NHRA waiting for disaster

[Randy]

Back when Tom Lemon raced his TA/FC while towing through the pits at Pomona he had a spectator jump in front of him and lie down on the ground hoping to get hit so he could sue. They stopped, got out and told the guy to get off the #$@ ground so they could continue on.

 

[Silly Savage]

Back when Tom Lemon raced his TA/FC while towing through the pits at Pomona he had a spectator jump in front of him and lie down on the ground hoping to get hit so he could sue. They stopped, got out and told the guy to get off the #$@ ground so they could continue on.

Amazing...lol

 

[FuelFC]

this board is ridiculous.

Is not... LOL.

It is about damn time we turn the clock back to a time where people accept responsibility for actions, accept some things in life are inherently dangerous, and 'things' happen.

If you wake up and attempt to get out of bed you could die at some point during your waking hours.

Game of Lawn Darts anyone? (yeah yeah I know someones neighbor kid threw one up in the air...so ban them for the rest of the world)

 

[TR]

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.
My dad was one of the original members of SCEDA in the 70's, where they ran Comp Eliminator cars, etc in between divisional and national events. Guys towed their dragsters & altereds with trucks. Now a days there is a rule in SCEDA where you have to use a golf cart or quad???? Same thing at Nostalgia events. What it has caused is an influx of morons, drunks and underage kids racing golf carts through the pits and then parking them 2 deep along the fence in front of the grandstands. It's called LAZY. If you can't walk from the pits to the tower/lanes/bathroom,etc with out assistance (other than a real disability), then that is just lazy. 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.

Sad facts but all true as far as the people driving like nut jobs in the carts, and the magnitude of it. Back in the day most people used plain old bikes--anybody remember that?

Rick

 

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[Crew Chief Pro]

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)

Someone with that much experience doesn't let a car go through nearly 200 feet at full throttle and not be able to stop it. He was incapacitated and several people reported a "heart attack" which led to the inability to control the car.

 

[Silly Savage]

A side note to having to use golf carts to tow your cars in the pits:

A couple years ago we were going to Goodguys Nostalgia events and were using a dually to tow my altered to the lanes. They came up with a rule that only certain classes could no longer use trucks (of course I was in one of those classes). So, imagine, I am at the track with my mom, dad, wife, kid and one other pit crew member. So we have some one loan us a cart and we try to get my crew up to the line. One person drives the cart, 2 people line me up on the line and the person driving the cart stays with my kid.

NOPE....now they say that any kids under 16 have to be inside of an enclosed vehicle...WTF???? So I have to tell my wife and kid to go stand over there and walk back to the pits while I run???? I had my kid and crew in an enclosed vehicle and THEY told me to use a golf cart....so what is more important to them; safety or conveniece??? Come to find out, it was a discrepency between the racing organization and the track officials.....

 

[Speedy_Sticks]

Before you nutters laugh about this thread just consider this, deaths of spectators and drivers isn't good for a sport's PR, just ask any PR agency. If we keep losing drivers and others at this rate kids are going to think they are safer racing on the street than the strip,

Just ask Mr Herbert or Mr Gwynn about safety before you laugh it off,

 

[Silly Savage]

Someone with that much experience doesn't let a car go through nearly 200 feet at full throttle and not be able to stop it. He was incapacitated and several people reported a "heart attack" which led to the inability to control the car.

That is the first I have heard of that....Randy, would you like to weigh in?

 

[willy]

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

That would be a start..man it IS out of control..lazy bast@rds. And parking them at the fence..arrrgg!!

Terry has legitimate concerns..I don't see where the negative comments come from. Sure it's dangerous..and always will be..but getting rid of wayward godd@mn golf carts is a start.

As far as and racer idling to the lanes or from the back end..you would hope they are on top of it..like being able to shut it down if problems arise.

 

[Speed1288]

Before you nutters laugh about this thread just consider this, deaths of spectators and drivers isn't good for a sport's PR, just ask any PR agency. If we keep losing drivers and others at this rate kids are going to think they are safer racing on the street than the strip,

Just ask Mr Herbert or Mr Gwynn about safety before you laugh it off,

No disrespect, but what do those guys tragedys have to do with golf carts in the pits? The fact of the matter is there are going to be uncontrollable idiots no matter were you go and what you do. With the amount of money put into motors for Comp/TS/TD and other classes I don't blame them for using a golf cart. We use one for my dads TS and occasionally with my dragster when we are hot lapping it. Never had a problem because we and the competitors are responsible with our use of them and know not to go flying through the pits blindly.

 

[Silly Savage]

That would be a start..man it IS out of control..lazy bast@rds. And parking them at the fence..arrrgg!!

