Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

I understand that during alcohol funny car qualifying, just before noon, another race was killed running off the top end. As I understand it NJ police have stopped the racing today.

Re: Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

Driver Killed In Crash At N.J. Raceway
Track Hosting NHRA SuperNationals

OLD BRIDGE, N.J. - A drag racing driver ran through a net at the end of a track and died of head injuries in a crash during a qualifying round at the NHRA SuperNationals at a New Jersey raceway Friday, state police said.

The driver, whose name has not been released, died of head injuries at Raceway Park in Old Bridge, N.J., Sgt. Stephen Jones said.

According to the organizer's website, Sportsman qualifying was under way at the time of the accident.

Very Sad
 

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Left Lane: John Headley Runs 6.666/158.00, Now #3
Right Lane: Neal Parker Runs 5.732/249.90, Now #2

Headley spun the tires coming off the starting line and it sounded as if he never shifted. Parker ran his career best ET and speed but then never opened his chutes. The car went off the track into the sand. We'll be down here for a while.

Re: Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

According to DragRace central, Neal Parker's chutes never opened and went to the sand?

Re: Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

Sorry to hear that. I'm assuming the automatic system on T/F and F/C that deploys the chutes past the finish line if they don't open don't apply to TAFC.

Re: Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

Apparently, they're still running Pros??

Re: Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

That is just awful....another sad day at Raceway Park...Prayers for Families and all involved. WJ

Re: Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

I wonder if he was still on the throttle?? Had to enter the sand with great momentum. Very sad. Our prayers go out to his family and friends.

Re: Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

Got this off another thread, the news had video of the scene @ top end

http://www.wlfi.com/dpps/news/nation...10-jgr_3413629

This is a video from last years race @ Etown when Alex DeJoria hit the nets when her chutes came off the car!

http://www.competitionplus.com/index...astating-crash

Re: Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

Sorry to say but from watching the video from 2009 crash and seeing in person the 2008 crash , the sand pit is way too short for the speeds of T/F F/C T/AD T/AFC. A runaway car just skims across the sand into the nets. This could be a real problem due to the road crossing behind the end of track and safety devices . There is just no room to elongate the sand pit.

Re: Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

Thoughts and prayers to the family and friends . Neal was a great person and loved drag racing. Godspeed my friend

Re: Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

How incredibly sad! My thoughts and prayers are with his family. At least he was doing what he loved when he left us. G-d speed!

Re: Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

His final pass was his career best. Very sad news.

Re: Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

Have to agree 100%.....It's evident the major safety changes & improvements that were made for safely stopping a high speed run-away down at the very end of shut-down after the Kalitta fatality ('08) and the '09 F/C crash still need more attention, although when chutes aren't deployed, bad things often happen.... WJ

Re: Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

I always wondered if there is something other than sand that would cause more resistance for the car to slowly "dig in"?, it seems the sand isnt soft enough in some cases, and the cars seem to skim across it.

Re: Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

Any media used for a speed trap has to be constantly stirred and groomed, or it settles and compacts. Let it sit, get rained on, or generally weathered, and it will get relatively slick and hard. Vibrations from cars on the track, and trucks on that road only help that process (speaking of E-town). It also needs to have a pretty serious uphill grade, as much as you can put on it without cars digging in and going end over end (Force did that a few years back). Pea gravel, or creek gravel may work better than sand. They use it at some circle tracks and road courses, as well as in runaway truck ramps on highways. But you have to be careful how you stop the cars, and how fast you stop them.

Although it will really screw up the guys who like to coast, if they'd put an uphill grade on the shut down right after you pass the finish line, increasing as it goes, it may help slow the cars down.

The net issue is a harder problem to solve, since you have to stop the cars without stopping them so fast the driver can't survive, and without tearing the car apart. That's going to be really difficult and expensive, and given the difference between the widely varying cars, it may be nearly impossible, at least with just one net system. Different speeds, weights, and car structures will make it hard to make a net that stops all of them without destroying some of them. At least to NHRA, changing nets when you change classes could get cost and time prohibitive.

