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BJR Racing

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NHRA has announced that they will be racing to 1,000 feet for the next few events due to the loss of Scott Kalitta, as this came from (PRO) The fuel racers teams and crew members as stated on NHRA.COM.
 
Adjusting some of the older tracks maybe hard to do, but the resulting life saving caution is worth all the gold there is period.

E-town doesn't have that much more room to perform this action. Some, but not much. It may all depend on what the NHRA says will have to be and what they have. (Any track after the finish line.)
 
As Jim Head said that most tracks were built for 250 MPH tops with the room to stop the cars, but with the 330 MPH cars it's a detriment on brakes and chutes. Something had too happen, look I'm in favor of more speed but safety has to come into play, and until they can get the safety there I'm for saving lives!
 
If what I've read is true, not much would have saved Scott Kalitta as he was appparently unconscious when he went through the sand into the wall - longer shutdown area or otherwise.

Hard to agree that all of a sudden the tracks are questionable, the percentages of accidents of this type are pretty low. They've been at 330 for a while now. Seems like it might be a PR move, but the thought is probably correct - safety first.

Hopefully there won't be any more fatalities for a LONG time.
 
Being a racer, also the traps and at speed arent long enough to stop and the point that Jim brings up is a valid one as he's a engineer and a trusted racer and friend. He has alot of input into this along with the likes of John and Kenny, and Don and Connie and the respescted teams. They have the voice thats going to be heard and I'll abide by what they have to say. I sat in the stands with Jim Epler at commerece at the southern nationals and we talked about safety and the thing that he said was the coating under the carbon fiber bodies that was fire resistant. But now this is going to be enhanced by a bunch. Alot of racers don't have a clue as to how the racers in these classes have a impact. I have to commend Jim Epler and Connie, Kenny, and John on making the sport that we love and cherish so much safer.
 
rmchrgr said:
If what I've read is true, not much would have saved Scott Kalitta as he was appparently unconscious when he went through the sand into the wall - longer shutdown area or otherwise.

Hard to agree that all of a sudden the tracks are questionable, the percentages of accidents of this type are pretty low. They've been at 330 for a while now. Seems like it might be a PR move, but the thought is probably correct - safety first.

Hopefully there won't be any more fatalities for a LONG time.
Click to expand...

I agree but if the track was 1,000 ft then the engine failure wouldn't have happened and he would still be here.
 
As a temperary solution,the 1000ft distance for the fuel catagories is OK.
Here are some of the problems.
The motors will still blow up and cause injuries and death.
Automatic systems need to be installed on brakes, chutes,blow off bodies,more F18 **** pit safety items as used in top fuel boats

Reduce the nitro percentage even more
race teams will still make the car go even fast to the 1000ft make.
Solid fire walls and engine bays on F/C,not attached to the flip up bodies
Automatic braking system when a fire happens and automatic chute deploment,with automatic fuel cut off,and ignition cut off
No mechanical fuel pumps

mrmopartech
 
I`ve read that there`s several tracks like Englishtown lengthwise. They should simply not run top fuel cars at tracks without adequate runways/sandtraps after the 1/4. When viewing the video of his death it appeared that he was unconscience following the explosion so he couldn`t take any evasive action. If the sandtrap was long enough to slow down a modern top fuel car he might be alive today. I`d like to see longer, safer tracks.
 
I don't think racing to 1000 ft will save any engines. They will just wind them tighter quicker. The effect it will have is the top end speeds will be a little lower as they can only get going so fast so quick, it's physics. Something they might want to consider is taking all or some of the air systems out of the clutch. That would sure make it harder to get them going the speeds they are.
Wasn't there another incident with a T/A F/C this past weekend where a car went through the sandtrap and on into the field beyond and he managed to get it stopped before it hit a tree. The next day the tree was gone.

