Pomona Starter Comp Eliminator
 

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.

Re: Pomona Starter Comp Eliminator
 

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

Re: Pomona Starter Comp Eliminator
 

The WWE is expanding to drag racing I guess.

Re: Pomona Starter Comp Eliminator
 

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

Re: Pomona Starter Comp Eliminator
 

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

Re: Pomona Starter Comp Eliminator
 

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.

Re: Pomona Starter Comp Eliminator
 

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

Re: Pomona Starter Comp Eliminator
 

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?

Re: Pomona Starter Comp Eliminator
 

Didn't catch it, what round and whom?

Re: Pomona Starter Comp Eliminator
 

That was crazy. But the starter is the boss

Re: Pomona Starter Comp Eliminator
 

Post a link to where this is on face book

Re: Pomona Starter Comp Eliminator
 

Re: Pomona Starter Comp Eliminator
 

Kurt Hugger was driving the Pro Stock Truck owned by Tom Mettler. I said the starter should have turned the red bulbs on the tree and dq the truck and let the other car go down. Throwing an 70-80 year old man down is not the answer but I was crucified for saying this on FB 🤷*♂️

Re: Pomona Starter Comp Eliminator
 

100% agree...totally uncalled for. Turn on the flashing bulbs, red-light the guy, something.
That certainly was not in the spirit of what we do out there!

Re: Pomona Starter Comp Eliminator
 

There is no justification for what the starter did. None. He has no right to put his hands on anyone, especially a senior. Anyone who thinks otherwise is an idiot.

It is clear from the video that the starter was not trying to pull the guy away for his safety. That's a strawman argument.

His behavior was outrageous and needs to be dealt with sternly by NHRA.

If the reverse situation had occurred and a member of the crew even grabbed the starter, that crew member would have been arrested and barred for life by NHRA.

Re: Pomona Starter Comp Eliminator
 

It also looked like he never went back to check to see if the open door was latched after pulling the crewman away.

Re: Pomona Starter Comp Eliminator
 

On of the best examples of why I do not have Fake Book and never will.
The jr high girls always show up to show their ignorance and arrogance.
My 10 Cents
Rick Cates
Canyon TX

Re: Pomona Starter Comp Eliminator
 

the man who was thrown down should contact law enforcement. this is clearly an assult

Re: Pomona Starter Comp Eliminator
 

What ever happened to the blue line? Can't interact with the vehicle when it was past that line. Not condoning what happened but the car was prestaged and his competitor was staged.

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Go to competition on the top of this page. Tim Wilkerson was fined 5000. for his crewman shoving a official. Did the starter continue on the starting line? Was this the regular starter? Will he have to go to anger management class? We will see if this shows up tomorrow on the same page. Tom

Re: Pomona Starter Comp Eliminator
 

Exactly it's amazing how many racers don't consider the glue as being the main problem.

Re: Pomona Starter Comp Eliminator
 

WOW. Totally ah, "unprofessional". Whatever that's worth...... Found it at 1:57:20 of Sat. am on NHRA.TV. After watching all I can think is...everybody's right and everybody's wrong.

Re: Pomona Starter Comp Eliminator
 

It looked like the starter was touching or checking the window latch, then the crew guy tried to open the door and re-close it. Maybe the latch wasn’t working.
Starter quickly grabbed him and swung him back with enough force that he fell to the ground. (The competitor was pre staged during the commotion)
Both parties errored but the starter went over the line physically and could have seriously injured the older gentleman if he had hit his head while going down.

Re: Pomona Starter Comp Eliminator
 

What would've happened if the crew member hit his head on the pavement and didn't get up?! Did NHRA address this incident?

Re: Pomona Starter Comp Eliminator
 

Bubski thinking !! unfortunately !! the sportsman insurance " FEE" would just go up n its business as usual !!! Total BSN !! on NHRA's part

Re: Pomona Starter Comp Eliminator
 

A couple of points here, after watching the video.

The crew man went back and opened the door. He didn't just try to latch it..During this action the truck was pre-staged.

Once the tree is "armed", the stage sequence begins. If the second car doesn't stage in a pre-set amount of time, he goes red. If he does make it in, then the tree starts it's count down in a random about of time.
During this , I believe that the tower personnel are the only people who can turn on the panic lights and stop the tree , which they didn't do.
So we see the starter with two choices..
Pull the crew person back to where he might have used too much force, possibly causing the guy to to lose his balance on the glued surface.
Or two, let the guy stand there with the door open, as the truck launched on the third amber, possibly causing harm to him in that manor?
What would some of the commenters prefer?

We could see the crew guy get back up, and from what I hear, he realized he shouldn't have touched the truck at that time, and did, in fact, shake hands with the starter.

Re: Pomona Starter Comp Eliminator
 

Check again, the competitor didn’t light the 2nd stage light until the incident was over.
If they both sit in pre stage is the the tree “armed” as you say or does it take one car to go in and fully stage to start the count?
This is another good example of having no one near the starting line, even to set wheelie bars or help stage the car. Those street outlaw guys are an accident waiting to happen.

Re: Pomona Starter Comp Eliminator
 

Yes, that's true . Nothing will happen until one is staged.
I would say the starter's attention was focused on the left lane.
He wouldn't have time to see whether the right was fully staged. He could have been, for all he knew .Then things could happen real fast.
It does look like the guy was thrown to the ground. He could have lost balance too.
Hard to say...
Still don't see many good options

Re: Pomona Starter Comp Eliminator
 

I guess there will be no "statement of action" against the WWE starter ...

Re: Pomona Starter Comp Eliminator
 

He's an employee. Any action would be kept confidential, I assume.

People come and go there all the time, with no explanations.