MFAWG
Rich Corinthian Leather Jacket
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Re: NHRA Driver Died Today
« Reply #15 on: June 22, 2008, 11:35:24 AM » |
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Not sure I'm buying 'Arbitrary'.
'Pointless and Silly', maybe.
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The things that will destroy America are prosperity at any price, peace at any price, safety first instead of duty first, the love of soft living and the get rich quick theory of life. -- Teddy Roosevelt
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spacey
Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat From: Group W Bench
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Re: NHRA Driver Died Today
« Reply #16 on: June 22, 2008, 11:49:05 AM » |
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At the end of the day, aren't all sports pointless and silly? Whether it's who can make 3,000 left hand turns in the shortest possible time or who can get the little white ball in the hole in the ground using the fewest number of strokes, it's all sort of arbitrary and stupid. Personally I'd rather watch grass grow than watch most motorsports, but I love to watch golf. Go figure.
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JDerion
Vest & Plus Fours
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Re: NHRA Driver Died Today
« Reply #17 on: June 22, 2008, 01:49:34 PM » |
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It's actually not a multipurpose track, but they have raced ther forever.
It's easy to start assessing blame after one of these things, but the bottom line is it's a dangerous sport and always will be.
The car actually starts to burn before he's even through the trap at the end, (not normal, but a fairly 'Routine Thermodynamic Event by NHRA standards) and I wonder how far it actually is from there to that wall. TeeVee is 2 dimensional, so it could be alot further than it looks. It's also hard to see if there's an elevation change, like at Sears Point where the run out is uphill all the way.
I used google earth to do some measurements. The track runs out 2230 feet, give or take, from the end of the quarter mile, after that it appears that there is only about 125 feet of sand before the wall. http://maps.google.com/ma...mp;z=17&t=h&hl=en |
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Sigurdur Hjartarson is a douche bag
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Seamus
Straitjacket
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OfflineI'm a juvenile acting product of the working class
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Re: NHRA Driver Died Today
« Reply #18 on: June 22, 2008, 04:55:15 PM » |
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Obviously the NHRA has never experienced this kind of catastrophic failure on all levels (brakes/chutes/driver) absolute total loss of control of an 8,000 horse power vehicle topping out at 330 mph heading straight into a wall. I still question the wall, but like MFAWG said it's easy to start second guessing so I won't.
I know 125 feet of sand doesn't look or sound like much, but it's also pretty deep, and I'm almost sure there's a safety net after the sand. Up until now if all the current safety precautions are in place everything has been fine (almost 1/2 mile run out/driver conscious/chutes/brakes/sand/net), I've seen a lot of broken collar bones and shoulder and neck injuries from the effect of going 200-300 mph and then hitting the sand and then the net, but quite clearly nothing like this.
Tony Pedregon a Funny car driver and season champion, said they need more room to stop, and he's walked away from some pretty horrific accidents just this year.
Something good will come from this it usually does.
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« Last Edit: June 22, 2008, 05:12:58 PM by Seamus »
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birdymaker
Straitjacket From: a third world country in the making
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Re: NHRA Driver Died Today
« Reply #19 on: June 22, 2008, 05:59:54 PM » |
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couple of things watching the race. first, they had all the kallitta team members and friends on the starting line for the race that would have been scotts first round race and his opponent made a solo pass at an idle. literally made the hair stand up on my arms.  second, sounds like there is going to be a big push to shorten the fuel races to either 1000' or even an 1/8 mile. the nhra is going to evaluate all of the tracks most of which were built in the 50's and 60's to see if they can be updated. |
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women are like tornados. In the beginning there's a lot of sucking and blowing. In the end, the car's gone, the house is gone..
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Seamus
Straitjacket
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Re: NHRA Driver Died Today
« Reply #20 on: June 22, 2008, 06:01:51 PM » |
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Update and then I'll drop it.
They just showed the end of the track on ESPN during the final eliminations. There is no wall, he hit a pole, so the safety net was strung along the sand (kinda like a huge volleyball net at ground level), and he must've hit the pole that holds the net in place, freak accident to say the least.
Coolest thing and class act. Kalitta's car qualified for the race today and his opponent in todays eliminations obviously gets a free pass, usually they still run all out as your elapsed time dictates lane choice in the next round, and lane choice can mean a lot. His opponent just ran a pass at about 60 mph with the 40 member teams and crews from Kaliita Air Racings 3 teams standing in the staging area of the opposite lane.
Another veteran driver Jim head (been driving for as long as I can remember) voiced his opinion about these tracks built in the 50's and 60's and how when they were built the nitro cars were going 200 mph and now some of these tracks are becoming obsolete (new golf ball old courses theory). They need more room to slow them down.
Still sounds like it was a freak accident, but aren't the worst ones always that way.
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« Last Edit: June 22, 2008, 06:10:11 PM by Seamus »
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Seamus
Straitjacket
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Re: NHRA Driver Died Today
« Reply #21 on: June 22, 2008, 06:05:52 PM » |
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LOL...great minds think alike BM. literally made the hair stand up on my arms Me too. sounds like there is going to be a big push to shorten the fuel races to either 1000' or even an 1/8 mile Watched the Jim head interview I see, I really don't see it happening though, maybe, but I doubt it. And did you also hear Head say he's buying new brakes for his car today his are getting old?  |
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birdymaker
Straitjacket From: a third world country in the making
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Re: NHRA Driver Died Today
« Reply #22 on: June 22, 2008, 07:07:35 PM » |
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Watched the Jim head interview I see, I really don't see it happening though, maybe, but I doubt it. And did you also hear Head say he's buying new brakes for his car today his are getting old? he can buy all the brakes he wants, without a chute he ain't stoppin.  |
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women are like tornados. In the beginning there's a lot of sucking and blowing. In the end, the car's gone, the house is gone..
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Seamus
Straitjacket
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Re: NHRA Driver Died Today
« Reply #23 on: June 22, 2008, 07:27:45 PM » |
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Watched the Jim head interview I see, I really don't see it happening though, maybe, but I doubt it. And did you also hear Head say he's buying new brakes for his car today his are getting old? he can buy all the brakes he wants, without a chute he ain't stoppin. Doubting Thomas FTW |
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MFAWG
Rich Corinthian Leather Jacket
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Re: NHRA Driver Died Today
« Reply #24 on: July 13, 2008, 10:26:00 PM » |
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http://sportsillustrated....hra.finals.ap/index.html?eref=si_motorsports
Update:
The races in Top Fuel and Funny Car were shortened from a quarter-mile to 1,000 feet this weekend after the recent death of Scott Kalitta in a racing accident. I thought the et's looked a little odd when I surfed through a couple of times. Next weekend here, I believe.
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The things that will destroy America are prosperity at any price, peace at any price, safety first instead of duty first, the love of soft living and the get rich quick theory of life. -- Teddy Roosevelt
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