Breaking News: NHRA Shortens Racing Distance To 1,000 Feet
Written by David Lamm · July 2, 2008
As the investigation continues into the tragic accident that took the life of driver Scott Kalitta, NHRA announced today that beginning at the Mopar Mile High Nationals in Denver, Colorado, both the Top Fuel and Funny Car classes will race to 1,000 feet instead of the traditional 1,320 feet or one-quarter mile. This is an interim step that is being taken while NHRA continues to analyze and determine whether changes should be made to build upon the sport’s long standing safety record, given the inherent risks and ever-present dangers associated with the sport.This interim change was made by NHRA in collaboration with professional race teams. NHRA believes that racing the Top Fuel and Funny Car classes to 1,000 feet will allow NHRA and the racing community time to evaluate, analyze and implement potential changes based on the safety initiatives outlined last week.
With the change, fans will still be able to enjoy the sights, sounds and thrill of NHRA nitro racing with speeds around 300 mph and quick elapsed times to 1,000 feet.
Over the years, NHRA has implemented many initiatives to enhance safety including measures to limit speeds from increasing, personal protective gear, vehicle improvements, and track enhancements such as sand traps, catch nets and concrete barriers the entire length of the drag strip.
In the wake of the tragic series of events that took Kalitta’s life, the following technical issues are currently under investigation: 1) what might be done to reduce engine failures; 2) parachute mounting techniques and materials as well as identifying a parachute material that could be more fire resistant; 3) exploring whether there is a way to increase brake efficiency when cars lose downforce due to the loss of the body; 4) analyzing additional methods that might be developed at the top end of the race track to help arrest runaway vehicles; 5) considering whether current speeds should be further limited or reduced to potentially improve safety.
“The board members of the Professional Racers Owners Organization (PRO) wholeheartedly and unanimously support this decision,” said its president Kenny Bernstein. “We want to thank NHRA for listening to our input and suggestions to incorporate these changes. It is not lost on any of us that this constitutes a change in our history of running a quarter-mile, but it’s the most immediate adjustment we can make in the interest of safety which is foremost on everyone’s mind. This may be a temporary change and we recognize it is not the total answer. We will continue to work hand in hand with NHRA to evaluate other methods of making Top Fuel and Funny Car competition safer so that we might return to our quarter-mile racing standard. We also want to thank Connie Kalitta for his invaluable input. He has been a rock through these difficult times.”
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12 Responses to “Breaking News: NHRA Shortens Racing Distance To 1,000 Feet”
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I’m not a huge drag fan, but my question is, will this really help? I could see it as possibly being safer if the cars are all still set-up to run the full quarter mile. But racers, being the breed they are, will now be tuning the cars to run the first 1,000 feet of the track faster than it’s been run before. With a shorter track to work with the margin for winning will be compressed… and the tuners might take greater risks, knowing the machine only has to last a shorter period of time.
I hope the NHRA can figure this out without taking the NASCAR COT (car of tomorrow) cookie cutter approach to the safety issue. Of course NASCAR’s other “brilliant” idea, restrictor plates, are another idea that should probably be avoided, unless the NHRA is ready to allow drafting to keep it exciting.
Does anyone really think that 320 feet of rolling distance would have made a difference in Scotts situation? Looking at and trying to see if something can be done is good but the distance changes everything for the rest of the season. Many a time has a car ‘driven around’ and won in the last 300 feet. No possibility of track or team records being set.
No offense to any of the teams but how many were complaining before 2 weeks ago about the short stopping distances at some tracks and if they were, why wasn t the NHRA listening and looking into how to deal with it.
320 feet would not have helped with Scott’s crash. From what I understand the car became airborne, hit a concrete post or the boom thing for the camera. Either way it looked like a full speed run into the sand and beyond it. Trying to brake the card without chutes would have done very little at that speed.
The question and answer are these - why wasn’t this safety defect known? Answer is nothing like this had ever happened and now that it has the NHRA is going to have to figure out what to do.
The sand trap at Englishtown look really short in comaprison to other tracks. I have seen footage of funnycars running into the sand and they lloked a whole lot longer than this one did. I think Scott ran off into the trap last year and I seem to remember someone else doing the same thing and rolling the car.
Arresting barriers have been around for a really long time in the military - not neccasirly like those on modern aricraft carriers either - I think the airforce has them as well. The NHRA really needs to look into this for the nitro classes.
This is the stupidest thing I have heard of. Give them more shutdown area don’t change the distance they have run since Wally Parks started the NHRA.
I am a huge fan of NHRA but to shorten the distance of the 1/4 mile racing is the worst thing you could do for the sport. Work on ways to fix short race tracks and to limit out of control cars, but drag racing is and always should be a 1320 ft race!!!
There isn’t anyone out there that wants to see people being hurt, but this is racing and as I have heard all my life “lets race”!
I recently bought tickets to the Mile High Nationals this coming weekend and I must say, I have no interest in watching the race now. Like everyone eles, I do not want to see anyone get hurt and I know these guys are professionals but how well do you think the cars are going to run? Everyone will be trying to figure out what to do to their cars to get the most out of them in 1000 feet for the first time AND adjust for the altitude. Very disappointed.
I think that the tracks should be evaluated on an track by track basis for the length of the run I go to Infenon every year and the runoff is a steep uphill and the cars need to be pulled up to the end of the track so why do we have to pay for a race that is shorter when the track is more than suitable for a full run. I also think the
older tracks should be made to make the runoff area longer or be eliminated from the schedule. I hate all the deaths in our sport in the past few years but if I want to see a shortened race I would go to one!
Since they are shortening the track by about 1/3 are they slashing the ticket prices by about 1/3 as well?
I can tell you paying $4 a gallon of gas to drive 2 hours one way to see a shortened track isn’t going to happen with my family!
Time to set Tivo to watch something else!
[...] tragic Funny Car death, the NHRA decreed that nitro races would run (at least temporarily) to 1000 feet instead of the traditional 1320 feet/quarter mile [...]
AS far as I’m concerned, as long as the racing distance is 1000 ft., I’m gonna ignore drag racing.
Why doesn’t NHRA pony up and force the main venues to build in the proper safety measures and or lengthen the strips to allow for the unexpected?
What’s going to happen if someone else gets killed, will the races deteriorate to contests of reaction times where the tree goes green, the cars break the beams, and they shut the cars down?
Why race at all, why not just have Play Stations so no one has to risk anything?
HOW ABOUT SOMEONE GROWING SOME BALLS AND DOING SOMETHING PRO-ACTIVE TO KEEP THE SPORT EXCITING AND SAFE?
[...] NHRA shortens racing distance for Top Fuel and Funny Car classes from quarter-mile to 1,000 feet for the remainder of the 2008 [...]
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