Re: Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

Carl, up in the mountains of northern New England---Vermont especially, they have run-away ramps off steep highway grades and hills for the semis and tractor-trailer rigs. They construct these ramps of very fine pea stone---maybe 1/4-3/8" diameter stone. Ramps are very soft and up to 2 feet deep. Maybe the fine pea stone would do a better job making the run-away racecar dig in and drastically slow it down better than the sand, but who knows?.....a tough thing to speculate---coming into a trap at a high speed---for sure....WJ

Re: Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

it is certainly a sad situation that has happened,as a racer i certainly dont take anything for granted,it can happen in any class and any speed ,,,my thoughts go out to the family and friends for such a loss gmonde

Re: Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

That's one of the ideas I was talking about. It'll stop 80K pounds at 75MPH or faster in 100 feet or so.

The problem is it may shred the cars.

It's beginning to look a lot like we've got a bigger problem, and maybe shortening T/F and F/C to 1K feet isn't going to solve it. Unfortunately, it looks like NHRA is only looking at slowing the cars down. And trying to force a few tracks to get up to some sort of barely adequate minimum that may not be enough now.

NHRA needs to do a ton of testing, same as NASCAR did in 2001 and 2002 after Dale Earnhardt got killed. The problem is it will cost a ton of money. You need a place to test, maybe 1/2 dozen or so of each type of car, and a way to get them to hit the speed trap at speed, in a controlled manner. You might get pro teams, at least the few big money pro teams, to pony up an old worn out car or two each, maybe. But you need to test the sportsman cars, too. Where are you going to come up with all of those, and the time?

I'm just asking questions because I don't know the answers.

NHRA is going to have to come up with some seriously solid answers and results, especially if they're going to try to force track owners to spend massive money to upgrade. They're going to have to make sure the upgrades work, and make sure the tracks get a return on the investment, too.

But remember, it ain't just the pro cars or the alky cars that go off the end of the track. Don't forget Woodro at Gainesville, Pete at Orlando, or Wayne at Reynolds.

I skipped over something in the previous post. What works for a speed trap for F/C, T/F, P/S, and the alcohol classes could be deadly for a sportsman car and driver. Lets say you come up with something that would stop a 300MPH F/C with no chutes and no brakes. What happens when a 120MPH Stocker hits it? Say the F/C stops in 60 or 100 feet, but the Stocker stops nearly instantly. Or maybe it is a 140MPH Super Stocker, or a Comp car. What about a 200MPH Pro Stocker or a Pro mod car? It might save one guy, and kill another.

Both NHRA in particular, and drag racing in general, have gotten way behind the curve here. We've been pretty lucky, relatively speaking, in that these runoff crashes have not killed spectators or people on roads just driving by. It's a terrible thing that our friends are getting killed driving race cars, sportsman or pro, I'm certainly not minimizing that, not by any stretch. We've lost several to these crashes in the last couple of years, 3 F/C drivers, fuel and alcohol, come to mind right away (maybe one was a health issue). God forbid one go through that grove of trees and get on that road, or off the end of another track and into someone.

Re: Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

Very sad. Prayers for his family.

Re: Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

Its coming.......Its not what people in these classes want to hear and the Associations are afraid of losing spectators. Shorter racing surface and/or slow the damn cars down (a lot) with rule changes with the engine specs allowed. Even the Pro Stocks of today need to be slowed down. Thats a lot of kenetic energy at the speeds they run today. Most dont want to hear it but if these cars are not slowed down no one will be able to get insurance in the future to put on a race and drag racing as we know it soon no longer exist. Without insurance nothing will happen except for the crazies who run at outlaw tracks. The staus que has to change.

Re: Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

What is "staus que"?

Re: Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

He meant status quo:

Main Entry: status quo
Pronunciation: \-ˈkwō\
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin, state in which
Date: 1807
: the existing state of affairs <seeks to preserve the status quo>

M68

Re: Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

Right on mopar man!

