OT NHRA

[Ray Sametz]

Just up the road from me at Englishtown, heard Scott Kalita got hurt bad in qualifing. He's at Oldbridge hospital.

 

[Topfuel666]

Yes. They announced the Kalitta accident on the qualifying show. Dragracecentral also has it posted. It must not be good as there is absolutely nothing on this. DRC said a major engine explosion tearing up the back half. He then ran through the sand trap and through the catch fence and then into the woods. I was at Englishtown yesterday for the night session and just saw him. Sure hope this doesn't turn out really bad.

Bill

 

[Topfuel666]

NHRA just announced that Scott Kalitta didn't make it. They showed the accident and it always sucks when we loose a driver.

Bill

 

[Ray Sametz]

That sucks, tuff time for his family and kids right now. In our prayers

 

[Craig Murphy]

That's very sad news....

 

[Terry Keeley]

Sitting in my room in London reading this and I just can't believe it, a very sad day for sure...

 

[bsmtboy2]

I just saw the video on youtube, the hit on the retainer wall was really bad, my condolonces to his family.

 

[Topfuel666]

My brother and I were at yesterday's qualifying session and remarked that it was one of the best we have been to in a few years especially with switch back to 90% nitro. Couldn't wait to discuss with the other gearheads and then this...........

A wife and two kids, his history in T/F and F/C. Joe Amato was there and we commented it was too bad Darrell Russell still wasn't still around. Sorry guys, I have been into racing since 1965 and still get bummed when we loose one. Going to be a bad day at Englishtown tomorrow.

Bill

 

[Ed.R]

Track is to short . Was there some time ago when a alcohol car did almost the same thing . Back then they weren't going 300 plus . Oh ....... why the hell is there heavy equipment at the end of a drag strip?

Ed

 

[moparbarn]

i wondered the same thing, ed. i'm sure it's there for tv, but why not off to the side? in the one clip i saw, the last thing you see is that boom shaking really bad......my thoughts & prayers go out to his family.

 

[Ron Olson]

Wow, what a shock!

I've only seen his racecar hauler when coming home from a R/C boat race in Joliet as we passed a lot of haulers from stock car and WoO cars. I've seen Connie race a few times.

The shutdown area is way too short and with the wall at the end made things worse. Hopefully E-town will do something about that.

Our local strip, US-131 Dragway/Knoll Motorsports Park forunately has a lot of room at the end but I've seen nasty crashes there also after they ran out of strip and sandpit.

 

[Ed.R]

Been awhile since I went there But I think theres a road behind those trees I believe . Almost looks like the car hit the boom/crane truck . Thoughts and Prayers to Kalitta Family . Seen them race bunch of times .

 

[Ron Olson]

Is that the track with the shutdown area with a farmhouse across the road from it?

It was hard to see in the You Tube video but all I could see was a wall in front of the crane.

With a car on fire they need a lot of room to stop them. 300+ MPH, no chute and probably no brakes equals a lot of danger. It's a wonder that there haven't been more incidents there.

It's an old strip that needs to be lengthened for the Top Fuelers anf Funny Cars. Our local 1/4 mile was redone a few years ago. When I raced there it was rough trying to stop at 100 MPH much less attempting to do so at 300.

 

[ozbryan]

just seen the video on youtube.... man he must have been hurt real bad in the explosion coz that thing didnt pull up at all..... what a loss

 

[Ray Sametz]

He hit the concrete "Jersey" barriers and shot straight up in the air. They can stop a F-16 on the flight deck, some sort of net system needs to be developed to slow the cars down. We used to offroad to get out that way at the end of the day to avoid the traffic. Real bad deal.

 

[Ray Sametz]

You can't stop sites like "You Tube", but you think the TV networks would show some F...ing respect for the family. Saying the vid is graphic before showing is bull...t. ****, let the man RIP, and stop thinking about ratings. :angry: :angry: :angry:

 

[Topfuel666]

You can't stop sites like "You Tube", but you think the TV networks would show some F...ing respect for the family. Saying the vid is graphic before showing is bull...t. ****, let the man RIP, and stop thinking about ratings. :angry: :angry: :angry:

Ray,

They will beat that to death on YouTube. I was surprised NHRA event aired the accident as they normally do not. I think they were being pressured by everyone asking what the hell happened??

This is a good tribute to Scott: Kalitta Tribute

Bill

 

[Rigged]

Our local strip, US-131 Dragway/Knoll Motorsports Park forunately has a lot of room at the end but I've seen nasty crashes there also after they ran out of strip and sandpit.

131 is probably one of the nicest tracks ive been to in the US.

E-town definetely has too short of a shutdown to have cars running 300+ IMO. I watched a Pro 5.0 car that had chute issues have a hard time getting stopped there, and thats in a car that only went through the traps 210 or so.

Definetely a horrible loss. Id talked to Scott before at the Gator Nats. and he was a very nice guy

 

[Terry Keeley]

Just got home from London and watched it on my PVR, a very sad day indeed. I don't understand how they can race 330 at a track with a shutdown built for 200... <_<

Maybe time for the drivers to boycott these facilities until they're properly updated...

No matter how you slice it though, drag racing has got to be one of the most dangerous forms of motorsports ever.

 

[Ron Olson]

Our local strip, US-131 Dragway/Knoll Motorsports Park forunately has a lot of room at the end but I've seen nasty crashes there also after they ran out of strip and sandpit.

131 is probably one of the nicest tracks ive been to in the US.

The place is nice now since the Knoll's took it over from John Grivens. John lost his NHRA sanctioning because it fell into such a state of disrepair. You've probably been there since the Knoll's redid everything from the tower to the top end.

I'm waiting for Connie and Scott's family to sue the crap out of E-town and for it to lose their NHRA sanction after this incident. It was just plain wrong to put up the cement barriers at the end of the strip.

From the videos that I saw, Scott didn't know what he hit and the body was folded up and the car on fire. Had there been netting and a sandpit he could have possibly walked away. We've seen Mike Dunn and Don Prudhomme walk away from otherwise worse.