OT NHRA

[ozbryan]

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:

I believe its up to the family to decide if the footage can be aired or not, when Kevin Gobrech died his family didnt want the video released and it never was.

My cousin has had a few bad crashes in his sprintcar, one in december breaking his back and neck. They were asked if it was ok to play footage before it was aired but yes it was on youtube the next day.

 

[hydro]

I used to race at Moroso Motorsports Park in West palm and Gainesville , super gas and super pro ......they have a way longer shut off area than that track. That place is much to short and who's stupid idea was it for a concrete wall at the end ?? and the camera crane in the middle ?? You would think in today technologies they could have come up with something better and softer .....I have something for them ......How about a simple wall of old tires stacked up 6 feet high and ten rows deep all roped together in front of that cement wall. Very shock and energy absorbent. If they had something like that the out come would have been very different and he might have walk away. Poor guy I hope he was unconscious and did not see it coming.

John

 

[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.

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.

its been about 3 years now since ive been to 131.

 

[Rigged]

I used to race at Moroso Motorsports Park in West palm and Gainesville , super gas and super pro
John

hahaha moroslow... that was my "home" track (i grew up in miami & ft.laud). Thats got to be one of the worst tracks in the country.. old lady Moroso dont care a thing about the drag racing program there.... only getting her 5g a piece from the road course racers <_< Last time i was there Bee-Line hooked better then both lanes :lol: :lol:

 

[Topfuel666]

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.

Many drivers were interviewed both Saturday and yesterday. Many agree the shutdown areas at quite a few tracks are not sufficient. I have never seen a car running that hot into the traps before. Chutes were out but it didn't appear there was any braking going on.

That track has the shutdown runout followed by the sand pit with the catch fence at the end of the pit. The concrete barriers on the right curve to the left after after the catch fence. Behind that wall are trees and an active road. The camera boom everyone was mentioning is huge (height wise) and sits

nowhere near the track surface.

Based on this tragic event, I am sure NHRA will be making some changes. We may even see some tracks loose the national events if conditions cannot be addressed.

 

[hydro]

Yes, Moroso is less than desirable track, but at least if you run off the end you don't find a concrete wall waiting to suck the life out of you, last time I checked. Go to the You tube link below and advance to timer 3.24 and you will see a perfect view of the end. Little sand trap and THAT curved wall !!!! what a blunder in design. Now that I see this picture, the camera boom has nothing to do with anything. If that Wall was not there and the rows of tire's were in place in front of the fence Things would have been way different.

John

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJpnGoXARU4...feature=related

 

[bpm]

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.

Because it would of been far better for the car to just go flying into a road that is actually busy during pro events?

For those that are saying that the .5 mile that etown has is "way to short" That's actually more runoff then alot tracks have. And he did hit the sandpit..at a speed that got him airborne. Came through the traps at 300, and...didn't slow down much. Since the handbrake will stop the car, I believe something else was wrong.

Comparing "they walked away" vs. "badly hurt/killed" is kinda dangerous.. see Force last year or T. Schumacher in Memphis 2000

or Geoff Bodine at Daytone in the NASCAR trucks...M. Schumacher in the English GP a few years ago.

Sue? Does anyone believe in assumption of risk anymore?

-Brian

 

[SayMikey]

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.

Because it would of been far better for the car to just go flying into a road that is actually busy during pro events?

For those that are saying that the .5 mile that etown has is "way to short" That's actually more runoff then alot tracks have. And he did hit the sandpit..at a speed that got him airborne. Came through the traps at 300, and...didn't slow down much. Since the handbrake will stop the car, I believe something else was wrong.

Comparing "they walked away" vs. "badly hurt/killed" is kinda dangerous.. see Force last year or T. Schumacher in Memphis 2000

or Geoff Bodine at Daytone in the NASCAR trucks...M. Schumacher in the English GP a few years ago.

Sue? Does anyone believe in assumption of risk anymore?

-Brian

The link is now removed copy right by nhra. good thing i saw it aweful and ugly

 

[Tom Levescy]

The fact that it looked like Scott never pulled the brake handle, I belive that he was probably dead or very close to it after the Engine ( BOMB ) whent off no more than 3 feet in front of him with NO protection from the schrapnal comming back at him.

 

[Ed.R]

quote]

Sue? Does anyone believe in assumption of risk anymore?

-Brian

You can Thank Doug Wolfganag for that in this country . He was one that did sue and won and then went right back racing again . The crash after that almost took care of him for good

 

[Don Ferrette]

The fact that it looked like Scott never pulled the brake handle, I believe that he was probably dead or very close to it after the Engine ( BOMB ) went off no more than 3 feet in front of him with NO protection from the shrapnel coming back at him.

