Track accident

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1Jeff

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I was in the stagging lanes Sunday in the outside lane,fence on my left. Sitting a car length back from a 90 deg. right turn. The car in front of me (super car with wheelie bars) fired up and launched, missed the car in front of him that was sitting about 2/3 through the turn. Went through the chain link fence, side swipped a bus steel front bumper spining the car through a ditch and up onto a blacktop pit road with the tires spinning. Thankfully no one was hurt.
I don't know what the driver did to regain control. I didn't talk to the driver or anyone from the track, so I do not know what caused the incident. I did however see it happen. I have a sneaking suspicion next week everyones neutral safety switches are going to be checked in tech. I just bought my car, have raced it 3 times and tech has never checked it. I DID when I went over the car after I bought it.
Every car is supposed to have a working neutal safety switch and there is absolutely no reason to not have one. This could have been a lot worse, that part of the pit road is where the junior dragsters line up. Thankfully they were not there.
 
1Jeff said:
Every car is supposed to have a working neutal safety switch and there is absolutely no reason to not have one..
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wrjjol.jpg


All it takes is one time not payin' attention!!
 
I don't think I would blame all of it on the NSS... It sounds like he may have had his foot on the gas also... I know I always crank my cars with my foot on the brake... I am guilty of not using a NSS...
 
I believe he probably did have his foot on the gas and when the car launched he may have put it on the floor. He had his hands full, did a good job driving the car and was lucky.
When my engine is warm it won't start if you don't open the throttle. If you don't have a nss on youre car please put one on it. You owe it to the other competitors, spectators and yourself. They rarely fail on older cars. If you are worried about youre engine not cranking wire a back up toggle switch with a protective cover to bypass the nss if it were to fail.
 
It's always checked at one track I go to - never at the other. It's much more important than people give credit for.
 
moper said:
It's always checked at one track I go to - never at the other. It's much more important than people give credit for.
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your right i saw a dragster go under a truck in the lanes once just after it fired.was a mess
 
One of the wierdest accidents was @ Tulsa Raceway Park a few years back.
An upcoming woman (Shelly Howard) drag racer in a top fuel dragster, was testing @ TRP.
She left the starting line, got crossed up mid track.
The car got turned around & came back down the track (under full throttle) towards the starting line.
She ran into her support rig, killing her & her son.
Very tragic.
Safty is there for a reason, abide by it.
 
mikedevore said:
One of the wierdest accidents was @ Tulsa Raceway Park a few years back.
An upcoming woman (Shelly Howard) drag racer in a top fuel dragster, was testing @ TRP.
She left the starting line, got crossed up mid track.
The car got turned around & came back down the track (under full throttle) towards the starting line.
She ran into her support rig, killing her & her son.
Very tragic.
Safty is there for a reason, abide by it.
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That's horrible. Maybe I'm missing it, but, what safety regs did she violate? Sounds like she was passed out and her foot was wedged against the gas or something?
 
LXGUY, should have been clearer, the rig should have been moved from the burn-out area.
Her chances of survival would have been greater.
My point is, sometimes even professional racers don't follow the rules in the private test sessions.
Kinda like when Lee Shepard (Rehre & Morrison pro-stock) was killed in Ardmore, Ok. during a test session.
They had been doing 60ft runs all day, & Lee decided to make a full pass at the end of the day.
Crashed the car & was decapitaded, lack of safty gear.
 
mikedevore said:
One of the wierdest accidents was @ Tulsa Raceway Park a few years back.
An upcoming woman (Shelly Howard) drag racer in a top fuel dragster, was testing @ TRP.
She left the starting line, got crossed up mid track.
The car got turned around & came back down the track (under full throttle) towards the starting line.
She ran into her support rig, killing her & her son.
Very tragic.
Safty is there for a reason, abide by it.
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shelly's car didn't get crossed up it wheels up blew over at half track.i was standing at the starting line as it all happened,very scary and i can still see the fire ball from the impact more clearly than i care to.
 
Very glade nobody was hurt.......Everytime we go racing they check that our nss is working it is just part of there check list...I have seen a few angry guy's been told the can't run unless they have it hooked up & lets be honset it is for safety of everybody around you.

Cheers Oz
 
Our little 1/8 mile track doesn't do brackets anymore cause the new owner makes more moolah on TnT. Never check cars there. Bars optional despite speed/times at TnT. Another local 1/8 track had a 7.20 car roll twice somehow after getting sideways. Bars saved the day.

I have to admit I fired my car up once or twice not in neutral or park and the switch was obviously not working. I always start with the brake mashed so the converter catched the mistake. Will work when the car is reassembled.
 
A few years ago, a racer reached in the window of his car in the pits and hit the key, it fired in gear, and began lurching towards his juvenile son, he panicked, threw himself through the window, to hit the brake with his hand, he missed and hit the throttle, running his son over and killing him.
 
Besides tech, there should be a common sense test people need to take before being let on the property.
In the staging lanes a moron was in line about 4 feet right behind my car. I was standing behind my car when this idiot fires his car up, sets the trans brake and goes to WOT! A track 'official' saw the guy do it. Because he is one of the regular local heros, all he got was a finger waved at him. He should have made an example of over the PA and sent packing out the gate!
 
TMP67 said:
Besides tech, there should be a common sense test people need to take before being let on the property.
In the staging lanes a moron was in line about 4 feet right behind my car. I was standing behind my car when this idiot fires his car up, sets the trans brake and goes to WOT! A track 'official' saw the guy do it. Because he is one of the regular local heros, all he got was a finger waved at him. He should have made an example of over the PA and sent packing out the gate!
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You are right, and I woulda come unglued.
 
I was at a Nostalgia event sitting in the stageing lanes.Dude in a Camaro decides to test his linelock:banghead:,it didn,t hold and he rearended a 65 Nova totalling the bumper and crunching his fuel cell...ruining this other racers day.The guy with the Nova removed the twisted bumper and sealed the fuel cell.He ended up getting a couple passes in,but was very pissed.Some racers need to learn safety is priority when racing around other people.Every track I race tests cars for Not starting in gear,also power cutoff switches.
 
Glad nobody got hurt.
Some people think it's o.k. to disable the neutral safety switch because it makes them feel like a big time professional.......
Those people are fools.
I sure hope your track rakes everyone over the coals in tech next time.
 
i trust everyone here has his or her nss working correctly now. remember after you screw up by not having it working and hurt someone or something the fat lady isn't singing until the lawyers are finished. sogiterdone
 
What I've never understood is that some folks seem to disable neutral start on purpose. Is there some competitive advantage?? And as for the guy at WOT right behind me, one of us would have left in an ambulance!

ATB

BC
 
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