Just say no
The PSM final was a joke! Race to win. No team orders.
Ken Brown
Madera, California
Falling for us?
I just stumbled across your site today. This site is awesome. Thanks for being here.
Troy McCone
Saugus, California
What is this, your thesis?
(This is an extremely long letter covering many subjects. We normally don’t run letters of this length, but with the racing season slowing down, you have more time to read it all. And there is plenty of food for thought.)
Fuel Racing Safety
One of the big problems I have right now concerning nitro class safety, is the fact that everything currently being done is nothing more than a band-aid to the problem. Looking at the video and other motor drive camera still shots, it appears that Scott Kalitta made no effort to stop his car. You can clearly see the brake handle on the car, after the body blew off, and his hand was not on it in any effort to stop the car. The only reason I can figure for this is that Scott was knocked unconscious or made somewhat incapacitated when the engine exploded. With all of the years of Scott’s experience (and he was a very good and competent driver), it is hard to believe that he just sat in the car, waiting for something to happen. If he had operated the brake, he may have either stopped the car or (at least) slowed it down considerably before it entered the sand trap. As the drivers are so well strapped in to these cars, he would not have necessarily slumped over, while unconscious, as his head would have been held upright (for the most part) by all the head restraints.
These cars, even before the new Medlen safety additions, have crashed into the sand trap hundreds of times, many after completing runs of well over 300 mph and (I believe) all survived. The difference was, these drivers were still conscious and operating the brakes (properly, so as not to cause the car to bounce all over the place). With the carbon brake systems that have been mandatory on these cars for the last several years, these cars (especially the funny cars, with four wheel brakes) can stop safely (often without even entering the sand traps) with just the brakes (no chutes).
I’m sure that NO driver wants to be required to do this on a regular basis, but it has been done many times (even after 300+ mph). We’ve seen it done at Pomona, with one of (if not) the shortest shutdown area on the circuit. Del Worsham, in 1996, suffered a similar accident to Scott’s. His engine blew and the chutes did not deploy correctly. Del was conscious, but was not able to apply the brakes, as the collapsing body blocked his use of both the brake handle and the steering wheel. Luckily, Del’s car contacted the wall (at the correct angle) to slow the car down, prior to entering the sand trap. As it was, he hit the traps with enough speed to cause the car to go airborne, passing over the first catch net and contacting either the second or third net. Del was injured (badly bruised tail bone), but he survived.
This should have been a warning, that new safety modifications to the car were needed. We now have automatic deploy of the chutes, automatic fuel and magneto shut off, but no automatic/remote deployment of the brakes. This needs to be done. There are plenty of smart folks in drag racing, so they should figure out a way of doing it (possibly by automatically applying a continuous brake press via an air actuated piston brake assembly, in parallel to the normal brake cylinder; you would not want to apply full brakes, as that would just cause the car to bounce all over the place. It would probably require some sort of bleed valve assembly to regulate the amount of pressure applied to the brakes. The goal would be to simply slow the car down to a safer speed, prior to it entering the sand trap).
We talked to an NHRA official at the season-ending Pomona event (after the event was completed) and he told us it was being looked into. It needs to be looked at very closely and safely implemented as soon as possible (if it is plausible), so as to assist that incapacitated driver. Parachutes DO NOT ALWAYS deploy properly. There are a lot of dead skydivers to attest to this. In drag racing they get tangled in exploding parts (or, sometimes for no apparent reason, just fail to deploy properly/open up fully) or burn up (they are working on better chute materials to minimize the fire damage to the chutes).
Currently, I am for the 1000-ft deal, as it has helped. But it is only short term, as the crew chiefs are already getting their tune ups to run harder to 800 feet (in some cases, already hitting that stupid rev-limiter), reaching speeds of around 317 mph at the 1000-ft mark. In order to stay competitive and win, they have to. That is what drag racing is/has been/and always will be about: performance.
In addition, drag racing is about who gets to the finish line first. Doug Kalitta went off the end of the track in 2008 after completing a 1000-ft race. Top Fuel cars have no front brakes (this should be looked into) and his chute tangled (for almost no apparent reason). If the 1000-ft deal is made permanent, then it should apply to ALL the classes, not just the nitro classes. At least we would then have a standard. I wouldn’t be opposed to 1/4 mile racing on tracks with extended shutdown areas and 1000 ft on those tracks with limited shutdown areas. It could add some “spice” to the championship deal. Sort of like the natural grass to artificial grass deal in football.
Records could be established for both track types. The drivers earn extra points (20) for setting a national elapsed time record. Some teams will thrive on 1000 ft, others will not. The same goes for 1320 tracks. Regardless of the distances involved, all racing categories should race at the same distance at each track (divisional and national). I don’t believe it would change the cost that much, as only the tune-up would change (running harder to 800 ft on 1000-ft tracks and harder to 1000 ft on 1320 tracks). The change to 1000 ft from 1320 didn’t bankrupt any teams in 2008.
(Continued on next page.)