Woman dies after being hit by tire from NHRA crash

[Frankie]

ARIZ.(AP) —A woman died Sunday after being hit by a tire from a crashing dragster at the NHRA Arizona Nationals.
The woman was watching a first-round Top Fuel run at Firebird International Raceway when Antron Brown’s Matco Tools/U.S. Army dragster went out of control on the strip and its left rear wheel came off.
Alia Maisonet, a spokeswoman for the Gila River Indian Community, said the woman was airlifted to a hospital for treatment and later died. Gila River emergency personnel were among the first to respond to the scene.
Maisonet said she didn’t know the victim’s name or hometown.
“The entire NHRA community is deeply saddened by today’s incident and sends its thoughts and prayers to the woman’s family and friends,” the National Hot Rod Association said in an e-mailed statement.
Franki Buckman, the track’s executive vice president, said Firebird International Raceway also is deeply saddened by the incident.
Brown was released by the track medical staff, but went to Chandler Regional Hospital for further observation, according to a statement from Don Schumacher Racing. The NHRA said Brown wasn’t injured.
The Associated Press sent an e-mail to Brown’s Brownsburg, Ind.-based racing team seeking comment after the woman died.
The racing continued after the accident, and John Force advanced to his second straight Funny Car final before the session was postponed because of rain. Force, the 60-year-old star who ended a 40-race winless streak last week with his record 127th victory, will meet Jack Beckman on Monday.

 

[nothingbutdarts]

Very sad!

 

[ocdart]

Agreed. Tragic accident and very sad any time a spectator is involved.
It seems to me that the tethers developed by Formula 1 and CART over 10 years ago could also be adapted for use in the drag racing catagories that do not use a full body.
Comments??

 

[cudaspaz]

Gosh man, that's terrible.

I don't want to see video of that.

I always wonder if something is gonna happen like that while I'm at the track.
I go through different scenarios in my head and picture myself jumping onto one of my kids or another spectator to save them from flying debris and stuff.
I guess now I know why my Kids ask me hows come I never take my eyes off the cars during the races.

 

[Burntorange70]

Thats to bad. Sorry to here that.

 

[MVRCorp]

Well the axle stayed with the car so what do you guys think? Did they fail to tighten the lugs or was it lug failure?
Kinda makes me wonder how often are lug routinely changed to stay ahead of metal fatigue. Your thoughts?

 

[irelandmoss]

I think if it was loose lugs the driver would have felt
something wrong and shut it down. I believe metal
fatigue was the problem. I just hope she didn't suffer.

 

[mopacltd]

If the lug nuts were loose, don't you think the wheel would have come off during his burnout?

 

[memike]

My condolences to her family and friends
I was at Memphis Motor Sports Park in 2001 I think and a chunk of a blower blew over 100 yards and hit a car in the parking area, If they do go with a taller fence it would have to be well over 50 feet tall and cover the track like a cave to have stopped that blower part from leaving the track
I did see the news on this at 4 am this morning on the news part of my on line screen top story

 

[oldmoparsrule]

I always wonder if something is gonna happen like that while I'm at the track.
I go through different scenarios in my head and picture myself jumping onto one of my kids or another spectator to save them from flying debris and stuff.
I guess now I know why my Kids ask me hows come I never take my eyes off the cars during the races.

I do the same thing, part of the "always be prepared" mind set. Most of the time, it is my dad and I...but I would have no problem jumping in front of him if need be. Spooky!

Thanks,
OldMoparsRule

 

[ocdart]

Well the axle stayed with the car so what do you guys think? Did they fail to tighten the lugs or was it lug failure?
Kinda makes me wonder how often are lug routinely changed to stay ahead of metal fatigue. Your thoughts?

Watching the race coverage yesterday, and the replays, it appears the lugs sheared. I didn't see any evidence of the lugs on the axle end after the tire came off.

 

[nothingbutdarts]

Watching the race coverage yesterday, and the replays, it appears the lugs sheared. I didn't see any evidence of the lugs on the axle end after the tire came off.

Didn't Force just have lugs come loose or shear off not long ago???

Any links to the video? How is Antwan Brown?

 

[ocdart]

I was at Memphis Motor Sports Park in 2001 I think and a chunk of a blower blew over 100 yards and hit a car in the parking area.

