Mark Niver Fatally Injured (2 Viewers)

[Tim5636sc]

Re: Mark Nivers Fatally Injured

Cory Mac was visibly moved/shaken by Mark's death as they both come from the alcohol ranks. Thoughts and prayers go out to Mark's family.

there is much more to that story....but it's personal to Cory.

Will Hanna, pretty much summed up my thoughts and feelings tonight when he was quoted by Susan Wade in her OUTSTANDING article printed tonight on Comp Plus:

FRIENDS REMEMBER NIVER AS RACER, FRIEND

“Mark was a great guy with a great team,” Hanna said. “He would lend you the shirt off his back to help you out or make one. That's the kind of guy he was. For a long time, he made nearly every part on his race cars himself. He even ran cylinder heads he made before he switched over to the conventional fat head combination with his A-Fuel car. If I'm not mistaken, I think he was the first guy back in the day to run a PSI Supercharger, back in 1987 or 1988.

“He was one of those guys who never had anything bad to say. He always had a positive attitude, and even if he would disagree with you he would tell you in a respectful manner,” he said. “He was really a class act, a smart guy who was an innovator. He was as-good-as -gold type of person. His cars also were not only fast and winners, but they were really a piece of art from a machining and engineering standpoint.”

Kudos Will... thank you for stating what ALL OF US in this community are feeling...

 

[Wayne]

RIP Billet!!!
You went out at top speed and you will be missed by many!!!
All my thoughts & condolences to his family and friends!!!

During the annoucement @ the track, Alan told the story of his win here 2 years ago(re: Joe's pic).
After beating Duane Shields in the final, Mark apologized to Duane saying that he knew Duane was running for the championship but..

Total class and an awesome work ethic!!!

 

[jm]

I have a fairly simple question....
Does NHRA have a standard Netting/catch fencing
@ EVERY NHRA National track, or not????

If not{PLEASE correct me if I am wrong}, WHY NOT?
Fatal injuries due to **** ass catch fence/netting,esp.
@ National Events are becoming sickening to witness.

John Matson

 

[Gary H]

Saw the vid, he wasnt going very fast at all. Wasn't a very hard hit into the net.

 

[Wayne]

Saw the vid, he wasnt going very fast at all. Wasn't a very hard hit into the net.

Well he did cross the stripe @ 271+
I think he hit the sand pretty hand.

I think THIS thread for remembering a great racer & an even better person!!!

 

[Speed1288]

In no way am I an expert on safety but from a replay i saw it didnt look like the car dug into sand, almost like it just slid on the gravel and kept the momentum that the trap is supposed to take away. Either way bad deal for everyone

 

[clwill]

Nets and dragsters do not mix. Period. They may work for funnies and other cars, but I challenge anyone to demonstrate how they're a good idea for dragsters.

It's long past time for NHRA to invest in a sophisticated catch system, designed with a significant amount of research and technology. NASCAR and F1 have done it and it works.

I watched the Niver crash both in person and on tv (frame by frame). He had significantly slowed with the brakes. It looked like he caught the net at no more than 100mph to me. If nets fatally destroy a dragster at that speed, that's a serious problem that needs to be addressed.

 

[BurkartFan]

RIP Mark Niver. My thoughts and prayers go out to your family, friends, crew and all those whose lives you touched.

I hate that we keep adding more angels to horsepower heaven...

 

[Student of the sport]

A truly fine gentleman, all the time, and hands down, the best machinist I have ever met.
Godspeed Mark!

 

[e-town iceyman]

im sickened by this. rip mark. no way that crash should have ended the way it did. thoughts Are with his family.

 

[my friends call me Zappy]

I have a fairly simple question....
Does NHRA have a standard Netting/catch fencing
@ EVERY NHRA National track, or not????

John Matson

To answer your question....No. Some natl event tracks still have no catch net/ fencing.

