Another Racer Killed at E-Town

[FINESPLINE]

Originally Posted by BKSG1198

I really don't think we should be throwing E-Town under the bus and ready to write it off the schedule. I mean there are a few other National Event Tracks out there that are very short at the end (Pomona which has a Golf Course behind it's sand trap) but, even long shutdown tracks have issues. Last week at Chicago Burl Brown lost his chutes in his TA/FC and went into the sand and destroyed his car, A few years back good Friend Dan Pomponio had his chutes tangle in his brakes at Atlanta and he went through the safety fences destroying his car. The sad part about E-Town is there has been life lost at this track in the shutdown area so the black eye has been cast and the neighboring town already wants the track gone. I know the TA/FC guy in Atlanta a few years back died but, it was determined he had a massive heart attack while going down the track and he never lifted. I mean the only thing I can see them doing at E-Town if it would ever be allowed and I doubt it would be similar to what they did at Maple Grove. The Grove has the road that runs behind the track and the railroad crossing that come down when a car gets too the end. They expanded it last year and the run-off actually goes over the road so just wondering if they can do something since there is an open field next to Pension Road. I know Pension Road is a busy road but maybe bring in another by-pass road to cut down on some of the conjestion.
After watching the coverage from this weekend and what some TA/FC racers had to say I think NHRA should look at the cars first and some sort of "Kill Switch". On one of the sites they talked to Bob Tasca and he said this about TA/FC

Two weeks ago Tasca sat in his old alcohol car and he shuddered at the thought he used to race to the quarter-mile with it.

“I wouldn’t ever drive it again,” Tasca said. “I will tell you why. I would have to make so many changes – a three rail chassis, I won’t ever drive a car without one. Number two - auto shut off devices. They weren’t even invented when I raced in the alcohol classes. They have air parachutes, we didn’t even have those back then. If you have an air parachute and with two hands on the wheel, the parachute opens and hit the brake. As opposed to go on the steering wheel at 1,000 feet, hit the lever and then grab the brake. There are things in fuel racing today that make it safer than in an Alcohol Funny Car.

“These cars [Alcohol Funny Cars] need to have the same technology as that on a nitro car,” Tasca said sternly. “They are harder to stop at 260 than I am at 300. They couldn’t run a fuel car at some of these divisional events and yet they run these alcohol cars.

You guys talk about Leb Valley....have you been to the end of Cecil County...It amazes me they run Alky Cars there.

Last but not least I did see this new thing they are coming out with for run-away aircraft at Laguardia Airport in New York which sits on the Hudson so not much run-off there if the plane overshoots the runway . It's like a Concrete type foam that when at any type of speed the foam compresses when the plane runs into it. It doesn't cause alot of damage and the foam can be replaced easily so maybe instead of water barrels have that at the end of tracks after the nets.

Sounds like a good idea worth trying. BTW---Laguardia airport sits next to Flushing Bay which is part of the East River. Just a certain plane from there landed in the Hudson River.

[Ed Fernandez]

Call me crazy,but in the case of run away cars at high speed,why doesn't NHRA cosult the US Navy about a catch wire like used on aircraft carriers to stop planes weighing over 17K pounds in about 250" at speeds over 200 knots?A lot of fine details but maybe they could be overcome.The wire could be raised by someone at the end of the track when needed as can the tail hook when the situation arises.Slower cars wouldn't be affected by the system.Just a goof ball idea by a blathering idiot who doesn't want to see anyone else severely hurt or killed doing what we enjoy.

[Bob Emery]

Possible downside to a carrier style catch wire is that it will be above the track surface at least an inch or so, which could put the racer airborne. Just a thought for consideration......

[Beth Denysenko]

Midway in Chicago is using the foam/concrete blocks at the end of the runway. They were installed after the plane overshot the runway, broke throug the fence, drove out onto a city street and killed a boy in a car on 55th Street which runs along the perimeter.

If they can stop a runaway airplane, and if the weight to crush equations could be worked out right (obviously a race car doesn't weigh as much as an airplane nor distributes it's weight the same way), this might be a viable solution. Obviously what some tracks are doing isn't working as planned. It's an unfortunate and costly game of trial and error.

