Pomona Starter Comp Eliminator

[Brett C]

Kinda hard to believe that as much complaining that is done on this site, not 1 person has posted about the NHRA starter and the competition eliminator crew member scenario that took place in Pomona this weekend.
Facebook is flooded with it.

[Tim H]

While I understand the safety aspect, the reaction by the starter seemed to use excessive force in my opinion.

[tommy d]

The WWE is expanding to drag racing I guess.

[GTS340]

Looking at the foolish threads before this one Brett. Answers why anything at Pomona wasn't mentioned. Some crew member didn't get the memo to get away from the car. Crazy Show for sure!

Paul Haszlauer
7019 C/SA

[Nick Heath]

I wonder if this will warrant a "Statement of Action Against Employee" post on NHRARacer.

[Joe Santangelo]

I can only imagine how most of us would have handled that. It’s too bad, he’s probably a nice guy and felt he was doing his job but he definitely crossed the line. Pulling the guy away from the car would have got the job done and kept the guy safe. He threw him to the ground. I can think of around 20 racers who have fathers on the starting line. If that starter threw one of them to the ground like that... forget about it.

[Gary Merrick]

My Dad started taking me to the drag races in the 1950’s, he couldn’t afford to race, but a lot of his friends raced and we would go to watch. In fact, when I first went to the drags, there was a flag man, who was the starter for each and every race. I started drag racing in 1970 locally, and in 1971 I attempted to run an NHRA divisional race at National Trails in Columbus, Ohio, with my 1969 Yenko Camaro in SS/D, but Marty Barrett, who was the Division 3 tech director failed my car during tech inspection because; Violation #1 - I didn’t have an outside mirror on the left side door and the open mounting holes were still in the door; Violation #2 - we had removed the AM radio to save weight, but didn’t have a delete plate on the dash panel. That’s the way things were done back then and we accepted that without question, went home and fixed the car.

Fifty some years later, I am still a no-name racer, but I surely have enjoyed the competition and especially the friends and acquaintances that I have met racing at NHRA events. I have seen a lot of things during those 50 plus years, but never did I see anything like the incident at Pomona during the first round of Competition eliminator when the crewman walked up to the truck after it was pre-staged. In my humble opinion, the starter at a drag race is the most important person at the event, he is in control of “ALL” that happens. This NHRA employee, who is supposed to be highly trained and in control of things did the worst thing he could possibly do, he put his hands on a crewman and pulled him backwards and threw him to the ground. That starter has a box in his hand that controls the race!! I would ask why didn’t he stop the race, put on both double red lights?? If that starter doesn’t know what to do, he shouldn’t be on the starting line. If he doesn’t know what to do after putting on the double red lights, then radio the tower and ask race control for a determination of what to do. If the starter or race control determines that this competitor and his crewman should be disqualified for touching the vehicle after it is pre-staged, then so be it. The starter was supposed to be in control and not throw a crewman around like a rag doll. I think NHRA should make a statement about this incident………..

Just my 2 cents!

Gary Merrick
3522 Stock

[tommy d]

I think the crew guys shoes sticking to the track also had something to do with the fall. What he was doing wasn't safe and a major distraction for the driver as well. Maybe the door wasn't closed tight?

[BG56]

Didn't catch it, what round and whom?

[James Perrone]

That was crazy. But the starter is the boss