Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

The car landed and It wasn't two seconds later it was completely engulfed in flames.  They showed it live but cut off replays before the fire.  I say this a lot and this crash didn do anything to change my mind.  Sprint Cars remind me of when I worked on the flight deck of a carrier.  Fire and rescue standing by at all times, stringent safety and maintence procedures yet there were still accidents, crashes and fires.  Sprint Cars are kind of like that in that preparation and safety are never going to anticipate every possible scenario.  It's an exciting but dangerous sport. 

Stan Meissner

Wolfgang exacerbated his injuries by wearing fingerless gloves and using a plastic fuel filter IIRC. 

Within hearing distance of Tri City Speedway

I have not heard any news on that, but we know from Brad Sweet's interview that he was knocked out.   Does the Outlaws have a concussion protocol that he has to follow?   Or are they going to fall back on the independent contrator anwer and allow the drivers to police themselves?

I know that there are all kinds of super human stories about drivers driving hurt, and I still find a picture of driver strapped in a car when they have pink eyes pretty amazing.   However, with all that we know about concussions we need to do better. 

Husets announcer said something about a broken bone, a rib I think

Some observations / opinions:

If this had been a wingless car, that might have been a fatal crash.

If this happened at a track that doesn't have a Knoxville or Husets caliber safety team, this could have been really bad.

The axle tether seemed to do its job. 

Surely they can find a way attach the onboard fire suppression system better.

Isn't the fuel cell supposed to keep this from happening? Maybe the nerf bars around the tank need to be stouter.

Unrelated to the crash, I predicted the winner both nights by the results of the dash.
 

What brand extinguisher / mounting system does he use? Did he have one or two clamps on it? I know of some guys just using one clamp.

The safety crew at Knoxville is one the best and Carmen was in good hands. The same can be said about the push drivers and Dunkins with track prep. Other try to follow Knoxville lead. You hate to see anyone wreck as We all know what can happen!

I don't understand why you believe a wingless crash might have been more dangerous? It looked like the wing was preventing safety crews from reaching the driver, unlike a non winged car . A great race driver once asked "How is it supposed to be safer when you're going faster?"

Watch the video where the view is of the car coming toward the cameraman. Each flip loses some energy as the wing acts alternately like a cushion and like a parachute on a dragster. The wing also made the car flip more or less in a straight line.

    If that had been a wingless car, it probably would have flipped twice as many times, and it wouldn't have been as much of a strait line. It would have been endos, snap rolls, digging in, and all over the place.

I had a racer ask me once when talking about wings "you want to go 100mph like you are running on ice or 120mph locked down to the racetrack"?

I certainly can't fault the safety crew in any way.  They did about as good of a job as could be done in my opinion.  I don't think these things are a picnic to get in and out of under your own power and I can't imagine trying to get someone unconcious out of one of these cars.  As I watched the video on Youtube I was shocked at how long he was in the car while they were spraying the fire extinguisher around him and on him, isn't that stuff pretty toxic?  When I watched this even though I knew the outcome, I really didn't think he would survive just because of not getting air or good air to breathe.  It looks as though the safety stuff did it's job as far as the impact goes.  Not sure what caused the fire but hopefully something can be learned there to make these cars safer yet, that's my biggest fear with any racecar.  I wish they could make these things easier to get in and out of in a situation like this but I can't think of one off the top of my head without weakening the chassis.  I also second whoever said the other drivers getting involved not being the best idea even though the gesture was great.  Even though they might be trained in this stuff they certainly don't do it very often, it was entirely possible they could have been hurt doing what they did too.  And in the end they didn't get him out, great gesture but in a situation like this you should leave it to the profesionals in my opinion.

I guess you will have to re-read my question. 

The brake rotor went through the fuel tank. All of the fuel left in the car was exposed as soon as the rear end was knocked out of the car. When the car came to rest the hot brake rotor was essentially sitting in the fuel tank. 

Get that 100% right. I should have added in the other sanctioning bodies. They definitely need to have a traveling safety team with them too. I added them in on other posts I made in other places. Just forgot to put them in in this post. I'm glad to see that other people think it's a good idea now. when I brought it up earlier this year, I got my ass ripped  Was even told that I was crazy in the head? that it would cost $1,000,000 to do that. and that I should come up with the money myself. This is a sanctioning body's responsibility. And the drivers and owners and fans in the stands. need to keep on the sanctioning bodies and get this done. so we don't see a tragedy happen in the future.

Hopefully it does not take another horrible accident to motivate the powers that be to get their heads together and figure out a plan to address adequate fire safety. 

Within hearing distance of Tri City Speedway

Your racer question or statement has to do with a driver being competent and confident, nothing more. Some drivers dig sliding around on dirt tracks, even on half miles.

Yes!  WoO and the All Stars have needed one for years (and years).  Part of Wolfgang's lawsuit (love it or hate it) was to try to force change in the area of fire safety.  The saddest part of that whole deal (besides essentially ending a great driver's career) is that we're not much closer to a traveling safety team now some 30 years later.  With the Dirtvision $$$ pouring in, I have to believe WoO could make it happen if they wanted to.  Tony Stewart also has the means to do it for his series.  Sweet and Larson have paid to have Jay Masur and his team (one of, if not THE top safety teams in the world) on hand at all of the High Limit shows.  

Do I think WRG and Lucas oil should have there own safety teams with there respective series, Yes. Will they do it ? Not a chance,  it cuts into there profits and that's what it's all about.  I don't feel they need to be emt's, but they need to be a fast reacting team with the proper equipment to deal with these types of situations.  As I said before, with these cockpits being so confined it makes it tuff to ask anyone to jump in a burning fire. My hats off to the volunteers that did so, did you see how many had flames around and on there legs ?  I have said it many times, the places these series go to many times has inadequate safety services at the ready. There was nothing good about what happened other than it could have been much worse at many other facilities.  A guy standing in a corner with a fire bottle is a f-in joke. Wake up people.

I'm not for or against the fire suppression system but does anyone feel it would have worked in this scenario? Obviously there needs to be improvements. 

Knoxville has a "jaws of life" clamp that'll cut the cage, if it came to that. 

Keep It Real

maybe they need the same cockpit access on both sides so two people can help in a rescue at the same time. driver has a rung bell at the least, knocked out at the worst. 

Within hearing distance of Tri City Speedway