[Ed Fernandez]

Originally Posted by Bob Emery

Possible downside to a carrier style catch wire is that it will be above the track surface at least an inch or so, which could put the racer airborne. Just a thought for consideration......

I'm not an engineer but as an explaination of my reasoning,the cables diameter would be way smaller than the carrier cable and I think would be in a groove on the racing shutdown surface.I mentioned someone being at the top end area that could operate
some sort of devise to elevate it up to the paved height when needed.Of course every
fast car,TAD/TAFC/TFD/AAFC would need a remote activated tail hook.Sounds a bit far fetched but I wish they would come up with something.
I personally think they'll take the easy way out and just mandate a slowing down of the cars.

[Mike Schwartz]

You can't back up the track at Englishtown because you'll run into the overhead tower and the sound barrier concrete wall. You can't extend the trap more than 20ft without hitting Pension Rd.

What could be done, though I don't know how well it would work, would be to construct a 45-degree left turn with enough banking to guide a car that gets past everything else onto the field that runs parallel to Pension Rd. That would give a few hundred more feet stopping room.

Englishtown top end:
http://www.bing.com/maps/default.asp...shtown%2C%20NJ

[rayfin]

I was wondering why the chute just fell off of the one car and the roll cage was completely "broken" off the other car?

[Alan Roehrich]

Originally Posted by rayfin

I was wondering why the chute just fell off of the one car and the roll cage was completely "broken" off the other car?

I do not know why the chutes came off of the car last year, nor why the brakes failed.

I'm pretty sure they cut the cage off of the top of Neil Parker's car. That is standard operating procedure for removing an injured person from a wrecked race car. It's actually SOP for removing injured persons from most any wrecked car. The first concern for emergency personnel is to get the injured person out without causing further injury. If you take them out the top, you can do a better job of keeping the spine aligned. If you have to turn them and lay them over, odds are if there is a spinal injury, you'll make it worse.


It is interesting to note that the car that crashed last year lost its chutes, and reportedly lost its brakes, yet it went through both nets, but the second net was still holding the car somewhat, and the tire barrier stopped it. In the crash this year, the car evidently, from the photos, went through the tire barrier, and was a good distance past the tire barrier. It would appear that this year's crash was at a much higher speed.

[Mike Carr]

I believe, in the Alexis Dejoria accident in 2009, when the 'chutes ripped off, they tore the brake lines too.

[Alan Roehrich]

It probably is time, and a good idea, for NHRA to look at taking some power away from the fuel cars, as they've far exceeded the design parameters of the tracks, and some of the parts they're using. Some of the older, more experienced crew chiefs have been saying that quietly for years.

If they simply took 50 cubic inches away, limited compression, and restricted blower speed, they could take 1000HP or more easily. For the cost of new pistons, new cranks, and new blower pulleys. The result would be the ability to return to 1/4 mile racing, less expense for the teams, and less time and money wasted on oil downs and fires.

The use of tailhook arrester gear on race cars probably isn't too practical. An entire new structure would be required for the back of the cars, requiring a whole new level of engineering. And it should be noted that these cars are not designed to be pulled or stretched, it might be necessary to redesign the whole frame to withstand the forces acting on them from stopping them abruptly by hooking the back of the car. Otherwise, it rips the back of the car off, and then catapults it further down track. Pulling cars apart is not a good idea. Further, even the best carrier pilots jump the wire, so there's no sure way to make sure the cars catch the wire, if the car doesn't catch the wire, the system is useless.

Perhaps a better idea is to use the braking technology from arrester gear on an improved catch net. The cars are designed to protect the driver from a front end crash, so the net shouldn't require massive changes to the cars. A stronger net, designed to actually capture the car, coupled to a braking system might do the trick. It's not going to tear the cars up any worse than the current system, either.

A longer sand/gravel pit, starting sooner, might be another improvement. Starting the pit earlier, and making the entrance less aggressive, might help stop the cars from skipping over it, as well as giving them more time to slow down gradually. It would also stop the slower cars less abruptly, with less damage and less chance of serious injury. It would allow an extra net or two as well. If we had two regular nets, possibly somewhat stronger, and better mounted, that would slow the cars more gradually, and stop some cars completely. Then, with a third net, with arrester gear style braking, as a final fail safe, you have a system for the fastest runaway cars.