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Topic: Tethers
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Page 2 of 2 of 30 replies
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October 18, 2015 at
03:45:49 PM
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This message was edited on
October 18, 2015 at
03:59:17 PM by kossuth
Reply to:
Posted By: Pimpmobile38 on October 18 2015 at 12:30:06 PM
There is a better option for the tethers. I brought this up to the WoO officials when the tether rule was first implemented. I showed them why the current system is dangerous and how to fix it, the officials did nothing. And you can't build your own tethers because the insurance companies won't approve it. Fact is these tethers are dangerous for the drivers and someone will be killed. I refuse to put them on my car and race.
And if we're truly concerned about the safety of the fans why don't we mandate that the tracks build better fences and walls? And why don't we mandate drug testing for drivers? What's going to happen when a fan gets injured from a crashing car driven by a driver under the influence of a controlled substance?
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I think you already know the anwer. I spelled out my thoughts in my other post.
WARNING: The following content is nothing more than my opinion and not the opinion of any track owner/promotor. I believe the tracks/promoters are going to do what they need to do in order to preserve their reputation and financial/social standing in the event of something bad happening. This is not to say they don't care if a driver gets hurt (I'm 100% positive none of them want to see anybody get hurt) but, this is racing and sometimes people get hurt. It's part of the sport. But in today's litigation happy world they also have to protect themselves/families.
If heaven forbid happens and a part of a racecar goes into the stands the first thing a scum bag lawyer will do is determine just how viable the liabilty waiver is. Tethers would be presented as due diligence being every other form of motorsports (NASCAR) have implimented their usage. If something flies into the stands and kills somebody and the car didn't have tethers on those major components would you as a promoter/track owner care to stake the future of your facility or possibly or your family on this?
It's not so much about safety as it is about ensuring that the insurance companies will pickup the tab if something goes wrong.
Just so this is fresh in your mind.
2013 Daytona Lawsuit
2015 Daytona Lawsuit
1999 Lawsuit regarding no tethers and fan Deaths
2000 Settlement of 1999 Lawsuits
Maybe I'm not correct, but it seems to me that this has been MANDATED. Whether they believe/don't believe it is or isn't safer I can't comment on. What I can say though is if an insurance company says "Your competitors will operate with XYZ provisions or you pay ABC more" you know what's gonna happen.
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October 18, 2015 at
03:56:45 PM
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4443
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Reply to:
Posted By: kossuth on October 18 2015 at 03:45:49 PM
I think you already know the anwer. I spelled out my thoughts in my other post.
WARNING: The following content is nothing more than my opinion and not the opinion of any track owner/promotor. I believe the tracks/promoters are going to do what they need to do in order to preserve their reputation and financial/social standing in the event of something bad happening. This is not to say they don't care if a driver gets hurt (I'm 100% positive none of them want to see anybody get hurt) but, this is racing and sometimes people get hurt. It's part of the sport. But in today's litigation happy world they also have to protect themselves/families.
If heaven forbid happens and a part of a racecar goes into the stands the first thing a scum bag lawyer will do is determine just how viable the liabilty waiver is. Tethers would be presented as due diligence being every other form of motorsports (NASCAR) have implimented their usage. If something flies into the stands and kills somebody and the car didn't have tethers on those major components would you as a promoter/track owner care to stake the future of your facility or possibly or your family on this?
It's not so much about safety as it is about ensuring that the insurance companies will pickup the tab if something goes wrong.
Just so this is fresh in your mind.
2013 Daytona Lawsuit
2015 Daytona Lawsuit
1999 Lawsuit regarding no tethers and fan Deaths
2000 Settlement of 1999 Lawsuits
Maybe I'm not correct, but it seems to me that this has been MANDATED. Whether they believe/don't believe it is or isn't safer I can't comment on. What I can say though is if an insurance company says "Your competitors will operate with XYZ provisions or you pay ABC more" you know what's gonna happen.
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+1
They don't even know how to spell sprint car
much less chromoly...http://www.ycmco.com
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October 18, 2015 at
08:44:35 PM
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safety is always first and foremost, always. with that said as if in the video had it been unteathered and ended up in the stands at that velocity, what then? catastrophe...
Ascot was the greatest of all time..
West Capital wasn't half bad either..
Life is good...
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October 19, 2015 at
09:15:13 AM
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Reply to:
Posted By: JanetH on October 18 2015 at 11:45:41 AM
We did NOT have axle tethers. We did, however, have a drag link tether. Can you believe that this car only needs a front clip? Thanks to J & J for a safe car!! p.s. we will have axle tethers next year
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My apologies Janet, my mistake to assume your car had tethers on it. I am very happy that no one was seriously hurt in the accident. Best of luck next year!
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October 19, 2015 at
10:20:01 AM
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This year at the trophy cup they restarted the main event with the leader having a very badly damaged wing.
As soon as the green flag dropped the pannel flew right over the front straight fence into the stands.
Nobody was hurt ,but it seemed realy dumb to be letting the car restart in that condition.
