???Don Eckel & Mike Saye CRASH at Z-Max???

[sc1153]

Does anyone have any info on an incedent that happened during the last session of qualifying??

[david ring]

This is second hand so take it for what it is worth. What I was told is that the NHRA official signaled Donnie to make the turn at the end of the track. Mike Saye had no brakes and his car plowed into Donnie's as Donnie was turning

Again, this is second hand although the person who told me was waiting at the end of the track for those two cars to pull off the track and the accident happened right in front of him. The NHRA official might have a different version of the events.

[Don Eckel 111]

Yes, Dave pretty much has it right. I made the run, had the chute out, pretty much uneventful. I saw the turnoff worker (who apparently is veteran help according to G Light.) with the bright green gloves in the middle of the track giving me the signal to turn off. As I made the swing, the last thing I heard was someone yell "SLOW DOWN!" A split second later I was center punched right at the footbox into the sand trap by Saye who had lost his brakes. I questioned myself afterward if I had seen the right signal, but others in the area confirmed I saw him correctly. I spoke to the worker later in the day, and his comments to me pretty much confirmed that he had an idea that Saye was in trouble, so I have no idea why I was waved in. I am OK other than a few bruises where I hit the bars with my legs, hip, knees, and ankle. Thankfully , Kurt put me in a well built car and the hit wasn't 3 feet further back. The chassis and body are pretty much junk. I will say this though, I will NEVER make that mistake again of trusting the turnout people to do the right thing when the other car is out of my line of sight. There will some people doing alot of pushing.

[russ wernes]

don sorry to hear about your mishap but cars can be rebuilt and you cant. glad you are ok.
if it was me that track worker would not have been !

russ

[Don Eckel 111]

Thanks Russ, see you soon.

[david ring]

I second what Russ said, especially the part about you being ok.

[Sal Biondo]

Don and Mike

Glad you guys are ok.

But, I am surprised this does not happen more often. I was inches from taking out Arnie years back. We were at Gainesville, I was in the right lane, running about 160, and I did not pull the chute because I really did not have to, and it was very windy. Arnie was in the left lane going about 180, pulls his chute, slows down, and gets waved off the track directly in front of me at the 'earlier' turnoff, but, I was still going about 50 - maybe 60 MPH.

As he begins to make the right turn in front of me, I try to slam the brakes, but going to fast to stop. I had two choices.. take out Arnie, or the official standing there, well I thought Arnie was the better choice since he was in the car with safety equipment on, but I made an attempt at missing both of them...

I took it half way in the grass, and somehow passed between Arnie and the track official. I could not figure out how I did not hit Arnie, until later when Arnie said that he began to turn off, when he noticed the sudden scare on the official's face, and stopped dead!

Since then, I try to plan out the race, and tell my opponent if I am going to run to the last turnoff or not.. These days, NHRA has blocked most or all of the early turn offs this is not a problem at most tracks like it used to be.. but freak things can happen, like to Don and Mike.

Be careful out there.
Sal

[Charlie Yannetti]

This is truly an unfortunate incident........ glad to hear that DE3 and Mike Saye are OK........

[SGSST109E]

I was asked by a friend about the accident but I wasn't sure about the answer so I'll ask it here. When this type of accident happens who is at fault? Does the track have insurance to cover the repairs?

[Don Eckel 111]

In a nutshell, no. We spoke directly to Graham Light shortly after the incident to inquire about any coverage, because in my eyes, I did nothing wrong except put my trust in his worker. His exact words were that it was an "unfortunate racing incident", and that NHRA only provides excess medical coverage if you are injured. What's really unfortunate is that I lost a car, and this probably won't be the last time something like this happens, and its certainly not the first, because of the ineptness of someone at the end of the track. I had a minor incident once before when my chute got caught on a guardrail at a turnoff years ago while 4 workers sat on haybales. Not even so much as a warning from any of them that it had reblossomed and swung around on me.