Its amazing how violent that front end snaps back at the driver even in slow motion. Sand traps and safety nets are not the problem. Alcohol class has a long history of chute issues..ether sucking the pilot under the car to hanging up on the wheelie bars to just not deploying.
Mark Niver Fatally Injured (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter farmje
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TA Dragster chutes when pulled come out 99% of the time. The mount did break from my reliable info.
And you are dead wrong Eric about the net or trap not being the problem.
You said yourself that it is amazine how the front of the car snaps back.
Here is an editorial I did yesterday in the whole trap net issue.
I feel as does a long time respected chassis builder that there are a couple easy changes.
(I do not agree with him on one change though)
SPEEDZONE MAGAZINE ONLINE
Dean
And you are dead wrong Eric about the net or trap not being the problem.
You said yourself that it is amazine how the front of the car snaps back.
Here is an editorial I did yesterday in the whole trap net issue.
I feel as does a long time respected chassis builder that there are a couple easy changes.
(I do not agree with him on one change though)
SPEEDZONE MAGAZINE ONLINE
Dean
Ma Green
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I wonder if anyone else thinks the first net was too close to the beginning of the sand trap? Seems having it further back and perhaps closer to the second net would have worked better. I agree that it seemed much too tight and didn't give enough.
Wondering what was on NHRA's mind? How 'bout that they did not give the family any information about what was going on until 11pm that night. Even though his body was still on the property, waiting for the M.E. until around 8pm as we were leaving the track. Nor did NHRA give them a liason or phone number to talk to about what to do next. Luckily, many racers, including team members from the pro ranks were helping with anything they could.
Unfortunetely, the entire family, including grandkids, were there, so you can imagine what a sad, sad situation it was.
I have known Mark & his family for 30 years and there wasn't a nicer man in world. Plus, he was my son's ex-father-in-law. RIP dear Mark. Guess they needed another fabricator at the Heavenly Drag Strip.
Wondering what was on NHRA's mind? How 'bout that they did not give the family any information about what was going on until 11pm that night. Even though his body was still on the property, waiting for the M.E. until around 8pm as we were leaving the track. Nor did NHRA give them a liason or phone number to talk to about what to do next. Luckily, many racers, including team members from the pro ranks were helping with anything they could.
Unfortunetely, the entire family, including grandkids, were there, so you can imagine what a sad, sad situation it was.
I have known Mark & his family for 30 years and there wasn't a nicer man in world. Plus, he was my son's ex-father-in-law. RIP dear Mark. Guess they needed another fabricator at the Heavenly Drag Strip.
Ma Green, a couple of the paramedic staff as well as the RFC chaplain were at Nivers pit area about 35-45 minutes after the accident. If they were informed at that time I do not know but, My reporter that was at their pit sensed they knew at that time he was gone.
They likely were assisting them about many issues as well. But he of course did not talk to the family even though he knew Mark. You nust have spent time with them based on your closeness of the family.
That was his interpretion
Edit...(I did assume you were talking about his condition, but after thinking about it, my guess you were referring to...what do we do next, now that he is gone, and the NHRA did not help much)
Dean
They likely were assisting them about many issues as well. But he of course did not talk to the family even though he knew Mark. You nust have spent time with them based on your closeness of the family.
That was his interpretion
Edit...(I did assume you were talking about his condition, but after thinking about it, my guess you were referring to...what do we do next, now that he is gone, and the NHRA did not help much)
Dean
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Silly Savage
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Dean, I watched both videos a few times and although it looks to be the exact impact and chassis damage, it almost looks like their chassis' broke in different spots. I may be wrong, but it looked like Randy's chassis broke off just behind the fuel tank and Mark's broke off up closer to the cock pit???? I thought most dragster chassis' were desgined to come apart just infront of the drivers compartment....just an observation.
Ma Green
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Dean, the family/crew came back to their pit 30+ minutes after the accident. At that time, they did not know he had passed. When I saw Randy take off on a run for their pit, sometime later, I knew it wasn't good. It was nearly an hour after the wreck that news came he was gone. No one told Tanis where Mark was taken, what she should do next, no numbers to call, nothing. The whole situation was not handled well at all.
Plus, NHRA didn't notify the coroner, they found out over the emergency radios. Heaven forbid they shouldn't cover their asses.
Plus, NHRA didn't notify the coroner, they found out over the emergency radios. Heaven forbid they shouldn't cover their asses.
Godspeed Mark!! May you rest in peace and may God be with the Niver family!
I was at the races on Sunday and was really surprised that there was no moment of silence... why could they not have done the same thing the did for Scott Kalitta? - the moment of silence, and the idle down the track for the run especially since he was in the finals!!!... just thought they didnt show enough respect!!