Jack
 
What about the automatic systems, for Chutes, Fuel, Ignition and Brakes, controlled like the igniton systems in the Monster trucks. If they had external control, the could have fired the Chutes, killed ignition, and applied brakes, all while he was unconscious. While he might have still made it to sand, it might not have been much slower, and the sand might have saved.
 
BJR Racing said:
As Jim Head said that most tracks were built for 250 MPH tops with the room to stop the cars, but with the 330 MPH cars it's a detriment on brakes and chutes. Something had too happen, look I'm in favor of more speed but safety has to come into play, and until they can get the safety there I'm for saving lives!
Click to expand...

I saw that interview with Jim Head. IIRC, he said that as a driver, there's a huge difference between 290-300 and 330 mph, and as an engineer he said the energies involved are much higher.

Coyote Jack said:
I don't think racing to 1000 ft will save any engines. They will just wind them tighter quicker. The effect it will have is the top end speeds will be a little lower as they can only get going so fast so quick, it's physics. Something they might want to consider is taking all or some of the air systems out of the clutch. That would sure make it harder to get them going the speeds they are.
Wasn't there another incident with a T/A F/C this past weekend where a car went through the sandtrap and on into the field beyond and he managed to get it stopped before it hit a tree. The next day the tree was gone.

Jack
Click to expand...

I saw that about the tree. Good move.

John Force and few others drivers have already implemented a device that deploys the chute in the event of an explosion. I hear that they are working on different materials for the chutes too. Most likely a more fire resistant material.
 
This may seem a bit trivial in light of losing Scott Kalitta, but I am sure there is some team that will be effected:

Before this rule was in place weren't points awarded for setting a new National Record? Has NHRA said how this will be addressed...or just not going to recognize low ETs for the rest of the year? I know this is not a concern at Bandimere, but what about other tracks?
 
sst3193 said:
The solution, I believe, is just to modernise the places that the fast guys race.
Click to expand...

Thats a really good idea, but how could anything be done at Pomona Raceway or a number of other tracks with roads and housing and golf courses surrounding them, this isn't 1972 with lots of space to buy and build. 1000 feet is a temporary solution, NHRA wants the nitro cars to be running in the 299 - 300 mph range.

NHRA's History and Tradition is Not Measured in Feet
 
Slanted66 said:
This may seem a bit trivial in light of losing Scott Kalitta, but I am sure there is some team that will be effected:

Before this rule was in place weren't points awarded for setting a new National Record? Has NHRA said how this will be addressed...or just not going to recognize low ETs for the rest of the year? I know this is not a concern at Bandimere, but what about other tracks?
Click to expand...

Per NHRA, there will be no new nitro records set during the 1000 foot reduction, no additional points bonus for ET records.
 
Jeff Burk has a slightly good idea in not prepping the track so well, but we've gotten so used to it, that we forget the old days when Garlits and the Boys used to smoke up the full length of the track. Safety was the reason sighted for prepping the track better back then and it still sounds good to me now!

NASCAR figured out long ago that, history be damned, some tracks had to go away, over safety concerns. NHRA knows the same has to occur here, if we wanna stay at 1320 ft, but it's a little expensive and I don't think, at this time, our national economy is gonna allow it.
 
sst3193, you said it, some tracks will just have to go. I`m a nostalgic guy and that notion saddens me, but for the sake of the sport it has to happen.
 
Didn't the NHRA implement some rule about when the body goes off the chutes have to deploy immediately? I thought I remembered something about that a couple of years ago. Or maybe it was just one of the teams that did that?

Anyway... I race at Englishtown (where Scott was killed). Before I put discs on my car I had a hard time slowing down before the last turn off. And that's on a 110 MPH car, not a 300 MPH dragster. Since I put the discs on I can take the first turnoff, which I must better in my opinion.

When Long Island Motorsports Park was open, they had one of the longest shutdowns I'd ever seen. I used to be able to get off the gas after the finish line and then coast and be almost stopped by the turnoff (which was at the end of the track). The first time I raced at E-Town I was surprised as how short it was.
 
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