Re: Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

Im not the greatest typist. Never claimed to be. All that is going on and wrong with drag racing today and you worry about a friggin' typo.

Re: Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

Settle down, take your meds.

Re: Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

How many people must be sacrificed before the NHRA takes this seriously ? The idea of the pea gravel from a truck runoff is a good starting thought but you are dealing with 50 to 80,000 lbs. at 60 to 70 mph. It is the weight sinking into the gravel ( gravity ) slowing it down. We are dealing with 2000 lbs trying to take off ( wings & things ). As well as the cars are built , I can see the gravel getting into the cockpit at those speeds. I believe you would want a ballistics suit on. Ever watch one of the CSI shows as they fire a bullet into a jello like substance to test ballistics. Well , I believe that may be the direction to look at and it will not be cheap.A life is too precious to ignore or gloss over the problem. ------Just my thoughts.------John

Re: Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

I also like Alan's idea of "uphill" shut downs....aren't there a couple of tracks using them already? However, you still need plenty of room in the event of a runaway, and Englishtown seems to be lacking enough of it.....opinion only.... WJ

Re: Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

i think that's a high priced thing used in playing pool

Re: Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

That is funny!

Re: Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

Our Deepest Sympathy. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and racing family.


From all of us at Hawk & Cook Brothers

Re: Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

Unfortunately, a tradegy occurs, and some people have to try to be "funny"..

But there is absolutely nothing funny about a racer losing his life, wheelsup....

Our thoughts and prayers go to the family and friends.

David
The New Hemi Guy

Re: Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

I couldnt have said it better.......I knew the driver and team when they raced T/D in IHRA several years ago and they were a great bunch of guys. They always had fun no matter what. My thoughts also go out to their family and friends.

Re: Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

75-80 has(or had) a rather big up hill at the finish line.

Re: Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

Can all accidents be eliminated, probably not.
Can safety be improved at many tracks, ABSOLUTELY.
Racers should not have to loose life or limb to make safety improvements happen.....

Re: Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

My feelings? E-Town should be excluded and banned from running the Pro's, let alone anything faster than 8 seconds until they rebuild the track with longer shut down lanes. That old track needs to be upgraded to todays standards of speed. Screw the 1000' drag race that everyother track in the country has to abide to after Scott's accident. Anyone that raced in Minnesota at the old Twin City/North Star Dragways can tell you how scary it was to run a fast car with the short shut down lanes that made you think you might end up in the rubarb (cat tails) before they lengthened the track. That track spent some cash to keep us drivers safe. Too bad its closed down. If you want to see a crash, go watch NASCAR with 3 wide in the corners. Yes, accidents happen in drag racing but shouldn't happen after the stripe. My prayers and thoughts go out to Neal Parker's family and friends.

Re: Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

I'd bet that given the current climate, any attempt to exclude E-town from the schedule, and any attempt to tear it down and rebuild, would result in E-town being gone forever. That, too, would be tragic. There may not be a solution for that problem, either.

Re: Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

Take 2 of the lanes from Z Max and add them on to the back of E-Town. Problem solved. Pro Stocker's walked away from bad track conditions in Arizona, Pro's should walk away from E-Town. Forget the show and save an injury or death. Maybe then the track owner of E-Town will cough up the $$$ to make the track safe.

Re: Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

You tell me, because I do not know. How much room is there behind the starting line at E-town, already owned by the track?

Re: Another Racer Killed at E-Town
 

Eliminate the screw blowers and limit blower size and overdrive. Make a rule change for a 400 inch max. engine size in Alcohol AND Nitro. Cut the nitro percentage (50% is a start), blower size, Overdrive, and number of fuel pumps in Top Fool and Nitro Ha Ha cars would be a start. In other words.....slow the damn things down with rule changes! I dont think Englishtown (and others) has the room to make the track longer. Remember when WJ ended out on the main road with his Pro Stocker several years ago and he sure wasnt as fast as the nitro and alcohol cars. 1000 ft sucks and 1/8 mile racing would suck to for a national event.