crashes in Denver – Mark J. Rebilas Blog
willy
Nitro Member
Great stuff, as always, Mark. Glad he was ok.Just posted the full sequence and my play by play as I witnessed it from up close on my blog. Check it out.
10 Spot / Paul Pittman crashes in Denver – Mark J. Rebilas Blog
FC138fan
Nitro Member
I heard in his interview that he didn't want to hit the cones, so he over corrected and that sent the car crazy. They showed a near identical incident in a later round where the driver of the PS car chose not to correct but instead simply drove into the cones.
I remember seeing pro stock cars get squirley for the longest time prior to an incident, sometimes they lose it, sometimes they save it. I can only recall one specific incident where Jeg Coughlin got very squirley, but quickly went to the chutes, which immediately straightened the car out (and most definitely saving the car in the process).
A couple of questions to discuss:
1) Was Pittman's crash due to inexperience? My opinion- he was clearly going to lose and stayed in it even as the car was way out of the groove, and over corrected - seems like at the very least very poor judgement.
2) Why don't more PS drivers just pull the chutes at the first inclination of a wobble? It seems like their first reaction is to get off the gas... at that point you concede the race, shouldn't it be instinctive to ALWAYS pull the chute once you step off the gas or am I missing something?
That sucks for Mr. Pittman. I heard he was from Bloomington MN, a local guy. Dude seemed very nice and I was excited for him to make it in his first race in a car he built. Too bad he probably won't even be at Brainerd which I am sure he was looking forward to.
I remember seeing pro stock cars get squirley for the longest time prior to an incident, sometimes they lose it, sometimes they save it. I can only recall one specific incident where Jeg Coughlin got very squirley, but quickly went to the chutes, which immediately straightened the car out (and most definitely saving the car in the process).
A couple of questions to discuss:
1) Was Pittman's crash due to inexperience? My opinion- he was clearly going to lose and stayed in it even as the car was way out of the groove, and over corrected - seems like at the very least very poor judgement.
2) Why don't more PS drivers just pull the chutes at the first inclination of a wobble? It seems like their first reaction is to get off the gas... at that point you concede the race, shouldn't it be instinctive to ALWAYS pull the chute once you step off the gas or am I missing something?
That sucks for Mr. Pittman. I heard he was from Bloomington MN, a local guy. Dude seemed very nice and I was excited for him to make it in his first race in a car he built. Too bad he probably won't even be at Brainerd which I am sure he was looking forward to.
vegasnitro
Nitro Member
I have long maintained Jeggie is not human, he is a cyborg sent from the future to mock us with his driving abilities. When SkyNet takes over, we can only hope Jeggie will have mercy on us lesser lifeforms.
That being said, you do make a valid point. It always seems you can only make 1 move with the steering wheel in a Pro Stocker or that there is no correction down track, only over-correction as a function of the lack of downforce. Pittman's crash was probably the reminder the rest of the field needed to bowl the cones or not make the second move with the steering wheel yesterday, saving at least 1 other car. If only we could all be as good as Jeggie and have the presence of mind or the ability to slow the run down in your mind and get to the chutes to let them straighten the car out ...
SoCal Racer
Nitro Member
In my (less than Pro Stock speed) experience, when you're out of shape first instinct is to lift and steer, then pull the chute. Having the presence of mind to get the chutes out as you say takes a driver with a lot of experience and that is intimately familiar with the car's movements.
Regarding Pittman's incident, that was one nasty crash. I thought it would be over after the flip and slap the wall, and that it would just scrub off speed from there. Then it took off to the other wall and I held my breath knowing it was going to be bad. Seemed like forever waiting to see him out of the car, and really glad he's OK.
Dave
Nitro Member
60ft.
Nick,
As for experience, Pittman has raced at Bandimere several times before in Comp Eliminator. The class he ran was either B/A or B/AA. If you're not familiar with these two classes they are basically junior Pro Stock. Instead of 500 cubic inches they're closer to 420-440 cubes (depending on the weight of the car). The burnout procedures, the staging procedures, and the shifting procedures down track are pretty much the same. My personal opinion is that he just wanted to make a full run with his brand new car and that is why he stayed in it so long. He struggled really bad in qualifying as you can tell with the 13 second bump time. 2 of his 4 attempts he wasn't even able to get the car staged. I would think it had to be some type of gremlins since the staging procedure, as I stated before, is pretty much the same as the car he was racing previously. I think his frustration level was so high from the rough weekend, that when he was able to stage properly and have a good launch, he was determined to make a full pull and put a respectable time on the board. Again, just my opinion.
Tony,
There is no maximum spoiler angle (okay maybe there is but no team would ever use it), for the Pro Stock cars. In fact they all try to put it as low as possible to reduce drag. Of course this makes the cars more loose on the top end but if raising the spoiler a few degrees means losing 2 or 3 hundredths of a second no team is going to do it, even if it does make the car easier to drive. NHRA sets the minimum angle and pretty much every team goes right to that limit because they know if they don't the other teams will. I don't believe NHRA raises the minimum angle for the spoilers at Bandimere but maybe someone else knows for sure, perhaps Alan Reinhart.
As for experience, Pittman has raced at Bandimere several times before in Comp Eliminator. The class he ran was either B/A or B/AA. If you're not familiar with these two classes they are basically junior Pro Stock. Instead of 500 cubic inches they're closer to 420-440 cubes (depending on the weight of the car). The burnout procedures, the staging procedures, and the shifting procedures down track are pretty much the same. My personal opinion is that he just wanted to make a full run with his brand new car and that is why he stayed in it so long. He struggled really bad in qualifying as you can tell with the 13 second bump time. 2 of his 4 attempts he wasn't even able to get the car staged. I would think it had to be some type of gremlins since the staging procedure, as I stated before, is pretty much the same as the car he was racing previously. I think his frustration level was so high from the rough weekend, that when he was able to stage properly and have a good launch, he was determined to make a full pull and put a respectable time on the board. Again, just my opinion.
Tony,
There is no maximum spoiler angle (okay maybe there is but no team would ever use it), for the Pro Stock cars. In fact they all try to put it as low as possible to reduce drag. Of course this makes the cars more loose on the top end but if raising the spoiler a few degrees means losing 2 or 3 hundredths of a second no team is going to do it, even if it does make the car easier to drive. NHRA sets the minimum angle and pretty much every team goes right to that limit because they know if they don't the other teams will. I don't believe NHRA raises the minimum angle for the spoilers at Bandimere but maybe someone else knows for sure, perhaps Alan Reinhart.
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