Hight's FC body goes into the stands...was anybody hurt?

[TSK]

That was a scary thing to see. It looked like it went pretty far up into the stands.

 

[The Swegian]

That was a scary thing to see. It looked like it went pretty far up into the stands.

Nobody was hurt. Couple minor scratches according to John Kernan but that's it.

 

[Raconteur]

"The NHRA released a statement after the incident stating that the Mustang carbon fiber body landed in a walkway in front of the eastside grandstand. As a precaution two fans were evaluated and released by paramedics on-site."

NHRA and JFR dodged another one.

 

[murdock]

That was really a scary sight, to see the body go over the fence like that. We were sitting behind the starting line so we were too far away to tell what was going on until they announced that everyone was OK. After Daytona, that was really a relief.

 

[ex-nsp]

Becoming a regular occurence at Pomona, sad to say.

 

[jackass]

Roger Richards posted a couple photos on facebook of the body flying in the air almost to the fence..... the realy scarey part is you see alot of people ducking and keeping an eye on it to avoid it..but you can see several fans looking at the other 3 cars going down track and not paying attention.... lot of very lucky people...

 

[.]

Shot by Roger Richards

 

[my friends call me Zappy]

Thats for sure. It's time nhra looked into this problem instead of worring about gizmos to limit RPM's. This is happening WAY too often, lets not start killing spectators.

 

[bing]

Surely its time to put some sort of device on the cars to stop the body leaving the cars, burst panels no longer cut it. If F1 can stop wheels leaving cars (after a marshall was killed at the Australian GP) then it cannot be that hard to stop this sort of thing from happening. My heart was in my mouth when I first seen the footage.

 

[Nunz]

The problem is, the body has so much area, and it doesn't always leave the chassis in one piece. Something has to be done, I'm not sure how you do it though.

 

[vlad the impaler]

If a fan catches the body that goes into the stands, does he get to keep it?

 

[tb]

The problem is, the body has so much area, and it doesn't always leave the chassis in one piece. Something has to be done, I'm not sure how you do it though.

Eliminate the Funny Car Class !!!

 

[big guy]

Eliminate the Funny Car Class !!!

get real here.You know that will never happen.

 

[J]

Its the races with extremely high horesepower cars,nothing is going to be 100% or guaranteed. If you dont feel safe stay home. Its life anything could happen.

 

[Silly Savage]

A teather to the rear of the body tree work from the rear tree of the chassis will keep the majority of the body from getting nearly high enough to travel into the stands...

 

[Nick Name]

I guess it is time for a blanket over the bodies.

 

[sparky]

A teather to the rear of the body tree work from the rear tree of the chassis will keep the majority of the body from getting nearly high enough to travel into the stands...

This is the answer. Lightweight Kevlar teathers are in use in other forms of motorsports along with wheel/spindle steel cable teathers in NASCAR.

They could use material similar to a parachute line and it would likely be effective in containing that from occurring. Give it a long enough length to get away from the car itself.

 

[Nunz]

A tether is an obvious option, but again, a majority of the body could still sail away. As pointed out, solutions need to be sought, but nothing will be 100% fool proof. Speaking of tethers, was there ever one perfected for wheels, as was being tested after Antron's unfortunate incident in Phoenix?

 

[TSK]

Its the races with extremely high horesepower cars,nothing is going to be 100% or guaranteed. If you dont feel safe stay home. Its life anything could happen.

Do you suppose NHRA's insurance carrier, or some personal injury attorney would agree with you?

 

[JB3]

Do you suppose NHRA's insurance carrier, or some personal injury attorney would agree with you?

Ding Ding Ding ... we just might have a winner!! Some Maters always want to quick bash NHRA or make fans out to be wusses. Maybe, just maybe, its about more than how you feel. Not only NHRA insurance,but the individual facility as well. If many of you had an idea of what it costs to insure NHRA, each facility and each event, you would kringe. Then add the cost of running the event. We are talking huge sums of money.

It certainly won't ever get cheaper. So, either the diehards all come to terms with the fact that things have to keep evolving (change) in order to keep everyone on the property safe so our sport stays strong ... or we slowly watch it disappear into a financial black hole. Everyone likes to sue these days looking for that meal ticket to easy street. Its the world we now live in.

Being brave or tough or staying away because of danger is not the way to grow the fan base for sure.

Just my 2 cents