NHRA waiting for disaster (1 Viewer)

[Dragracer]

Unfortunately in NHRA racing we have recently seen both spectators and people in the pits killed.
Is there a time bomb out there with the Super classes? They are no longer allowed to have tow cars so most of them drive their cars through the pits to the staging lanes and after the run back to their pit with both spectators and crew members in the lanes.
These cars now are capable of 170+ mph and could be lethal. How long before one of these cars has a problem and a throttle sticks or something else goes wrong and has a crash, possible hurting someone. With the high car counts (150) in each of these classes it's not hard to envision a problem. Also, as these cars are being driven around the pits and staging lanes the drivers are not strapped in and most are not wearing most of their safety equipment.
I hope this never happens, but, before it happens NHRA might want to take a close look at this possible problem.

 

[Randy]

It already did. Fontana in the pits.

 

[my friends call me Zappy]

Just when did nhra ban tow cars for the Super Classes ???
And more important...WHY ???

 

[Crash]

Just when did nhra ban tow cars for the Super Classes ???
And more important...WHY ???

They are banned for Super Gas down, I believe. Mostly it seems to be an attempt to speed up the process, and keep the lanes from being clogged beyond belief with karts, duallies, ATV's, etc. I certainly hope the OP is being sarcastic...if we start worrying about things down to this hypothetical level, we should all just stay home, it is WAAAAAAY too dangerous out there. Wait, don't a lot of accidents happen in the home? Oh geez...what to do?

 

[JF]

I have heard that most accidents happen with 25 miles of home. So I Moved

 

[flash]

Holy crap! What if the tow vehicle is a Toyota!!!

 

[John Smillie]

If anything I think the NHRA should ban carts and scooters (sorry John Force). I find them to be more of a nuisance than a tow car.

 

[*******]

Good god! The sky is falling, the sky is falling. What happens if somebodys handicap scooter gets away from them and runs some poor innocent spectator over? What happens if the Lakers win again and a bunch of idiot fans riot and burn and turn over race vehicles in the pits? What happens if......

 

[Toejam]

If anything I think the NHRA should ban carts and scooters (sorry John Force). I find them to be more of a nuisance than a tow car.

How on Earth get John Force survive in the Old days without his Scooter????

 

[TR]

Holy crap! What if the tow vehicle is a Toyota!!!

That's profiling right there, but very funny!

Rick

 

[Bullet]

With supposed global warming, how much longer until more people are struck by lightning at the track and killed? NHRA need to act now!

Does someone have actual figures on the number of incidents, the number of events over that time and the number of deaths or serious injury resulting from these incidents?

 

[Crew Chief Pro]

You can easily tell that Terry doesn't drive a race car. What he forgot to tell you is that stockers, and super stocker *actually* drive their race cars in the pits also ** GASP **. It is amazing that Terry hasn't been run over yet by one of those out of control V/SA Pinto Wagons that drive to the staging lanes.

The only race car drivers that die in the pit areas are due to heart attacks ( such as the one in Fontana ). Accidents will happen and people die in this sport, sorry to bring you bad news.

I saw one guy have a heart attack years ago while strapped in ready to race. At least he died doing what he wanted.

 

[Speed1288]

Hell, Its safer to tow some of the cars. Its almost impossible to see past the scoop on some new cars

 

[Dragracer]

Don, for your information I do have a S/C car and also race 3 cars in other classes. Anyone racing in the Super classes will tell you about the near misses they have had and the 'DUMB' things some of the drivers had done driving in the pits.
You can all have as much fun of this as you want with this but if you have raced as long as I have (late 1950's) you would have seen a number of close calls and a good friend killed in a pit accident.
Randy will probably agreea how ignorent people walking through the pits are and the trouble he has towing his Alcohol car through the pits.
Have all the fun you want with this but it is a problem.

 

[BaldyLochs]

When my Dad raced at Texas Motorplex and Texas Raceway (not at the National level, mind you), and at Detroit Dragway, Milan & even Motor City Dragway way back when.... he idled down to the staging lanes all the time, and we'd follow on our bicycles. The one thing he used to ***** about was the motor getting hot. So when we were big enough - no more bikes; he had us push the car by hand!! And that was on flat ground.... no down hill like at Bandimere!

 

[FuelFC]

That's it ban everything! Period. Including standing up.

If Gary Coleman had not been standing he might still be here today.

 

[Jim]

Randy will probably agreea how ignorent people walking through the pits are and the trouble he has towing his Alcohol car through the pits.
Have all the fun you want with this but it is a problem.

Maybe the solution is to ban spectators from the pits.

Jim

 

[Silly Savage]

The only race car drivers that die in the pit areas are due to heart attacks ( such as the one in Fontana ).

For the record, it wasn't a heartache, it was a car getting away from the driver during a warm up. His brother died at Pomona from what I believe was a heart attack or other illness. (Mr Goodwin can correct me on that)

I remember being at OCIR, Pomona, Irwindale, Fremont, Sacramento, etc, etc back in the day and don't recall people needing a golf cart to get around the pits.
And as far as numbers, I have lost count of how many people I have seen crash into cars, people, trailers and each other. Do you want to know how many times I have seen 6-8 people (drinking) piled onto a golf cart? Anyone recall when someone crashed a golf cart into a Pro Stock car pit area a couple years back?

Golf carts have no place at the the drag strip unless you are truely disabled or a track official...period.

 

[Matt]

this board is ridiculous.

 

[Silly Savage]

Maybe the solution is to ban spectators from the pits.

Jim

I wouldn't say ban...I'd say have better crowd control. There are rules in place regarding the pits and pit vehicles, however I don't recall ever seeing any officials actually involved with enforcing the rules. Unfortunately it is usually racers dishing out their own brand of justice against the offenders...not usually in the most polite way either...