Seamus
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NHRA Driver Died Today
« on: June 21, 2008, 07:06:55 PM » |
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Scott Kalitta Big time racing family, sad to see. ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. - Scott Kalitta died Saturday when his Funny Car burst into flames and crashed at the end of track during the final round of qualifying for the Lucas Oil NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/a.../car_nhra_driver_killed_8 |
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MFAWG
Rich Corinthian Leather Jacket
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Re: NHRA Driver Died Today
« Reply #1 on: June 21, 2008, 07:10:17 PM » |
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IIRC, Connie was Shirley Muldowney's car owner when she was still 'Cha Cha'.
A father should never have to outlive his son. Very sad.
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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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Seamus
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Re: NHRA Driver Died Today
« Reply #2 on: June 21, 2008, 07:13:27 PM » |
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IIRC, Connie was Shirley Muldowney's car owner when she was still 'Cha Cha'.
Among other things.  A father should never have to outlive his son. Very sad. Indeed, parents should never outlive there children. Went out doing what he loved to do though, wish we all could say that. |
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birdymaker
Straitjacket From: a third world country in the making
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Re: NHRA Driver Died Today
« Reply #3 on: June 21, 2008, 07:30:59 PM » |
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all local people here the kallita's and shirley. sad to see. i actually met scott and connie on several occasions when i was in to drag racing. quality people.
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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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JDerion
Vest & Plus Fours
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Re: NHRA Driver Died Today
« Reply #4 on: June 22, 2008, 09:23:05 AM » |
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Respectfully I post this link. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=030_1214097117I have to wonder why there is a concrete barrier at the end of the track instead of a gravel or sandy incline, or nothing at all? While nothing could ensure survival at those speeds, many things would give you a better chance than a wall. |
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Sigurdur Hjartarson is a douche bag
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Seamus
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Re: NHRA Driver Died Today
« Reply #5 on: June 22, 2008, 09:35:04 AM » |
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It's a sad video, and you posted it tastefully.
Unfortunately it takes incidents like this to reconfigure things, either to make the cars safer or the tracks safer, the legacy of the Eric Medlen tragedy last year is that the cars are safer now.
You're right about the track it kind of looked like a multi-purpose track to me, the wall you mention looked like the wall for a corner of a road racing track.
Usually there is a big sand box and a safety net before the wall (if there is a wall) and If you look closely at the video you will see sand and a safety net. Again though I am not familiar with the track at Englishtown, NJ. but they've been racing there for ever.
In theory in the event of a parachute/brake malfunction the sand box slows the cars before they hit the net. The fact is these cars have gotten significantly faster since a lot of these tracks were built, and they need more time to slow down in the event of a catastrophic failure.
I hope the legacy of losing Scott Kalitta is safer tracks.
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MFAWG
Rich Corinthian Leather Jacket
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Re: NHRA Driver Died Today
« Reply #6 on: June 22, 2008, 09:45:40 AM » |
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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.
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« Last Edit: June 22, 2008, 09:48:40 AM by MFAWG »
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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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birdymaker
Straitjacket From: a third world country in the making
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Re: NHRA Driver Died Today
« Reply #7 on: June 22, 2008, 09:56:16 AM » |
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the problem was the chute which didn't deploy properly. had this happened, he'd still be racing today. this is exactly why the driver usually packs the chute himself.  |
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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
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Re: NHRA Driver Died Today
« Reply #8 on: June 22, 2008, 10:18:10 AM » |
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the problem was the chute which didn't deploy properly. had this happened, he'd still be racing today. this is exactly why the driver usually packs the chute himself. Chutes not deploying is also a fairly common event, these cars do have brakes, and when the brakes are used you will see the car start to hop a bit, his car didn't do that which leads me to believe he was unconscious from the concussion of the explosion (hopefully) before he hit the wall. It's hard to stop a however heavy they are funny car traveling 330 mph quickly and safely. When the chutes DO deploy it's 3 g's of force, so that's why they have uphill run outs, and/or sand and safety nets. I know that TV is 2 dimensional but that sand trap looks really small, hopefully I'll be able to have a better look at it on todays broadcast, and if this isn't a multi-purpose track wtf is a wall doing there? It was an accident waiting to happen and it did. |
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birdymaker
Straitjacket From: a third world country in the making
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Re: NHRA Driver Died Today
« Reply #9 on: June 22, 2008, 10:28:30 AM » |
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brakes have no chance of stopping one of these cars, hence the parachutes.
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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
Karma: 52 Posts: 2376
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Re: NHRA Driver Died Today
« Reply #10 on: June 22, 2008, 10:45:14 AM » |
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brakes have no chance of stopping one of these cars, hence the parachutes.
I grew up a stones throw from where the Seattle event is held, and I've been to probably a hundred NHRA events, and I can't tell you how many times I've seen a chute not deploy and the driver walk away in a funny car or a top fueler. I've even seen one or two of these cars come to a complete stop after the half or so mile run out w/o chute, even if not a complete stop just slow the car down enough so that when it hits the sand and the net the g force is lessened significantly, absolutely. I just google earthed the race track, the run out is a pretty standard almost twice as long as the quarter mile, and the sand looks fairly long, the wall looks like it abuts a wooded area and a county road? |
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gleek
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Re: NHRA Driver Died Today
« Reply #11 on: June 22, 2008, 10:46:54 AM » |
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Senseless death in a senseless "sport". If you're not trying to set a land speed record in one of these:  I don't see the point. Maybe all the stupid mother*fudge*ers that want street race will now think twice. |
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Woman, open the door, don't let it sting. I wanna breathe that fire again.
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spacey
Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat From: Group W Bench
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Re: NHRA Driver Died Today
« Reply #12 on: June 22, 2008, 10:57:40 AM » |
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Maybe all the stupid mother*fudge*ers that want street race will now think twice.
Doubt it, that's, at least in part, what makes them stupid mother*fudge*ers. |
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MFAWG
Rich Corinthian Leather Jacket
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Re: NHRA Driver Died Today
« Reply #13 on: June 22, 2008, 11:18:28 AM » |
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I don't think finding out who has the fastest car and the best hand eye coordination on any given day is 'Senseless' by any means. Of course, I'm watching 2 different races at the same time as I type this...  |
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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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gleek
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Re: NHRA Driver Died Today
« Reply #14 on: June 22, 2008, 11:27:56 AM » |
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I don't think finding out who has the fastest car and the best hand eye coordination on any given day is 'Senseless' by any means.
To me, that combination of factors is as arbitrary as trying to find out who can run around a track and complete his IRS Form 1040 the fastest. |
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Woman, open the door, don't let it sting. I wanna breathe that fire again.
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