Racers pushing for safer barriers... (1 Viewer)

[john]

You did fine, any relation to Herb?

 

[yoda]

Barriers such as those are designed for high impact angle crashes, which rarely, if ever, happen on a drag strip. Even if a car appears to hit the wall "head-on", it will almost always have minimal velocity toward the wall.

From a driver's perspective, they are designed to help prevent inertial injury and 'g'-load on the driver. No information as to the cause of Medlen's injury has been released or publicly discussed, and there is little data to support the installation of such barriers on drag strips.

You will notice on circle tracks, the barriers are only in the corners.

Also, the barriers are typically designed for the weight/speed of the cars. At a drag strip a deformable barrier that can handle 300+mph fuel cars with virtually no front ground clearance as well as other classes of stock body cars is probably not practical.


I hope I made a good inaugural post here on the 'mater......

Nice work, Dave... And I was wondering the same thing- Any relation to Herb?

There's alot of questions about going soft at the drag strip:

OK.. I went round and round (literally) with the ESPN Journalist that wrote the article suggesting that soft walls would have the same effect on making crashing safer as it has in NASCAR.. I am not a believer that the same incidents apply between the two types of racing (cars designed to go fast and crash verses cars that are designed to go REALLY fast, and do that with minimal materials..)

After his reponse, I thought, "What is this guy's side of the story? Could he be on the right track?"... Always try to remain open to other paths of thinking, yada,yada, yada... But it made me start thinking about what aspects of the walls WOULD NOT be feasable in regards to Drag Racing, in respect to how the cars would possibly react in coming in contact with the new walls. Wide thinking made me also think about what the effects would be when the cars DO NOT contact the walls..
Discuss please:

We all have seen the effects of cars that drop a hole or two and take a radical swing because the exhaust pressure on that side of the car suddenly goes away. Obviously a lot of downforce, as well as lateral force, coming out of the pipes.

Enough force to compromise the integrity of the walls after every SUCESSFUL pass? Its obvious that the existing walls have some sort of "Hot Wheels track" effect on how the cars stay straight now.. Do the current NASCAR soft walls possess the physical properties not to self-destruct and get blasted into the stands by Round 2 of Saturday qualifing? And if not, how will that affect the car if it does fail, in regards to wall sections (I keep envisioning the old F/C blower blasts from the 70's- when fiberglass bodies floated back to earth after being blown 50 feet straight up..)?
Those with the proper credentials in the construction/ manufacturing of the existing soft walls please sign in..

Yours is one of several questions I hope are asked before the giant flying leap is taken in an attempt to make racing safer (because, as we all know, you can't stop accidents from happening...)

welcome to the 'Mater...

 

[Nazgul]

Anytime we can make something safer it's worth looking in to.

Alan has also reminded us, that we don't know exactly what and how it happened in Gainesville on Monday, so we can't speculate.

And even though I logged in tonight hoping that the last few days were just a dream, I also realize that accidents happen. They always have and they always will.

Unfortuately there are many fatal accidents, myriad types everyday, it doesn't stop us from living though. Risk are a part of life... death is as well.

No one in this thread is wrong... folks coming together with different ideas and perspectives is how we move forward and make things better in this world (usually).

Sometimes all the precautions in the world may not save someone and sometimes it will.

I'm still in a fog, so please excuse my rant/ramble... this post may not even make any sense, sorry.
God Bless Eric & his family

 

[Bob]

People who want to shorten the race track and think it will stop parts breakage don't seem to understand that these teams are extremely competitive and will set the cars on kill weather it is for 1320 feet or 660 feet. It will not stop engines from going boom.

Of course they'll still set the cars on kill, but most of the current day engine explosions occur after half track. The setup would remain the same, but the duration would be less and that would reduce breakage.

 

[Toejam]

Of course they'll still set the cars on kill, but most of the current day engine explosions occur after half track. The setup would remain the same, but the duration would be less and that would reduce breakage.

That may be the case for a few races, till the Crewchiefs find a way to squeeze more Mag, Compression and Fuel in the mix! Right now they know(For the most part) how to make these motors last for 5 seconds. Cut those ET's down a couple of seconds and they WILL set those Powerplants on Murder!

 

[Randy]

That may be the case for a few races, till the Crewchiefs find a way to squeeze more Mag, Compression and Fuel in the mix! Right now they know(For the most part) how to make these motors last for 5 seconds. Cut those ET's down a couple of seconds and they WILL set those Powerplants on Murder!

I'm involved in the tune-up of a Top Alcohol sand dragster that runs very strong. The race is only 300 feet and it's run as fast as 153 miles per hour in that distance. Trust me when I say that the tune-up for that thing won't make it another 30 feet. You are correct in your assumptions.

 

[DCM]

You did fine, any relation to Herb?

