NHRA star Scott Kalitta killed

[the chad]

some good ponts there.. it is true that they had to do something.

however they will be loading up for 1000ft now and we will still see the odd blow up.

i think that with the ultra aggressive tune ups we will be seeing a lot of smokin the tyres in the first 60ft.

we might also see a lot of 600 -1000ft tyre smoke as the clutch, which doesnt fully lock til about full track will be rushed.

[Mad Maper 13]

sorry about this comment i will calm it down a bit

Just leve it alone

Yes people do die But that is life 

I think safety is coming the way of racing a little bit and this is one example

[the chad]

fair enough...

i agree that safety can be taken a bit too far

[bpratt]

Doubt very much that the times and speeds set during a 1000 foot pass would  create  track or national records 
They might create a  new section for it but not give points for creating a national  record

A  number of teams and drivers are in favour  of 1000 feet racing for Top Fuel and Funny Car  because they say a lot of the damage that is done to the engines and major explosions are  done after the 1000 feett mark. So that might  save some money for the teams there.  Think it was Jim Head  that said  something the other day that  once you get over 300mph it becomes real scary.  Hopefully  NHRA can solve the problems that they are facing with tracks that do not have a lot of run off and hopefully they can eliminate  concrete barriers at the end of the strip once and for all.

But they will be a whole series of new track records... for the new shorter track length, and the traditional length times will never get beaten again.

Strips with concrete barriers at the end are just crazy, and just a bad accident waiting to happen (or happen again). I can only assume those tracks don't run those top fuellers and funny cars anymore?

[a152004]

Doubt very much that the times and speeds set during a 1000 foot pass would  create  track or national records 
They might create a  new section for it but not give points for creating a national  record

A  number of teams and drivers are in favour  of 1000 feet racing for Top Fuel and Funny Car  because they say a lot of the damage that is done to the engines and major explosions are  done after the 1000 feett mark. So that might  save some money for the teams there.  Think it was Jim Head  that said  something the other day that  once you get over 300mph it becomes real scary.  Hopefully  NHRA can solve the problems that they are facing with tracks that do not have a lot of run off and hopefully they can eliminate  concrete barriers at the end of the strip once and for all.

But they will be a whole series of new track records... for the new shorter track length, and the traditional length times will never get beaten again.

Strips with concrete barriers at the end are just crazy, and just a bad accident waiting to happen (or happen again). I can only assume those tracks don't run those top fuellers and funny cars anymore?

The track where Scott lost his life has a concrete wall at the end of it after the sand trap.   The wall wasn't at right angles to the track but it was on an obtuse angle. Basically draw a  straight line andat the end of it draw a quarter circle and that is what is like.  Not sure how close or far away from the grounds of the track it was but there is a public road behind the location of the wall.  Don't think the public road was real close but  with the way  things are going around the world, a race track which was  10km from any development 20 years ago has now got development right on it's door step.

In terms of new national or track records, I have no doubt that new records will be set.  However they are only for 1000 feet racing not  the traditional 1/4 mile pass.  If  they make it as a permanent rule for  Top Fuel dragsters and Funny cars then yes the current records will not stand up at any track in the future.  But I seriously doubt that NHRA will  only run the top Fuel and Funny Car  over 1000 feet  permanently.  It is a stop gap measure at the moment.  They run 1/8 mile  races in America as well but those times are not passed around  as proof that person x racing in 1/8 races is faster than someone racing 1/4 races.  Think Doug Kalitta has the current record  of something like 4.42 for top fuel

[the chad]

for me the way to solve this problem is improve the end of the race track ie the sand traps and catch fencing.

having a concrete wall at the end of the sand is a disaster waiting to happen and it did. whats more there was a boom camera mounting or a crane that Scott Kalitta also hit. Tracks that dont have the propper run off, then sand, then net, then tyres or more catch fencing simply should not host Top Fuel and Funny Car

a lot of Pro Mod (doorslammer) nitro harley and other related sportsman classes are run over 1/8th mile in America and Europe. Bit of an art to it

as for the Top Fuel national record i wasnt sure if Tony Schumacher's 4.428 from the '06 Finals at Pomona had been beat?

[a152004]

as for the Top Fuel national record i wasnt sure if Tony Schumacher's 4.428 from the '06 Finals at Pomona had been beat?

Sorry Chad my mistake.  Was trying to listen to the TV while typing.
Pretty sure Tony still has the record, but they were saying something like Doug has the single fastest pass in history ,obviously didn't back it up  enough to get the national record.  But then again I could be wrong on that.

[the chad]

aaah now u got me there? good point...

just like Kalitta has the quickest pass in Oz but is not the record holder.

this topic has doen a massive loop and is now back on Kalitta haha

[a152004]

What I found was that in  May 2004 at  route 66 (Joliet) Doug ran 4.420 @ 328.22mph in the final round against  Berstein .

In my opinion they need to look at a variety of things

-They must eliminate  the concrete walls at the end of the track/s  which have them and if they are unable to then they should not run Top Fuel or Funny Car events.

-They need to look at something like banked  shutdown areas to aid in slowing the cars down, if that helps or not.

