Beer Drinkin', Racin' 'n Football

[Arcey]

Awwwww man.............. Ya sit down 'n turn the pre-race on......

NHRA driver Scott Kalitta killed in crash in NJ
54 minutes ago
ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. (AP) — Scott Kalitta died Saturday when his Funny Car crashed and burst into flames during qualifying for the Lucas Oil NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.
State police confirmed that the 46-year-old Kalitta, a two-time Top Fuel champion who had 18 career victories, was killed in the accident.
Witnesses told The Star-Ledger of Newark that Kalitta's Toyota Solara was traveling at an estimated speed of 300 mph when the crash occurred.
The Palmetto, Fla., resident started his career at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in 1982. His father, Connie Kalitta, was a longtime driver and team owner known as "The Bounty Hunter," and his cousin, Doug Kalitta, also drives competitively.

My prayers for the Kalittas and the NHRA family. May they find some comfort in a sad time.

[litl rooster]

not the racing kind of news we like to hear...



Condolences to his family

[Leo Tanner]

My heart goes out to the family. 

     Top fuel racing is as dangerous as any other if not more so, the speeds are incredible.


Leo

[Texas Lawdog]

Those Engines can produce 5 to 6 thousand HP on that Nitro-methane. Top Fuel and Funny Car Race Cars are Time Bombs on a short fuse that is already lit.

[Arcey]

Had qualifyin' on but I had stuff to do so I got up after Pro Mods. Didn't see the replay 'til after the NNS race.

Looked like the blower let loose. Huge fire inside what was left of the body. Another replay (that I won't watch intentionally) may prove me wrong but I didn't see the chute. The car exploded when it hit the net.

Edwards won the NNS race. To a strong chorus of boos, he refused to do a back flip. Would have been disrespectful.

[Texas Lawdog]

That's a pretty good guess to the cause. When that thing lets go. it sprays that fuel onto hot metal and BOOM!

[Delmonico]

Arcey, I saw the video, the chutes did open and didn't burn off, I'd guess the brakes failed.  Hate to hear about it.

[Texas Lawdog]

I haven't seen any video of the crash, but going 300 miles an hour doesn't leave much of a margin for error. I don't think those cars have very much in the way of front brakes. I know they had a hand brake at one time.

[Arcey]

Thanks, Del. Saw hunks of debris flyin' the chutes could've been in that.

Tex, I'm sure some morbid idiot has stuck it on youtube by now.

[Texas Lawdog]

Some of those folks that attend auto races epect to see crashes and the other stuff that takes place.

[Arcey]

Them have been around forever. One on the board yesterday evenin' sayin' how much he enjoyed the open wheel thing from Iowa with plenty of wrecks.

Race fan my ass.

[Texas Lawdog]

Arcey, That's sorta like civilians around an accident scene, especially a fatalty. Folks curious to see the damage and the dead folks.

[Arcey]

Excerpts from The Detroit Free Press:

The parachute in Kalitta's Toyota Solara failed to deploy, and the car cruised off the quarter-mile strip at a speed estimated more than 300 m.p.h.

Don Prudhomme witnessed the crash and said Kalitta's car "went into a million pieces."

"I haven't witnessed anything like that in a number of years," Prudhomme said. "The car didn't slow up enough, got airborne, and he happened to hit a post that's virtually impossible to do. ... I would've never thought that you could get airborne and hit that guardrail and hit that post."

The concrete post, Prudhomme said, serves as support for the safety net that's designed to catch cars veering off the strip. Because Kalitta's parachute never deployed, Prudhomme said the car "never had a chance"

[Texas Lawdog]

Was the car already on fire when it hit the post?  The parachute is a vital part of the safety equipment.  It was at one time mandatory for cars that went over 150 mph.

[Leo Tanner]

I saw the video on it, feel bad fer not turnin my head.

     I don't know what Prudhomme was talking about, both shoots definately deployed.  Yes Tex, the car caught fire while he was still on the field, it was internal, the shoots went off immidiately afterwards.  All this was before the big impact.  I'm sure more accurate information will come out after investigation.

     My 15 year old son heard about it and found the footage.  Said, "hey Dad check this out".  Fore I knew I was seein the thing happen.  Told him that was a real person and not a TV show.  I hope he understood.


Leo

[Arcey]

Read three sayin' basically the same thing. I disregarded 'em until I read the Prudhomme quotes.

One writer said only one chute popped, way past the traps, 'n it didn't fill. His speculation was the driver was knocked silly for a second from the explosion 'n got to the release too late.

The motor went before he hit the traps. Top of the body went with it. Was thinkin' that's why I missed the chutes. From the tape, I saw the explosion 'n the car disappear behind the board. When it cleared the board I just don't remember seein' 'em.

[Leo Tanner]

Not ta beat this incedent inta the ground, but one other thing I noticed was that the other driver seemed to notice a problem right off the line.  He only got up ta about half speed even before the initial fire.  It was just odd, the cars were pretty evenly matched.  Don't know if they'll every figure this one out.


Leo

[Texas Lawdog]

Once the fire starts, the driver can hit the bottles and sets off an onboard fire suppression system. If the fire gets to the rear of the car, the chutes catch fire also. Scott may have been unconscious at the time and unable to much.  After Eric Medlin got killed, John Force did some research and rebuilt the rollcage systems on his cars.  This improvment may have saved his life when he crashed at Texas Motoplex in Ennis, Tx.  I hope some safety improvments will come out of this tradegy.

[Ozark Tracker]

well you know the saftey has come a long way in the last 30 or 40 years,  I can remember the time when almost any kind of wreck could be a fatality,  it's cost a lot of lives through the years but they have made it a lot safer, than it was at one time,  drag racing and NASCAR both have gained a lot of valuable information from the crashes and they've been smart enough to put it to use.

[Arcey]

They'll go thru the pieces. If it's there to find they will.

Don't know about the NHRA. NASCAR has 'em all fitted with black boxes now. Just like an airplane.

Medlin last summer. Force busted up last fall. Kalitta last weekend. That's a bit much in my ole mind.