Known him my whole life.

He's my Dad.

 

[90-percent]

well, Hillary's deal with Vandergriff last year would not have benefitted from the lane referee concept for sure. That would probably have made a good save by Hillary into a two car tangle that didn't have to be.

Very good point, Randy.

Well, how about 50% sized jersey barriers IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TRACK!

This would keep the length of the cross across the track vector down to half, and you just wouldn't have enough length to get ultra velocity perpendicular to the wall.

Just a thought.

High tech track cleaners? - magnets, vision systems, metal detectors?

Inner liners for slicks again, like the late 60's?

foam lined pods for drivers kinda like drag boats?

Sorry to "go franklin" on you all, but surely there's got to be some cost effective improvements to be made? I want every possible solution explored at great length. Plan "B" for me would be to get out of the nitro drag fan arena all together, you know?

-85% Jimmy

 

[willy]

Known him my whole life.

He's my Dad.

Wow..Mr4Speed..very cool.

Welcome to the Mater, David.

 

[TJ]

This has been an unfortunate week for the Medlen family. We will all selfishly miss seeing him on and off the track.

I don't like to see change too much but the parties involved have the final say for change.

Now on the NHRA side of reaction to avoiding this situation again? Who knows what they will do...they might do nothing? My better half is in law (ESQ) and until a claim is filed for her to represent or defend they w/ not budge one bit to admit wrong or right in an accident. The most hard-core crime could accure and they will not get soft. Most individuals who are successful in law do not allow themselves to get emotionally involved w/ any case.
The NHRA legal dept has very sharp elbows and will not allow this situation to snowball in their daily round table meetings.
Whenever a situation like this happens in drag racing I am saddened but not shocked.
Occupational hazard I suppose......

 

[Bob]

I don't like to see change too much but the parties involved have the final say for change.

Now on the NHRA side of reaction to avoiding this situation again? Who knows what they will do...they might do nothing? My better half is in law (ESQ) and until a claim is filed for her to represent or defend they w/ not budge one bit to admit wrong or right in an accident.

Right or wrong, or responsibility, doesn't have to be admitted to in order for changes to take place.

I just don't want to see fuel racing go the way of the rocket cars, where no track can be insured for them to race.

 

[Toejam]

Right or wrong, or responsibility, doesn't have to be admitted to in order for changes to take place.

I just don't want to see fuel racing go the way of the rocket cars, where no track can be insured for them to race.

It's a shame that legal action has worked it's way into Motorsports. The IHBA(International Dragboat assoc.) Now requires that not only drivers, but they're Wives sign waivers to allow drivers to compete.

 

[Bullet]

Inprove Side Protection!

They did it in F1 and haven't had a fatel Crash since Senna.

Perhaps we n eed a 'Garlt's Moment', and re-think the design of the Top Fuelers and Funny Cars.

I always thought that Funny Cars were one of the safest classes of dragster, because of their side protection. But the SIDE PRETECTION but be looked at.

It doesn't take an Instine to work out that their is wafer thin protection for a driver of a Top Fuel Dragster.

Would A Top Fuel driver not fit parachutes? It 8is the same princablle when running a car. As the speed goes up, so should the safety levels of the cars.

Tracks can only do so much.

Perhaps we need to think of a cross between a role cage and a F1 Monocock, type of design?

Cheers

James
[email protected]

I am expecting to see revisions in the design of the rollcage area and shielding and padding around the bars to better distribute the energy and force when something comes in contact with it.

It really sucks that it takes accidents and tragedies to make us look closer at what has always been considered safe.

I guess it is a continuous learning curve and evolution.

Losing people like Eric, Darrell, Blaine and many others in all forms of motorsport breaks my heart.

 

[Bobby]

It really sucks that it takes accidents and tragedies to make us look closer at what has always been considered safe.

I guess it is a continuous learning curve and evolution.

.

you're right on the money. The racers focus is on winning, going faster, being safe is obviously a concern, but not more important than winning.....

and it's impossible to think of every possibility. Try to do it now, yourself, you know?. In another thread we were asked to, and it's hard to see the future. what might happen.
experience is the best teacher. unfortunately.

 

[megadeth]

Here's a crazy idea. Why don't we wait until JFR has the time to analyze all of the information, check out every piece of the car, determine exactly what the sequence of events was that led to this tragedy, and then decide how best to attempt to prevent it from happening again.

Alan

Alan, were do you come off using logic and common sense!

People have to understand there are inherent dangers in extreme sports which includes drag racing it's a cold hard fact just when you think you got everything covered something never seen before will happen the key is not to over react and let the experts deal with it.
Don't get me wrong I understand the premise behind all the speculation and brain storming but it is spilt milk.
I'm still grieving for Eric's family, friends and team mates everything else right now is irrelevant as far as I’m concerned!