Re: How safe are you at night in the pits!
 

something that always scared me is locking the gate after dark, with medical condition myself i always tell my neighbor what is up with me.

Re: How safe are you at night in the pits!
 

Another thing is medical alerts.I'm guilty of not wearing a med alert.Used to wear a bracelet when I raced with a penicillen allergy warning.I will now,after reading this thread pick one up.
I would imagine someone is at the gates,locked or not at nationals.Correct me if I'm wrong.Maybe the SRAC guys can push for some safety considerations for overnight
med security with the tracks.If so don't be surprised if they tack on an entry surcharge though.

Re: How safe are you at night in the pits!
 

I was concerned about being locked in at a track last year. But after some inquiring I found out that the lock on the gate was a combination lock that police and fire had the combination to.
I believe most emergency services are prepared for incidents at a public venue.
When I worked for the Staten Island Ferry every 6 months or so the local fire department would come down to familiarize the newer guys with the below decks spaces. And coordinate the "what ifs". As in if there was an engine room fire they learned not to do anything till they talked to both the master and the chief engineer. If we had a bad below decks fire. We would simply shut the ventilation off and pull the CO2 system flooding the spaces with CO2 and removing the oxygen. You don't need a bunch of firemen. down there, if their Scottpack failed they would never make it out. No mater how good they were at eating smoke.

Re: How safe are you at night in the pits!
 

Please respect what Wade is saying. I have known him for 30 years. He is an accomplished fabricator, an avid drag racer at both the national level as well as the local scene, and is now a retired firefighter from one of the nation's busyest county's. He has vast Haz-Mat experince. He knows of what he is talking about.
In addition to what Wade was saying, when was the last time you saw a race car trailer with the Haz-Mat placard or a helmet with your blood type. There are a lot of things that we can each do to help ourselves. Most of us take things for granted, including myself. I used to always ride around what ever track that I was at just to see where everything was(mostly the snack bar and restrooms), but really to see the shut down area, ambalance, firetruck if any, etc.. Again, now I probably take it for granted.

Re: How safe are you at night in the pits!
 

As a retired 33 year veteran Firefighter/ paramedic I applaud you for starting this thread on pit safety! Many of our fellow racers are or were firefighters, EMT's or Paramedics and carry first aid equipment, I know I do. If you have a medical emergency dial 911 and then seek assistance from your racer buddies who no doubt will now that there is an EMT or Medic a few trailers down from you. Notify one of your sanctioning (NHRA, IHRA etc.) officials who can use their radio and guide the responding agency to your location. Take a basic first aid class yourself, I promise you when (not if) it is time for you to act in an emergency you will be glad you did! Last but not least, DO NOT FREAK OUT! Stay calm. You will only make the situation worse by running around screaming "Oh boy, oh boy!". Have a plan!!!! Be safe. Jim

Re: How safe are you at night in the pits!
 

Great post---Also along these lines EVERY racer should have their blood type and if any allergies or if you are diabetic etc on the back of your helmet maybe put it on with a dymo tape or a label maker nothing real big but something so that EMT/ track rescue personell know what to maybe treat/not treat you for. SCCA and motorcycle racing associations do this. We should too. I have it on my helmet!!! comp 387

Re: How safe are you at night in the pits!
 

Thanks fellows, This thread is for our safety and is each of ours responsibility. I have heard some very good stories/comments of real experiences, and that is what I was looking for. I would like to see more folks share situations and/or safety tips with us, for we can all learn something. I would like to comment on the trailer fire mentioned by Mr. Pliska. It is a bad feeling when you find your battery is junk in the lanes, and the charger is at the trailer. It's a horrific feeling when there's a fire, and nothing to fight it with.
We as racers should try to standardize the location of our extingushers. In the fire department, we told folks to mount them by the door. That way you could get to them as you retreat toward safety. I like my extingushers (2) 2-1/2 gal. water and (1) 20 lb Dry Chemical mounted on the side door where most folks have there folding counter/oil rack. If you place your mount so that it will slide in resting in the footwell as you close the door it will take the weight off of the door hindge. The best reason for the door mount is "accessibility right now"! Also if there is ever an incident while towing (or parked), as you open the door you are shielded from any fire conditions and as you fold the door back, there they are at the ready! Also I do not lock the trailer doors while in transit. (It's tough to steel anything the way I roll anyway LOL) If you need to get in, or get the car out in a hurry theres no time to be fumbleing with keys. NOTE: Those presurized water cans are sweet when removing that D1 mud form your baby. (DON'T FORGET TO RECHARGE THAT CAN !)

Exellent point by FED387
The fire department has availible to them a MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) book located in any property housing Hazardous Materials. This information is paramount to the success of firefighters handling the emergency. The same could be done for medical and contact information for a racer. There could be a common place (ie on the wall just inside the trailer door) and in the event of an incident, an offical could be dispatched there for the info. The only problem with having the info on your person, is that it could be compromised/damaged as part of the incident (fire, trama, disguarded etc) and the EDI (Emergency Driver Information) (I just thougth that one up, lol) would contain much more detailed information for Medical personnel.

Wade Mahaffey

Re: How safe are you at night in the pits!
 

Hello guys and gals,
I have been reading these forums for quite some time now, and I would like to to thank you all, from an "outsider" for a very entertaining and informative platform for great racing information.

Although I have never gone down the track, I have spent quite a few nights at tracks serving as a crew member on a friends cars, so this is really a good wake up call topic.

I would like to share a story that we witnessed in Baytown, Tx. a few years ago. One of Larry Dixon's hospitality trailers caught fire during final eliminations on Sunday. Anyone who has been to Baytown before the new road was opened off of I-10 knows that there is only one two laned road (FM-565) in and out. We watched from the stands, and the trailer started to burn slowly, and got worse and worse. The major problem was there was NO fire fighting equipment at the track (the safety safari tried) capable of handling that type of fire. By the time a fire truck got through the traffic and to the pits, the trailer was history. Needless to say, from what I understand, Mr. Dixon was less than happy. I tried to attached a picture I took, hope it worked.

This took place during the day, with people around.

Thanks for allowing me to post, and keep up the great work.

Hope to see some of you in Belle Rose!

Re: How safe are you at night in the pits!
 

RIGHT ON WADE!!! Lord konws a lot of us arn't 23 anymore. Health concerns that come with age, and the heat of .the race day action could cause major problems at any time,be it day or night. You have some great sugestions I hope NHRA and the rest take your thougths to heart and do something about this soon.

RACE SAFE JACK ARNEW

Re: How safe are you at night in the pits!
 

[QUOTE=art leong;169160]I was concerned about being locked in at a track last year. But after some inquiring I found out that the lock on the gate was a combination lock that police and fire had the combination to.
I believe most emergency services are prepared for incidents at a public venue.


Art, from personal experience this couldn't be further from the truth.