-They need to look at different brake systems to help the cars,  in particular for funny cars which lose brake performance with  loss of down force when the body is blown off (according to the teams)

-Even the way the chutes are attached to the cars
But those points are only good if the driver is  awake, alert and able to hit the chutes and brakes.

They really need to look at ways to slow the cars down if there is a situation where the driver is knocked out or  an explosion  causes parts of the car to hit his hands or legs and render them useless.

-Tim Wilkerson (I think it was ) reacted to the crash by putting  a wire  from the burst panel on the car to the chutes which  meant if the burst panel  went  off the wire would pull the chutes out in case he wasn't able to.  They really need to look at a device like that for all cars and make it  something that they must have if they want to race.  Have been reading that Scott's burst panel did not release which would make this  wire useless?

-Maybe  look at  some kind of electronic device which is located at the finish line or 20-50 feet either side of the line and as the cars go through it , it sends a signal  to an onboard receiver  and puts the chutes out regardless if the driver is able to or not.

-Maybe someone can find or invent a substance that can be sprayed on the  shut down area which helps the cars slow down as well.

That's my opinion on it but it may be wrong and they might already do some of them.

[the chad]

cheers for the tid bit about Doug Kalitta's run at Chicago...

as for your suggestions maybe its time that we think outside the square. that device you are talking about is Del Worsham's and maybe that might help.

but at the end of the day i believe we need the sand traps and catch areas to be able to take worst case senarios. cars travelling at over 250mph when they get there. scarey thought 

[a152004]

Thanks for clearing that driver up Chad.  All i kept comming up with was Tim.  Must be the time of day

[the chad]

well, the news just gets worse for the poor Kalitta family...

Kalitta Plane Crashes in Colombia

A Kalitta Air cargo plane crashed into a house Monday in Colombia.

Initial reports say two occupants of the house near the town of Madrid were killed on impact. However, eight crewmembers survived and were being treated at local hospitals.

The freighter was a 747 leaving Bogota for Miami with a cargo of cut flowers, according to a spokesman for the Ypsilanti, Mich.-based company. The cause of the crash is not yet known.

Another crash involving a Kalitta Air freighter occurred on May 25, when a 747 under charter to DHL split apart while attempting to take off from the Brussels airport.

hmm they say it happens in threes

[Mothers Worry]

I do find what they've now done is purely knee-jerk reaction. For someone like me the quarter mile deal is the traditional drag thing, and to reduce the length of the run quite substantially is going to stuff up the long held traditions of this sport.

The very first run down this shortened straight is now going to hold the track record, and all existing records on the 1/4 mile are going to stand forever.

Fact of life is that all forms of motorsport are dangerous, and if we stop pushing the envelope we're going to get nowhere.

This was a very unfortunate incident, where it appears the driver was rendered unconscious and was unable to do anything about it, in fact I really doubt chopping off 300 odd feet of track would've made any difference.

I really doubt Scott Kalitta would want to be remembered for shortening the drag strip, and that unfortunately is what will happening.

I agree. Shortening the track length is totally wrong; in my opinion.

As for the "wank" aspect I am a fan of the US tradition of hot rodding, raw power and blinding speed.

Everything is dangerous and motor racing will never be completely safe at 300 mph.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Yes.... I still think the answer is in making the safety equipment on the car have an auto mode as I mentioned previously..... A sort of dead mans handle type of thing, auto chute deployment electronically fire when it crosses the line.   As for the brakes they use I guess it all comes down to weight and the fact that unlike F1 type brakes you dont have the benefit of any way to warm them up.  There comes a time when weight isnt the be all and end all core of a race car design....lfes are at stake.

Having said that obviously track safety and facilities are a core problem and I only hope the 1000ft mod is temporary.  Perhaps like in F1 they need to reduce the number of venues that run the super quick cars to just those that can meet the demands of coping with the better cars.  I say that with the overider that I dont really know what sort of pre-meet driver inspections of even the stat regs of the authorities are.

Re the plane crash it does seem that these things pop up when you least need them.  I only hope for their sake that it is not say pilot error or lack of plane servicing.  That wont bring bring the people lost in the tragedy but it will make the Kalitta families role less traumatic in that they wont perhaps be feeling accountability for this event if it turns out to be a ground control error. 

I also hope and pray that 'cut flowers from Columbo' en route to Miami or  wherever is what they were and not some less tasteful more lucrative cargo.   It certainly wouldnt be the first time motor racing families have been involved in that type of scenario. (Whittingtons being one) Also in Europe one of the BTCC teams was involved in widespread importation on more than one occassion (Mr Lee).  But at this stage it is totally unfair of me to even bring the subject of contraband up in relation to the Kalitta family.  Cargoes of cut flowers are just not the plant I associate with ColumbiaI...

[a152004]

A nice tribute paid to Scott
This is the team Kalitta blog on the  NHRA website.  If you scroll down there is some  good stories on there including one with Scott and Dave  with their cars in the DHL livery.

http://blogs.nhra.com/nhrablogs.asp?blog=kalitta


or if you want to read any other blogs go here

http://blogs.nhra.com/

[Muzza]

Not a bad read......Thanks for that.!