IHI

iTrader: (1)

Got down there Thursday to Cordova to get registered and settled in a day early. Fri started the gamblers, lost 3rd gear 3rd round so naturally ran way off the number. Checked all the normal stuff since it worked on the return lane and nothing out of sorts. Sat. gamblers 2nd round again no 3rd gear so lost again dang it. Got back to the pits jacked up the car to check linkage underneath and modulator, while up in the almost full height of the jack car slips off the pad sending the center link of the steering up into the oil pan, was worried it was bad enough to hit the knifes in the crank, but luckily no harm so back to tranny problem. Ended up the gate was sticking open in the shifter and throwing it straight to neutral, cleaned it up and lubed it, took down the road and all was back to normal finally. Sat morning did bring an unexpected crash from the byron track, guy was going 130 and the steering shaft fell out or came loose, did'nt get the exact story, but the poor guy was on the big end supposedly going 130 when he lost all steering, hit the binders crossing over into the far lane, car turned around and came back into the original near lane and hit the middle of the turn off lane-the early one for break downs-at approx. 120mph backwards which sent him cartwheeling up and over the gaurdrail and then barrel rolling to a stop. Luckily the guy was able to walk away with a few scratches and a brusied leg. He was pitted straight across from my truck so got a birds eye view after they finally fork trucked it onto his buddies trailer. Driver said he was concious the entire time and it was like slow motion, said everytime the car came back down and hit the ground he thought his teeth were coming out. Thank *** nobody was seriously hurt, but the kicker of the deal was this was the cars last race as he sold it 3 weeks ago, but the guy who bought it agreeed to let him finish the year with it before he walked away from racing. Talk about ****ty luck, just 4 weeks before this he had to be rushed from the track for emergency surgury because of an anurysm somewhere in his body, did'nt get full details on that, but man what a run of bad luck.
Anyways...Sun for the track vs track racing dailed a 13.07 since the car had been running .06's but the air when I dialed indicated a slower ET. The cards put me against a stinkin rail, so I knew I had to push the tree to stand a chance and then run er out the back door and hope not to go too fast. Let go of the button and starred at the red light cause I knew it was close, no red eye and no win lights on his tower so I'm in the game!! Get to the 1000' and he's still nowhere in sight so I hit the binders and his win light comes on, WTF!!!! Picked up the time slip and I had a .015 to his .168 RT, but broke out with a 13.000? My car had never ran that fast at this track EVER so again I got burned by somebody hitting my mystery nitrious I never knew I had, somehow I picked up .09 by the 1/8mi. All weekend and last month-even with different air my 1/8 mi was always 8.30-.33 so how the car turned a 8.211 @ 82.56mph I guess *** only knows, musta been one crazy gulp of great air! Did'nt feel quite as bad when I got back to the stands and geard the next 4 runs after me were all breaks outs as well, still needed a bigger break pedal though.
If anybodies got the formula to conver the 1/8 into a 1/4 time let me know, kinda curious to see what it was gonna do that pass. Here's some crash pics for ya to look at, makes the cage idea seem like a good investment no matter what the speed. Later had another guy about lose it when his brake line cracked and got under his slicks, very weird weekend for carnage, heck we lost 6 of our tracks heavy hitter to blown motors and trannies, but it is the end of the season too!

IHI

iTrader: (1)

another, wish I could get these under 1 post

IHI

iTrader: (1)

nother

IHI

iTrader: (1)

last one

MdFormula350

wow that thing is messed up really good.

IHI

iTrader: (1)

oh, guess I can throw up a pic from down there as well

AlkyIROC

You can put them all in one post by maually entering the html source code.

That's not the first "fast" car to get wrecked. I watched a video last year that was taken at Sears Point a few years ago. I never saw so many wrecked cars all in the left lane on one day. One car split right in half and the zoom lens of the camera looking down the track you could see the drivers legs sticking out the front of the cage. The front of the car went flying further down the track. He had a broken ankle and lots of bruises but still survived.

You'll notice that superpro car has a full roll cage. NHRA has been refining the rules for over 50 years now and they know what's needed to protect a driver at high speeds. There are still the occasional injury or fatality but it's very rare compared to 20-30 years ago. I'd rather be in an accident in my car at 128 mph than in my truck at 60 mph.