I was at the races on Sunday and was really surprised that there was no moment of silence... why could they not have done the same thing the did for Scott Kalitta? - the moment of silence, and the idle down the track for the run especially since he was in the finals!!!... just thought they didnt show enough respect!!
Lena; The was no reason for an "idle down the track" as it was a semi-final and Chris Demke had a solo in his semi. He took the light & then was declared the event champion.
As for the moment of silence; yea it would've been nice but when Bob & Alan were speaking, it was as close as you could get to a moment of silence without calling for one.
Also Scott's accident was on Sat, not Sunday, so there was more time to do the moment of silence & Robert's idle down the track.
Welcome to the zoo, err, the Mater Lena!
Jer
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I sure hope that isnt true for the crew/family didnt know about him passing,they have every right to know asap.
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Bubba
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+1 on that.
Jenn
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After reading the article on Demke, Demke did the ULTIMATE tribute to Niver. Class act that one is.
Wow. That is a great way to handle that situation. You are right, class act!!
Thank you very much for posting this story on here as I had obviously not seen it.
Chris Demke is very much a class act! That really is the ultimate tribute to Mark Niver, especially since he did it without being asked! I do remember seeing him do it at the races now.
~Godspeed Mr. Niver!!!~
Chris Demke is very much a class act! That really is the ultimate tribute to Mark Niver, especially since he did it without being asked! I do remember seeing him do it at the races now.
~Godspeed Mr. Niver!!!~
Silly Savage
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"Pacific Raceways, he said, contributed to the problem. If they had left that track alone, Mark Niver would still be here. The cars are going too fast. So what do they do? They shorten the track, I think, 480 feet.” He said the cars used to turn off on the road course. “if that had been left alone, Mark Niver would still be here.”
Quote from Warren Johnson.....I hope this truely is not the case.....
Quote from Warren Johnson.....I hope this truely is not the case.....
Ma Green
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Jeremy, you may be assured that story is true. After the family returned to their pit, we were in the staging lanes, right by the cross over, and I watched Corey, Mark's oldest daughter running to the tower in near hysterics, saying "they won't tell us anything".
This is the first time in 45 years I've been ashamed of the sport I love.
This is the first time in 45 years I've been ashamed of the sport I love.
Jim
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I have no idea what happened, but would also say that anyone else who does not know the facts find out what they are before jumping to conclusions.
If medical professionals, such as paramedics, were treating Mark Niver at the time, it is entirely possible that no one at NHRA knew. Federal law that took effect a couple of years ago says that medical professionals -- including doctors, hospitals, etc -- may not release information about a person's condition to anyone immediate family unless the patient has signed an authorization form allowing them to do so.
So one Niver was put into an ambulance, it could have become illegal for any of the paramedics or EMT crew to provide a condition update to anyone other than Niver's wife. Without knowing what kind of authorization forms drivers sign regarding release of personal health information, it is hard to know if NHRA did not tell Niver's family and crew or did not know. The fine for release medical information is $50,000 per occurrence, so medical people take it seriously.
Again, I am not sure if this was the case or not. However, I am also fairly confident that those who believe NHRA was at fault also do not know what the situation was.
Jim
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I suppose that your confidence in NHRA is admirable. However, Pat was there and you apparently were not. I would be willing to bet she has seen more than one bad situation at a drag strip. If she says this was badly handled, I believe her.
NHRA continues to promise investigations and comes up with knee jerk rules changes. I think many people realize that the real problem is a lack of standards for shutdown areas and the inability or unwillingness of the sanctioning body to research a solution.
Jenn
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From what I remember from back in Vegas, one of the racers was telling me, NHRA has been trying to push the carbon fiber brakes on the Alky classes for a while but has been met with resistance as far as the cost factor.
Ten THOUSAND dollars for a brake system would put a lot of cars out for a season or more, particularly in this economy.
I know how it goes...X amount of perfectly stopped runs with steel brakes makes it awfully hard to justify carbon fibers. It's really easy to spend money that's not yours...
Oh, if memory serves me correctly, there were a lot of fears with those carbon fibers too, because apparently they work the best when they are warm and people weren't sure they wanted to take the chance of not having 'prime' brakes on a low speed or quick stop situation.
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While I agree with what Jim says in basis, I also agree with Pat's assessment. Too many folks seem to believe that nothing can be said to anyone about anything...no matter what! So what is the problem of giving information to immediate family? Unless I've been misinformed for the last several years, immediate family are part of the inner circle and I can think of nothing any less caring (whether intentional or not) than keeping the immediate family in the dark about their loved one's status. HIPPA rules are meant to keep medical staff from handing out info randomly and not to keep immediate family from being informed.