 

[Porkchop]

I have looked over the coverage at a very slow speed,many times. And here is my conclusion........Mark did what he was supposed to do...drive to the center.......What I saw was when he hit the sand (straight on in the middle of the track) the car did not "dig in" as they are supposed to do.....Hence leaves me to think not enough gravel (sand) in the sand trap area.......The brakes worked. Mark did exactly as he should have done. The first net grabbed the car instantly instead of taking it and pulling it to the side letting the 2nd net stop the car!!! Make the sand trap like you would see for runaway trucks.......more sand the deeper you get....If you get to the first net..let it slide the car...2nd net catches the car and pulls it too a stop? Im tired of people i know personally losing their lives in a sport i love!!!! I look at it this way as of now........I may love my gf,but im really pissed off at her. That is how i feel about NHRA. Its been a long relationship,but im tired of all the pain!!!

 

[NYNitro86]

Im tired of people i know personally losing their lives in a sport i love!!!! I look at it this way as of now........I may love my gf,but im really pissed off at her. That is how i feel about NHRA. Its been a long relationship,but im tired of all the pain!!!

You took the words out of my mouth. As I said I'm still not over the Neal Parker death, and I was slowly coming back to following racing, (Usually after a death I stop watching/listening to racing for awhile), and now this happens, I'm saying this right now, as far as I can care about Drag Racing at least for the remainder of the year, just Like Pro Wrestling which I have a passion for, just not quite as deep as Drag Racing, I am really thinking about not going to any more races for the rest of the year, granted a lot of it is thrill shows at E-Town and Atco, as well as the E-Town Nostalgia Summernatonals and the Shakedown @ E-Town, but in that list is also the Lucas Oil Race on 9/11 Weekend which I get the pleasure of mic time and that too I would chop off my "to do list". After this past month, I'm really getting to the point where at least for the remainder of the year (I already did my traditional NHRA nationals @ E-Town trip this year, god forbid if it ends up being 1 race a year for me, that would be it and even then it could be just handcuffs to tradition just to keep it alive), I'm done with going to events, that's how stressed out i am about a sport that I have more passion for than anything.

 

[ramblerjay]

my family's thoughts and prayers are with the niver family.

the nhra is truly in a safety crisis, and in my opinion, should shut the season down until they figure out, number one, what is going wrong, and number two, how to fix it. it is absolutely unacceptable to have multiple fatal accidents a couple weeks apart, regardless of the inherent danger of the sport. it is disgusting to see how much money is invested into the sport with fancy press boxes, VIP suites etc and then you have the elementary shutdown area with shallow gravel and a couple of random (obviously not studied in controlled environment) nets strung across. i don't know about anyone else, but i am tired of explaining to my family that "yes, someone else was killed" in the sport that i enjoy while relaxing on sundays.

 

[Bobby]

I'm probably going to shock you all by saying I don't blame anyone for this

This is a really tough issue the nhra has .what other professional sanctioning racing organization has to deal with the multiple types of cars, with the multiple varied speeds and issues that come with them, on the same track , on the same day.

and try to make is safe for all of them.

I love drag racing and I hope they get this fixed.

 

[Mary]

My deepest sympathy to the Niver Family

 

[Jer]

Yea think the net killed him. They need to race at tracks with long shut downs and no net but maybe sand only and if some tracks dont have a long shut down then DONT RACE AT THEM. Double up on a few racetracks per year that are safe.

 

[TR]

Condolences to Marks wife and family as well as his crew and friends. He was a true innovator that will be missed. Godspeed Mark R.I.P.

Rick

 

[Meeks]

Obviously there are so many contributing factors in the shut down area- if those involved at NHRA can't come up with a solution that's going to start working then they need to invest the time and money to hire some professionals to design the shutdown area. Sure, there is going to be alot of money to put forth toward this effort but I'd throw in a donation and I think alot of others would as well if it meant saving lives.

 

[clwill]

This is NOT a temporary trap. See the following link:

Pacific Raceways in Google Maps

It's there all the time. We race there several times a year, the trap is always there. The nets are the only addition for the National event.