Most of the accidents I miss. I'm a racer. I never get to see any racing except the 2 cars going down the track in front of me when I'm sitting in the water box. I have seen many come back to the pits on the back of the deck truck. Some looking pretty bad but not quite as bad as that car.

I've even come back to the pits on the back of the deck truck after blowing engines.

IHI

iTrader: (1)

This is the first up close and personal encounter I've had with wrecks at the track, but it's only my second season too. It's weird how much stuff a person takes for granted until something happens. Everybody that was around the car as I was snapping pictures were all talking about thank *** the cage, and the chasis builder did his job exactly like it should be since it held up and the driver walked away. Some of my buddies are cheap/lazy whatever you want to call it and chinch on some of the rules for the safey side, one guys been running 11's all year with no driveshaft loop, then 3 or 4 races ago when another buddy snapped the tailshaft off his trans and exploded the front u-joint the shaft was retained by the loop, so the Mon. after the races a loop finally got installed on his car too. The one rule everybody was waiting to see how the track handled was the do not help at the sight of a crash, or plainly if your racing and your opponent crashes you are automatically disqualified for giving assistance. On 1 hand I understand that, but I know I and probably any of us would gladly forefit a race/season if another driver was ever put in an unfortuanate situation since it takes only seconds for a situatuation to get outta hand and the other driver is usually right there before the safety crews-especially in the event of a fire!! which I got to help put out this season when my opponent blew a tranny line and soaked his trans blanket. Try slowing from 120 with one hand on the wheel and trying to hold the door open and point to the side of the track with the other. Luckily it was more of a show fire that just incenerated the blanket and nothing else-bad part was the driver did'nt have a clue, said he just noticed me trying to get his attention and force him into the far side of the track.
Just seems all to easy to forget it does'nt take much for things to get outta control.

AlkyIROC

Want to see some scary stuff, go walk through the roundy round pits. There's no rules for the entry level cars. Roll bars made from water pipes. Roll bars gas welded together etc. It's like those bolt together roll bars for the back of pickup trucks. They're just a fancy light bar and offer no rollover protection.

I'll probably be cutting out my 6 point 1 3/4" bar this winter and installing a full 12 point 1 5/8" MS cage. Since the third gen unibody offers no true frame, there will be 6x6" plates everywhere.

I even have a driveshaft loop on my low 15 second daily driven truck. Blowing a front u-joint at 60 mph can do just as much damage as at 130 mph. The rulebooks are only guidelines to what safety equipement should be installed at specific ET or speed. There's no reason a 13-15 second car doesn't need at least a 6 point roll bar. Usually it will help stiffen the chassis even on the slower cars. Just because the rules say you need it at 11.99 doesn't mean you can't install one in a slower vehicle. There's a V8 monza here that runs mid 12's and has a full 10 point cage. The car is certified for 7.50 because of the cage. It doesn't run fast enough to even need a roll bar but the cage sure helps those unibody cars.

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

it seams that track is notorious for carnage at big races. we had a couple of guys go off the big end running 200+ mph passes and one or two go over the wall several years ago when the nsca went there. that is definetly some crazy crap. i hate to see a monza in such bad condition. they will always hold a special place in my heart as my dad just sold the one we had. he bought it brand new in 1978 (it was a 79). by the time it was sold it was a complete race car with a 14+pt. cage. i just got done putting a 6pt bar in mine. i think that they are important to have at any speed.

IHI

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, Cordova has a weird aura of accidents, I forgot how many people have been killed there, but I do know they have a nasty dip about mid track that has caused numerious cars to get more than squirly at the 1/8th mi. mark, their shut down is terrible, nothing but cold pack sticking up 1-2 inches above the asphalt everywhere and then cracks big enought to swallow motorcycle tires in other places. I've been in the stands and seen 3 cars in 2 races end up in the bean field, so at least there last chance is about 1/2 mi. of dirt and weeds.

wingnut

This web page has an 1/8 to 1/4 mile ET calculator. Plugging in your 8.211 1/8 converts to a 12.81 1/4 mile ET!

Glad the driver of that car was alright. I've never witnessed a wreck (at the track) first hand, hope I never do.