320 feet short of a quarter-mile...

[Triple J]

What is the car flipped over or on it's side? 

That could be a problem.  Maybe augment the system with a net in front of the wall, or other obstacle.  Nets are a last resort due to a variety of safety issues, but they would be preferable to hitting a wall or stand of trees.  There probably isn't a perfect solution, just measures to increase safety.

[Drunken Monkey]

Good suggestions.

But for me it boils down to this: If they are really concerned about safety, maybe they shouldn't be drag racing.

[wbeck257]

Deaths, especially of well known members of a motorsport, change a lot of things in that series.

Look at NASCAR -- after Earnhardt died a lot of things changed, full-face helmets because required, HANS devices, SAFR barriers at all tracks, more paved infields, and the car of tomorrow.


And whoever said why not have a 1/4 mile of run off... they do. Look here:


There is plenty of paved space after the finish line. The problem is that the sand trap is not very long and ends. There just isn't enough room to stop there. Track owners need to spend the $ on making their tracks safe. Or the NHRA just doesn't need to race there.

(There is a lot of discussion about this in AMA roadracing too... many euro riders and some americans think some of the tracks like, road atlanta for example, are just insanley dangerous. IE Look at Duhamel vs. the wall, and how that turn is reconfigured now..)

[knightrider]

Good suggestions.

But for me it boils down to this: If they are really concerned about safety, maybe they shouldn't be drag racing.

wait, i have a question, do you wear gear? do you wear it to protect yourself? well why do you ride if your so concerned with your own safety?  just because they dont want to die if something goes wrong doesnt mean they should just not do something they love.

[Randimus Maximus]

Certainly track run off would be the best option.  At Bandimere in Denver, the track actually travels uphill after the finish line as the thin air reduces downforce up here.

The cars run carbon brakes in the rear, so adding them to the front shouldn't be that much expense or weight...they'd probably just have to take off some ballast they have elsewhere on the cars.

I bet we'll see changes in Nitro percentages again.

That being said, Top Fuel racing is extremely bad ass in person if you've never witnessed it live.

[PizzaMonster]

There is plenty of paved space after the finish line. The problem is that the sand trap is not very long and ends. There just isn't enough room to stop there. Track owners need to spend the $ on making their tracks safe. Or the NHRA just doesn't need to race there.

+1

Maybe that track was (and still is) fine for 180 to 200 mph cars but not the 300 mph ones.  It seems to me a bit irresponsible that the NHRA (and the other sanctioning bodies as well) hasn't limited some of these sub-standard venues to Sportsman-class racing only.  I remember when Top Fuel cars broke the 200 mph barrier and were running low 6 seconds.  A lot has changed since then but the tracks are basically the same.  Any track owner that still relies on 50 feet of gravel and a concrete wall to stop a modern funny car isn't looking at driver safety, just "containment".

There are many, many great racetracks (Nurburgring, Mosport and Watkins Glen come to mind) that used to host some awesome races but they ended up being deemed unsafe for modern Formula One or WSC use.  Intelligent people realized the cars had outgrown these tracks.  None of these tracks were forced to close.  They all still exist for a variety of lesser racing series.

Hopefully the NHRA will see it the same way.

[Speedbag]

They need to figure out how to prevent engines grenading - it seems sooo stupid to only get 1 (or 0.95) race out of an engine, if you are lucky.

mitt

True, but nitromethane is evil stuff. I have a piston on the windowsill of my shop that came out of a fuel hemi after one pass, and the heat markings on it are something you would expect from a spacecraft.

Another vote for runoff areas. The low-buck, small-time 1/8-mile strip I used to run at had a gravel runoff area (and it got used occasionally), so why can't all of them?