Terry has legitimate concerns..I don't see where the negative comments come from. Sure it's dangerous..and always will be..but getting rid of wayward godd@mn golf carts is a start.

As far as and racer idling to the lanes or from the back end..you would hope they are on top of it..like being able to shut it down if problems arise.

Driving your race car back and forth to the lanes is one thing...making it mandatory to have a golf cart at the track to tow your car is just dumb. Pit areas are busy enough as it is.

Here is some math to consider:
In my story about the nostalgia events requiring golf carts, the classes they require them in account for the majority of the car count. So, if approximately 75-100 race cars require a tow vehicle, you now have the potential to have 75-100 golf carts now on the grounds. Now you may say, well, you'd have that many trucks on the grounds to tow the cars, however people aren't going to cruise the pits in a full size truck....the trucks will be only used when needed to tow the car from point A to point B.

 

[T.Smith]

There is nothing wrong with using golf carts and scooters in the pits, so long as they are used responsibly. They are quite necessary for us to do our jobs.

If one thinks carts and scooters should be banned, then I would also say lets ban alcohol being sold at the track and being brought onto racetrack property and limit the amount of people in the pits areas and staging lanes. I can name incidents with our team with fans at Dallas, Houston and Joliet that support my ideas...so to make a long story short, this isn't a one-way street and be careful of what you wish for.

 

[Silly Savage]

There is nothing wrong with using golf carts and scooters in the pits, so long as they are used responsibly. They are quite necessary for us to do our jobs.

If one thinks carts and scooters should be banned, then I would also say lets ban alcohol being sold at the track and being brought onto racetrack property and limit the amount of people in the pits areas and staging lanes.

Maybe I'm not saying to ban them...maybe not require them. And crowd control would be great. I know at a couple of large nostalgia events, they actually were allowing team members to park their personal cars in the pit area???? Problem with your statement of "used responsibly"...who is going to police people's lack of common sense? I will not mention names or teams, but last weekend I was in a fellow competitors pit area and observed at least 12-15 empty beer cans on the ground around their pit trash can...and that was just from Saturday......

 

[Ugly one]

Let's start a ban against this thread NOW THAT MAKES SENSE!

 

[Toejam]

Anyone remember Billy Meyer's runaway FC in Pomona around '77-'78? Car came off the floor jack in the pits and just took off!

 

[Dragracer]

My thread here has to do totally with pit control. I do not advocate closing the pits to spectators or anything like that. I do not advocate banning golf carts. If they are used in a responsible manner they are not a problem.
What I am talking about is the lack of pit control by officials. When a sportsman class is called in the early rounds there are quite a number of cars being towed and driven and the pit control is minimal. All I am saying is when you get crowds (I hope more start coming back) like in Pomona there is the potential for an accident.
The people I have actually seen killed were by cars in the pits that were not following the rules and either fell off a floor jack or didn't have anything lifting it off the ground.
I can't tell you how many s/c cars I have seen in the pits checking out their line lock, warming up the car or something else and they were not up on jack stands or something else as spelled out in the rule book.
You are also right - look at how many non race cars some of pits have in them.
It all comes down to better pit control and when they call the classes for a run to have officials in the pits, not just in the staging lanes.

I am a realist and know nothing will be done until an accident happens, thats the NHRA way.

 

[TSK]

Well, the OP does have a point. Some of the pits, with no easily identified traffic lanes, are dangerous. A lot of spectators just walk blindly from one nitro pit to another and pay no attention to the cars moving around them.
So, who is to blame if some knucklehead walks out in front of a race, or tow, car that is hurrying back to the staging lanes or the pits?
Personally, I'd blame the person for not looking. But, I'm sure some sue-happy ambulance chasers don't see it that way.
It would be nice to see the travel lanes blocked from spectator traffic but I doubt that's feasible.

 

[flash]

It all comes down to better pit control and when they call the classes for a run to have officials in the pits, not just in the staging lanes.

And just how many officials would this require?
You're asking a lot of NHRA to monitor ALL activities EVERYWHERE in the pits. Can't be done.

 

[Crash]

Well, the OP does have a point. Some of the pits, with no easily identified traffic lanes, are dangerous. A lot of spectators just walk blindly from one nitro pit to another and pay no attention to the cars moving around them.
So, who is to blame if some knucklehead walks out in front of a race, or tow, car that is hurrying back to the staging lanes or the pits?
Personally, I'd blame the person for not looking. But, I'm sure some sue-happy ambulance chasers don't see it that way.
It would be nice to see the travel lanes blocked from spectator traffic but I doubt that's feasible.

My dad, who had never gone to the races until I had my own car, observed on his first day at the track that it was the only place he had ever been that the pedestrian had no right of way whatsoever....