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October 19, 2015 at
10:26:24 AM
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Reply to:
Posted By: Keyboard Jockey on October 16 2015 at 01:52:18 PM
I would be happy to.
In the video that I shared, axle broke in half in the impact with the wall, after the axle breaks and stays intact with the frame it starts swinging about potentially hitting the driver or other drivers. Also it looks like the wheel sheers off of the right which defeats the purpose of the kingpin to kingpin tether. The axle did not come through the floor pan but it could pretty easily do so or come through the side panels, aluminum and fiberblass/ carbon fiber parts.
There have been several instances in which keeping the axles tethered to the car appears to speed the car up while flipping increasing the ammount of energy in the crash rather than disapating the energy. IE Sheldon Haudenchilds crash at the nationals a few years ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owqOczUhVS0
When the car starts going sideways is when it gets scary watch Sawyer Phillips car from the 360 nationals this year have the front axle come out of the car being attached by one tether, essentially making the car 6 feet longer and having more exposed parts for other cars to hit. https://youtu.be/cdNu9dE3fvM?t=1m58s
I just think we need to be proactive instead of reactive...
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Thanks for the follow up. Interesteing dilema, to say the least.
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October 20, 2015 at
07:59:31 AM
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Reply to:
Posted By: kossuth on October 18 2015 at 03:45:49 PM
I think you already know the anwer. I spelled out my thoughts in my other post.
WARNING: The following content is nothing more than my opinion and not the opinion of any track owner/promotor. I believe the tracks/promoters are going to do what they need to do in order to preserve their reputation and financial/social standing in the event of something bad happening. This is not to say they don't care if a driver gets hurt (I'm 100% positive none of them want to see anybody get hurt) but, this is racing and sometimes people get hurt. It's part of the sport. But in today's litigation happy world they also have to protect themselves/families.
If heaven forbid happens and a part of a racecar goes into the stands the first thing a scum bag lawyer will do is determine just how viable the liabilty waiver is. Tethers would be presented as due diligence being every other form of motorsports (NASCAR) have implimented their usage. If something flies into the stands and kills somebody and the car didn't have tethers on those major components would you as a promoter/track owner care to stake the future of your facility or possibly or your family on this?
It's not so much about safety as it is about ensuring that the insurance companies will pickup the tab if something goes wrong.
Just so this is fresh in your mind.
2013 Daytona Lawsuit
2015 Daytona Lawsuit
1999 Lawsuit regarding no tethers and fan Deaths
2000 Settlement of 1999 Lawsuits
Maybe I'm not correct, but it seems to me that this has been MANDATED. Whether they believe/don't believe it is or isn't safer I can't comment on. What I can say though is if an insurance company says "Your competitors will operate with XYZ provisions or you pay ABC more" you know what's gonna happen.
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What about when a driver gets killed due to the unsafe tethers and there is documentation that the track and sanctioning body have saying that the tethers are unsafe? Sounds like a law suit waiting to happen there.
Fact is nobody put the effort into designing something that was safe for everyone involved, driver and fans. This was all done in a knee jerk response to an isolated incident.
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October 20, 2015 at
07:27:10 PM
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You basically have 2 choices here! No tethers=greater risk to spectators, Tethers=greater risk to drivers. They are obviously not going to build a catch fence clear over the top of every track in North America. Drivers know and accept the fact that there is an inherited risk to racing. Your common race fan likely does not accept the fact that he or she could be injured or killed at a race! So make the tethers mandatory and be done with it.
Is that where it stops though! Where do you stop? Do you tether the spindles to the axle, the shocks & torsion arms to the frame, the tail tank, the nerf bars, the wings!!!!
I would guess a spectator or a driver both probably have a better chance of winning the Lottery than getting hit with an axle! It doesn't mean we shouldn't at least try to do something about it! But when you have Sprint Cars going a 140 mph down the straight aways, No matter how much you do or how hard you try, Somebody is eventually going to get hurt or worse.
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October 20, 2015 at
07:40:15 PM
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Some of you old timers might remember a few years back at Knoxville, Doran Doty got in a grinder over in turn four coming on to the straight. He busted a hole through the fence and one of his rear tires (just the tire not the rim) shot straight up into the grand stands, I'm pretty sure it hit around row 25-30, Nobody was sitting where the tire hit thankfully because that tire was booking it when it hit the bleachers. Pretty freaky though! I remember the pause in Tony Bokhovens voice when he asked if everyone was alright over there.
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October 20, 2015 at
08:06:11 PM
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I'm not saying get rid of the tethers. I'm saying make them the right way. Make them so that the axle can't end up 8 inches into the cockpit. If an old guy like me can design a way to do it why can't the paid engineers that work for bulterbuilt and C&R figure it out?
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October 20, 2015 at
09:15:14 PM
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Well I'm bring up another point. Why are the chassis always breaking at the upper shock mounts on the down tubes and the lower tube breaking just infront of the radiator mount. Welding, not heat treating the chassis, need more tubing?
Funny when a front axle goes flying most of the front part of the chassis is also gone. If a front axle breaks in half it is the small 2 1/4 axle or bad metal.
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