Doug Kalitta's wing - final round

[.]

I didn't record it so I can't replay it to check...but did part of his wing come apart just as he crossed the finish line? I saw pieces flying and it looked like the top element was gone but I'm not positive.

 

[T.Smith]

I didn't record it so I can't replay it to check...but did part of his wing come apart just as he crossed the finish line? I saw pieces flying and it looked like the top element was gone but I'm not positive.

Yes, the top element came off. The car got a bit sideways on him.

 

[HEMI6point1]

I noticed that too. It could have been a lot worse.

 

[MM]

yea that coulda been ugly.....luckily the chutes were out

 

[.]

Thanks for confirming that I wasn't imagining things. I looked away real quick and when I looked back I saw pieces flying and what looked like part of the wing flying through the air. That could have been real nasty!

 

[jackass]

I just looked at it a second time... and top element and both side plates completely gone... man he got lucky... good thing ESPN looked at it again...... great coverage guys....

Billy

 

[Just Paul]

I just looked at it a second time... and top element and both side plates completely gone... man he got lucky... good thing ESPN looked at it again...... great coverage guys....

Billy

Well come on Billy.. give ESPN a break.. after all, they did bring in Paul Page for us.... <insert favorite vomit sound affect here>

 

[Doug in the woods]

I was sure it was Fullers wing that came apart?. Wasn't Fuller in the perfered left lane (head on shot in right half of screen)
If you slow down the video you can see several white things flying across behind the car. Not sure what they are?

 

[.]

I was sure it was Fullers wing that came apart?. Wasn't Fuller in the perfered left lane (head on shot in right half of screen)
If you slow down the video you can see several white things flying across behind the car. Not sure what they are?

from DRC:
Round 4:

R Fuller, Right lane, (0.040) 4.531 327.82 def. D Kalitta, (0.044) 4.537 331.36

 

[Sue]

I didn't see any thing. What happened? I saw Doug loses then my hubby and Son changed to the world ser. game.

 

[.]

I didn't see any thing. What happened?

Just as he came through the lights the top element and both spill plates came off of the wing.

 

["Dr. Dirt"]

I didn't see any thing. What happened? I saw Doug loses then my hubby and Son changed to the world ser. game.

It appeared to me that Doug's car tossed some wing parts through the lights but I believe he safely handled the car. I'm confident even ESPN would have taken notice of it had some incident followed.

 

[Jeff]

I frame by framed it a couple of times, but I was not recording it on high def. Do you think he might have been chunking the tires? Obviously even a rivet giving way is going to happen quickly at 300mph, but it seems like a piece of tire hitting the wing is the most likely thing to achieve that kind of nearly straight up trajectory.

It's been over an hour since I watched this (just got home from a race and had to put the rig away, I was in the rig watching the satelite and had to run inside to replay since ESPN was asleep), but I thought that the left spill plate remained on the wing assembly.

Jeff

 

[BaldyLochs]

Yeah, something definately came loose. Yikes-o-mighty! Those top end wing failures are scary buisness. I was in Houston in the early 90's one year when the wing came apart on Doug's uncle's top fueler right at 1300 feet. The Ol' Bounty Hunter was tore up from the floor up after that one!

 

[Gipraw]

I saw a piece fly up, and just assumed he threw a belt .. the deleted the Tivo before I saw this thread ..

If he did lose part of the wing, he did a hell of a job handling the car afterwards, because it didn't even move ..


what did he say when ESPN talked to him after the run?

oh .. yeah.

 

[Bullet]

There was still one spill plate left, the 2nd and 3rd elements were also gone.

 

[Jeff]

I sent an e mail to the Kalitta Team blog Sunday night. They acknowledged the failure on their latest installment, but they did not have any answers as to what caused the failure. Their speculation was that the failure started in the main element and chain reacted from there.