Bad news from Thompson Dragstrip

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RIP
That was a nice ride.

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RIP

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RIP
That was a nice ride.

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My buddy Johnboy took that picture today on his last pass
We sure are losing our friends at a rapid pace this year
Gus

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Truly sad .

Does anyone know what type of injury occurred so that the rest of us can guard against it in the case of a mishap?

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From posts on other sites the k-rail came through the car. Nothing anyone could do about it.

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Does anyone know what type of injury occurred so that the rest of us can guard against it in the case of a mishap?

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armco rail went through the car with obvious results...sadly there's only one way to guard against that, don't race at a track that has it.

i'm sure i might get flamed for this but on another site a member made mention of some of the (ever increasing) nhra and ihra regulations regarding safety equipment and such. then went on to mention that perhaps some of this would be better invested in making facilities (racing surface and surroundings) safer to begin with.

i fully agree with this opinion.

i don't know how many tracks still use these type barriers but i'm sure there's still a fair amount and i know i've run at a lot of them over the years.

with regards to safety, engineering controls are to be used preferential to safety equipment with safety equipment being your last line of defense. what this means it don't try to build a car that will survive accidents such as this but better yet remove the hazard (rail) to begin with.

this may sound ridiculous to some but personally i think the large sum of money that is WASTED on replacing belts that's there's nothing wrong with every two years would be better spent towards removing this particular hazard from tracks. i wouldn't really call this a freak accident, one of US is no longer here because of these rails and it could happen to anyone running next to these rails.

it's a horrible accident and the least that can be hoped for is that it brings to the forefront a problem and solution so we don't see more stories like it.

anyhow that's how i see it

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i wouldn't really call this a freak accident, one of US is no longer here because of these rails and it could happen to anyone running next to these rails.

it's a horrible accident and the least that can be hoped for is that it brings to the forefront a problem and solution so we don't see more stories like it.

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I know of two Orlando Speedworld regulars that had wrecks where the Armco got into the cabin/cockpit. The first was ~25 years ago at Gainesville in the shutdown area, door car, driver suffered severe and permanent foot damage. Second was ~18 years ago at Southern Dragway in GA, rear motor digger, gruesome outcome.

When watching the video of Richard making a pass in his Dart, you could see he had many friends and family that supported him. I feel sorry for their loss.

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Does anyone know what type of injury occurred so that the rest of us can guard against it in the case of a mishap?

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armco rail went through the car with obvious results...sadly there's only one way to guard against that, don't race at a track that has it.

i'm sure i might get flamed for this but on another site a member made mention of some of the (ever increasing) nhra and ihra regulations regarding safety equipment and such. then went on to mention that perhaps some of this would be better invested in making facilities (racing surface and surroundings) safer to begin with.

i fully agree with this opinion.

i don't know how many tracks still use these type barriers but i'm sure there's still a fair amount and i know i've run at a lot of them over the years.

with regards to safety, engineering controls are to be used preferential to safety equipment with safety equipment being your last line of defense. what this means it don't try to build a car that will survive accidents such as this but better yet remove the hazard (rail) to begin with.

this may sound ridiculous to some but personally i think the large sum of money that is WASTED on replacing belts that's there's nothing wrong with every two years would be better spent towards removing this particular hazard from tracks. i wouldn't really call this a freak accident, one of US is no longer here because of these rails and it could happen to anyone running next to these rails.

it's a horrible accident and the least that can be hoped for is that it brings to the forefront a problem and solution so we don't see more stories like it.

anyhow that's how i see it

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Does anyone know what type of injury occurred so that the rest of us can guard against it in the case of a mishap?

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armco rail went through the car with obvious results...sadly there's only one way to guard against that, don't race at a track that has it.

i'm sure i might get flamed for this but on another site a member made mention of some of the (ever increasing) nhra and ihra regulations regarding safety equipment and such. then went on to mention that perhaps some of this would be better invested in making facilities (racing surface and surroundings) safer to begin with.

i fully agree with this opinion.

i don't know how many tracks still use these type barriers but i'm sure there's still a fair amount and i know i've run at a lot of them over the years.

with regards to safety, engineering controls are to be used preferential to safety equipment with safety equipment being your last line of defense. what this means it don't try to build a car that will survive accidents such as this but better yet remove the hazard (rail) to begin with.

this may sound ridiculous to some but personally i think the large sum of money that is WASTED on replacing belts that's there's nothing wrong with every two years would be better spent towards removing this particular hazard from tracks. i wouldn't really call this a freak accident, one of US is no longer here because of these rails and it could happen to anyone running next to these rails.

it's a horrible accident and the least that can be hoped for is that it brings to the forefront a problem and solution so we don't see more stories like it.

anyhow that's how i see it

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I hardly ever commit on MOPARTS. However this is dead on correct in my opinion. The NHRA requires us to abide by all these safety rules which is great. I think it's time that tracks be made safer too.

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I've often wondered if there are minimum safety standards that a track has to need for NHRA/IHRA certification. We the racers are required to abide by rules but are the facilities required to do so as well? This is just a question and not a judgment on the track in question.

Steve

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Does anyone know what type of injury occurred so that the rest of us can guard against it in the case of a mishap?

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armco rail went through the car with obvious results...sadly there's only one way to guard against that, don't race at a track that has it.

i'm sure i might get flamed for this but on another site a member made mention of some of the (ever increasing) nhra and ihra regulations regarding safety equipment and such. then went on to mention that perhaps some of this would be better invested in making facilities (racing surface and surroundings) safer to begin with.

i fully agree with this opinion.

i don't know how many tracks still use these type barriers but i'm sure there's still a fair amount and i know i've run at a lot of them over the years.

with regards to safety, engineering controls are to be used preferential to safety equipment with safety equipment being your last line of defense. what this means it don't try to build a car that will survive accidents such as this but better yet remove the hazard (rail) to begin with.

this may sound ridiculous to some but personally i think the large sum of money that is WASTED on replacing belts that's there's nothing wrong with every two years would be better spent towards removing this particular hazard from tracks. i wouldn't really call this a freak accident, one of US is no longer here because of these rails and it could happen to anyone running next to these rails.

it's a horrible accident and the least that can be hoped for is that it brings to the forefront a problem and solution so we don't see more stories like it.

anyhow that's how i see it

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I hardly ever commit on MOPARTS. However this is dead on correct in my opinion. The NHRA requires us to abide by all these safety rules which is great. I think it's time that tracks be made safer too.

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I've often wondered if there are minimum safety standards that a track has to need for NHRA/IHRA certification. We the racers are required to abide by rules but are the facilities required to do so as well? This is just a question and not a judgment on the track in question.

Steve

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there has been nothing said here that I could ever disagree with, we as racers have to abide by the safty rules, I feel the track owners should be required to provide a safe racing environment, this was a tragic accident that I feel could of been prevented if the racing environment had been different.