Then who pulled the chute? :huh:

 

[Rigged]

The fact that it looked like Scott never pulled the brake handle, I believe that he was probably dead or very close to it after the Engine ( BOMB ) went off no more than 3 feet in front of him with NO protection from the shrapnel coming back at him.

Then who pulled the chute? :huh:

Looked to me like he pulled the chute as soon as he went through the traps, same time the motor blew up.

The issue i see is like someone already mentioned...it does not look like he grabbed the hand brake AT ALL. When you see those guys have to resort to the hand brake to get stopped you usually see the car start to bounce pretty violently. The thing just coasted the entire way.

I dont see how they could sue anyone. Anyone that has raced at a dragstrip knows you have to sign a waiver that clearly states you are racing at your own risk and the track cannot be held responsible for any damage to your car or yourself.

 

[Ed.R]

Wolfganag also had to sign the waiver , not sure if any racing doesn't have a waiver . Specially NJ , ran karts at Flemington . That state is tight on that sort of thing . But once again that paper don't mean squat . Might as well be toilet paper . They won't be lengthening that track any time soon . The state already tried to get rid of it by implementing a noise ordinance that would have closed ALL tracks in NJ .

My 2 cents

 

[bpm]

The fact that it looked like Scott never pulled the brake handle, I believe that he was probably dead or very close to it after the Engine ( BOMB ) went off no more than 3 feet in front of him with NO protection from the shrapnel coming back at him.

Then who pulled the chute? :huh:

If enough of the body comes off, the chutes will come out on their own (due to the way they are mounted on a funny car).

But I've never heard of motor parts coming straight back..lotsa oil and the concussion, yes...but not parts. Anything is possible, though.

-Brian

 

[Terry Keeley]

After looking at it again I too have to think he was either unconscious or dead after the motor blew, who knows maybe even a heart attack? The chutes probably came out when the body came off but were burned up in the fire.

Wonder if some sort of electronically triggered shutdown would save lives? Cross the finish line and a transponder automatically shuts off the fuel , deploys the chutes and gets on the brakes...

 

[Grimracer]

Im with you TK.. He never tapped the breaks.. The car never pitched left or right and it just kept trucking.

I suspect the concussion of the explosion knocked him out or parts killed him as they came off.

Its just to weird that he never tapped the breaks.. it’s a natural reaction to do so.

RIP

Grim

 

[moparbarn]

I used to race at Moroso Motorsports Park in West palm and Gainesville , super gas and super pro
John

hahaha moroslow... that was my "home" track (i grew up in miami & ft.laud). Thats got to be one of the worst tracks in the country.. old lady Moroso dont care a thing about the drag racing program there.... only getting her 5g a piece from the road course racers <_< Last time i was there Bee-Line hooked better then both lanes :lol: :lol:

bee-line as in orlando? lived in sanford '66-'69, raced there a few times. grew up in miami, moroso was new owner of palm beach raceway, that & mia-hollywood dragway are the names i remeber from my days. i grew up in miami shores, 105 st. & biscayne blvd, where were you?

 

[Rigged]

I used to race at Moroso Motorsports Park in West palm and Gainesville , super gas and super pro
John

hahaha moroslow... that was my "home" track (i grew up in miami & ft.laud). Thats got to be one of the worst tracks in the country.. old lady Moroso dont care a thing about the drag racing program there.... only getting her 5g a piece from the road course racers <_< Last time i was there Bee-Line hooked better then both lanes :lol: :lol:

bee-line as in orlando? lived in sanford '66-'69, raced there a few times. grew up in miami, moroso was new owner of palm beach raceway, that & mia-hollywood dragway are the names i remeber from my days. i grew up in miami shores, 105 st. & biscayne blvd, where were you?

No bee-line in west palm (the road Moroso is right off of). I wasnt around back in the days of miami-hollywood... but have heard pleanty of storys about times there from family.

I moved all around south florida. From Miami Gardens dr & 37th ave, to Taft St & 72nd ave, to Univirsity dr & Cleary blvd in Plantation.

 

[Tom Levescy]

The fact that it looked like Scott never pulled the brake handle, I believe that he was probably dead or very close to it after the Engine ( BOMB ) went off no more than 3 feet in front of him with NO protection from the shrapnel coming back at him.

Then who pulled the chute? :huh:

The chutes are mounted on the body and when the bomb whent off the shrapnel cut the body in half and the back half came off deploiying the chutes.

As far as parts comming straight back, when a top fuel engine go's of like that one did, parts go in ALL directions.

 

[Topfuel666]

Thought you folks would like to know this. NHRA reduced the race distance for Top Fuel and Funny Car to 1000' effective the next race (Denver). They are still investigating and I am sure there will be more.

Bill