The worst potentially dangerous thing I've seen at the drags was years ago at OCIR. A rear-engine car blew either the engine or transmission going through the lights and launched the flywheel several hundred feet straight up. The very-rapidly spinning flywheel came down on the track and was immediately launched toward the pits like a spinning saw blade. It could have caused tremendous injury/damage if it had hit anything but luckily it didn't.

I was also at OCIR one night when the Beach City Corvette funny car blew up (one of several times it did this), lost the parachute, went the distance of the track, off the end of the track (no sandbox), through a chain link fence and ended up on the shoulder of the freeway - still burning. If I remember the story right, the CHP ticketed it for illegal parking.

 

[chasduster]

That is so sad......All over some stupid little lug nuts.....I don't know how thick they are or even how to figure out the thickness they should be...Horse power to metal strength or twisting strength.....but my god....with all the fing technology out there...we are still losing wheels off from cars...sorry that could have been my wife...

 

[805moparkid]

me and my gf were gonna go but i had to end up working... kinda glad we didn't go...

 

[Cudafever]

Did any one see the hole thing? the small clip i saw, the tire when some 20 or 30 feet in the air and then, seamed to role done the track.........but the video stop there.

I just can't picture, that tire, clearing the fence, let alone the grand stands.
The first bounce, it was still on the track!

They said it was debris, not a tire, although the tire was part of the debris, it could have been a lug nut/stud that rocked out of the grand stands.

I have no idea just thing out loud.

 

[ocdart]

Did any one see the hole thing? the small clip i saw, the tire when some 20 or 30 feet in the air and then, seamed to role done the track.........but the video stop there.

I just can't picture, that tire, clearing the fence, let alone the grand stands.
The first bounce, it was still on the track!

They said it was debris, not a tire, although the tire was part of the debris, it could have been a lug nut/stud that rocked out of the grand stands.

I have no idea just thing out loud.

I watched the rest of the event coverage (final Funny Car and Top Fuel race) on ESPN2 today. They also showed the accident from a different angle.
The tire came off as we've seen before and would have just rolled down the track except Antron's dragster crossed over into the left lane and the slick hit the front of his car just behind the front axle as his car was across the lane. Hitting the side of the front of the dragster launched the slick up in the air and over the guard rail, over the fence and onto the paved area in front of the stands. The tire then bounced, hit the top of a 6' fence and was again launched into the pit area past the end of the grandstands. You could see the slick disappear and then bounce back high into the air again still traveling away from the starting line. It disappeared down behind some trailers and you didn't see it again. Paul Page said it travelled more than 1/8-mile through all the bouncing.
This was just the "perfect storm" combination of things to cause this tragedy.

 

[fstfish66]

was very strange,,at first they ( nhra ) were reporting it as a femal from a nastalgic funny car team was hit by debrie,,then they were saying an unidentified woman,,,,

paul page also reported today during the final run,,,notice the grand stands were completely emppty,,,??

he said there were safety companies right now already working on some thing to keep the rim attached to the car if the lugs were to shear offf again,,

seems likme some one has to be hurt or killed to get things motivated,,,


another sad day in my favorite sport,,,

 

[Cudafever]

I watched the rest of the event coverage (final Funny Car and Top Fuel race) on ESPN2 today. They also showed the accident from a different angle.
The tire came off as we've seen before and would have just rolled down the track except Antron's dragster crossed over into the left lane and the slick hit the front of his car just behind the front axle as his car was across the lane. Hitting the side of the front of the dragster launched the slick up in the air and over the guard rail, over the fence and onto the paved area in front of the stands. The tire then bounced, hit the top of a 6' fence and was again launched into the pit area past the end of the grandstands. You could see the slick disappear and then bounce back high into the air again still traveling away from the starting line. It disappeared down behind some trailers and you didn't see it again. Paul Page said it travelled more than 1/8-mile through all the bouncing.
This was just the "perfect storm" combination of things to cause this tragedy.

Wow! thank for the up date!

another sad day in my favorite sport,,,

X2......................................

 

[bamacuda]

It is sad. I have a high school friend from back in the 80's who was at Atlanta's Track when a car crashed and he was hit by a tire. His uncle, who took him, had jumped in front of him like was mentioned by cudaspaz, oldmoparsrule, and 805moparkid. His uncle was killed, Jimmy had a broken femur, ribs, arm, but survived. The sport we love is dangerous.