NHRA Needs To Be Proactive, Not Reactive
Written by David Lamm · July 29, 2008
The Western Swing is in the books for another year and all anyone can still talk about is the shortening of the race distance from a quarter-mile to 1,000 feet for the Nitro cars. This major change to the way the NHRA conducts business was a direct reaction to the tragic death of Scott Kalitta on June 21, 2008. Although changes definitely needed to take place, the changes were too late to save Scott Kalitta. Sadly this has been a common theme of the NHRA reacting to tragedy rather than proactively preventing them.
The NHRA prides itself on being on the forefront of motorsports safety. Wally Parks is credited with founding the NHRA as a way to take racers off the streets and have them compete safely on a track. Sadly and tragically that is no longer the case. In its quest to gain national attention and respect within the motorsports fraternity, the NHRA has ignored the inherent dangers of the sport. Instead it has chosen to promote eye-popping speeds and mind numbing elapsed times in an effort to gain new fans and maintain old ones. This has all come at a price, most recently Darrell Russell, Eric Medlen and Scott Kalitta. Could their deaths have been prevented had the NHRA been more proactive? Hard to say but you do have to admit the NHRA has a history of reacting to tragedy rather than trying to prevent it. Here are just a few examples.
Action: Blaine Johnson dies from injuries sustained from a crash at the 1996 U.S. Nationals. Johnson’s dragster was traveling around 300 mph when it slammed into a guardrail apex which ironically was part of an opening in the guardrail that existed for safety vehicles to enter the track.
Reaction: At the urging of fellow racer Jim Head, metal guardrails are replaced with cement barrier walls that extend the length of the track including the shut down area. The NHRA requires all tracks to be compliant in order to host a national event the following season.
Action: Doug Herbert suffers a massive engine explosion on the starting line during qualifying for the 1999 Auto Club Final. Parts and pieces flew off the car and injured photographers and fans in the stands. What was described as “red hot shrapnel” was landing in the pit areas as far as 200 yards away.
Reaction: The NHRA reduced the amount of Nitro allowable to a maximum of 90 percent.
Action: Darrell Russell dies as a result of injuries sustained during an accident at Gateway International Raceway outside St. Louis June 27, 2004. Flying debris from an exploding tire entered the cockpit of Darrell’s dragster which resulted in his death.
Reaction: NHRA required that all Top Fuel and Funny Cars switch to new Goodyear tires for the next race. NHRA also reduced the maximum nitromethane content of the fuel from 90 percent to 85 percent, changed the maximum primary rear wing element angle to 2 degrees positive and required that all nitro cars install a 2mm thick titanium shield on the portion of the roll cage that is behind the driver’s head. They also required that the rear tires have no less than the minimum manufacturer recommended tire pressure (7psi).
Action: Scott Kalitta dies as a result of injuries sustained during a qualifying accident at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J. The accident was caused by a massive engine explosion which damaged the parachutes and failed to slow the car down. Kalitta’s vehicle went through the sand trap at the end of the track that normally would stop the car and impacted a concrete-filled post that supports the safety net.
Reaction: NHRA shortens racing distance for Top Fuel and Funny Car classes from quarter-mile to 1,000 feet for the remainder of the 2008 season.
Do you see a pattern developing? Apparently someone has to die or get seriously injured before the NHRA makes wholesale changes to the sport. And please spare me the tired excuse of, “how are they to know what to fix if they can not see the problem?”. Are people dying the only way to see that there is a safety issue?
The late Darrell Russell said it best. He said, “bad things happen at 300 mph.”. The NHRA knew the inherent dangers of going this fast but chose to publicize those speed numbers to impress the media and fans. It is time for the NHRA to stop reacting to tragedy and start preventing them.
I was skeptical at first when the NHRA made the switch from quarter-mile racing to 1,000 feet for nitro cars. Now, after three races, I have become accustomed to 1,000 foot racing. I still believe that NHRA needs to return to its roots and reinstate the finish line to 1,320 feet starting with next season. How they will make the sport safer in the wake of the most recent tragedy is up to them to decide in the off-season. I am just hoping we do not have another tragedy occur the remainder of this seasons while the NHRA tries to get to that point.
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4 Responses to “NHRA Needs To Be Proactive, Not Reactive”
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wouldn’t making the cars less like a bullit ,and make them more like a “CHARGER”, or a “IMPALA” , or a “SOLARA”, ,Like they did in the “70s ,slow them down ?? I’m sure it would probably work for TOP-FUEL also , if they made them less AERO… We pay for 1/4 mile racing ,not 1000ft. racing. I don’t really care if they are running 300 plus ,I just want to see good racing……
DG on July 29
NHRA needs to sit down and talk to NASCAR figure out a way to make the roll cage and frame around the drive the most protective it can be. NASCAR has cars weighing in at over 3000lbs roll and cartwheel end over end at over 180mph and the drivers walk away.
NHRA needs to reinstate the true quarter mile, anything less is not drag racing. More speed is what drag racing is all about. It is a very dangerous sport, there are going to be tragic accidents, there are risks in any sport. You don’t change the sport because it is dangerous. Why was there a block of concrete at the end of the trap. There should be nothing at the end of the trap but a catch net. Just like an arrestor cable on an air craft carrier. Just like a kill switch, the second trouble is detected the chute, (non flammable) goes out, regardless if the driver is conscious or not and the safety net goes up.
Come on NHRA, think of ways to make drag racing safer, don’t take the easy road and just slow down the cars and shorten the track. More speed and a true quarter mile or you will lose all your fan base to an already suffering sport.
Dan
I don’t think 1000 ft would have saved Scott Kalitta. I wholeheartedly agree that NHRA needs to be proactive and not just with the cars. They can do things at the track - actually spend a couple bucks rather than heaping everything on the teams. Yes, smaller tire and fuel pumps would help plus blower drive limits and smaller engines would all help slow the cars down. But how about NHRA put in changes to the tracks such as making them longer, multiple safety nets and much more. I agree, come on NHRA, belly up to the cash register and ring up some safety.
i agree after watching the latest death of a good racer, you would think that nhra could figure out that you have 300 mph bullets coming a CONCRETE post, the bullet is gonna win. i like the multiple nets much wider that what is there
put it back to 1320 i mean really they are still running over 300 even at that length
and tell me again why the first thing that you want to hit a concrete pillar in a top fuel 300 mph dragster is a container of nitro methane