Nostalgia FED driver passes out from heat stroke.

DAMN!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czuG0zgcK4Q

 

Looks more like hard hit and knocked out

 

Damn is right !!! Wow, that could have been even worse if he was going down the strip when he passed out.

Scary stuff for sure. Hope he is ok.

Don

 

According to his son who commented on youtube he's doing fine. He doesn't remember anything from the incident though.

 

Thankfully he's OK.!

 

Why no kill switch on the back? Glad he's OK...

 

You can't shut off a nitro engine with a kill switch. Only a fuel shut-off or drowning the engine will work. That is one of the most bazaar videos I have ever seen. I kept looking for the slicks to blow out and wondering what would happen then. In defense of the starting line crew I would have been rattled too. That is something they probably didn't train for. They will now!

 

Anyone who is tasked with being in charge of a fire extinguisher at a race track should know its capabilities and be prepared to use it in a situation like this.. Thankfully the car stayed pinned against the wall. If is had rotated and ended up pointed down track (or back towards the start line) things would have got much more ugly real quick.

Roo

 

Good job he didn't carry on in reverse. There seems to be a lot of folks the wrong side of that fence and hanging about near the burn out area. Surely they're not all crew or staff.

Glad to hear the guy was okay.

 

Horrific!!

 

I was there, and yes, it was pretty scary

 

That was really hard to watch, it's like everyone stood back and just waited for something horrible to happen. Very scary

 

Happened to me last year. Heat stoke is no joke....

 

Here's my armchair analysis:

It looks to me like he was still conscience until he hit the wall.

It looks like the car idled at a high RPM. Whenever he would let off the brake, it would accelerate quickly on it's own. He had to hold it in place with the brake.

After his burn out, he put the car into reverse to get back to the starting line. He let off the brake a little and the car began to roll slowly back. At the same time, he turned the wheel slightly to the left so as to point it where he wanted it. As he turned slightly back to the right to straighten it back up, he let off the brake completely. The car accelerated very quickly. Because of his speed and being in reverse, the front wheels pulled hard in the direction he had them turned until they were turned completely to the right as far as they could go - not what he intended. The car was picking up speed and began spinning hard to the left. He turned the wheels hard in the other direction to compensate but the momentum was already too much by now so it didn't have much of an effect. The car just kept spinning the direction it was going regardless of the front wheels.

Unfortunately, just as the car was pointing towards the wall, he shifted from reverse to forward. The rear end planted. He gave it some gas. The car did what dragsters are designed so well to do, it shot forward. The rear wheels spun as they accelerated the car all the way into the wall.

I don't think it was heat stroke. I think the collision with the wall is what knocked him out.

Hope he's OK and gets the car going again. It looked like a nice one.

 

...this happened at this years Meltdown Drags in Byron, Illinois , has been shown many times. Driver suffered 3 broken ribs, otherwise OK.

 

Hard to believe how quickly it folded up, glad he's OK.

 

saw a similar incident a few yrs ago at bowling Green HRR..That dragster hit the wall in slow motion and curled up like a pretzel in a matter of seconds,while trying to back up..
Any dragster owner will tell ya,they don't steer worth a damn going backwards.

Rick

 

Probably the same reason there was no SFI 45.1 padding in the cage. And the same reason the driver's helmet was right up against the bars at the top. Piss poor engineering. If I were teching, he never would have made it out of the pits.

 

That car has padding on the inside of the cage. Totally agree on the fitment of the cage though, way too tight.


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That's hard to watch.

This is probably a good thing. ^




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What a horrible chain of events!What I'd like to add,it seems that when the front wheels jerked around the drivers hand on the steering wheel hit the shifter.I'm assuming the shifter is in the centre.It appearing the car had a sticking throttle problem.
As far as the safety crew,the only one with any sense is the guy who ran to the front of the car with a blanket or jacket and put it over the injectors.I'll assume he also grabbed the fuel shutoff.
Once I backed my altered up too fast.The wheel jerked around and dis-located my thumb.
I'm sure glad the driver is recovering.

 

Just hard to watch. Not sure how soon I could have responded if I was put in that situation.. Glad to hear that he only suffered some broken ribs as it could have been much worse.

 

Now that I know he is OK I'd like to say he should have won the burn out contest!!!

That said I'm impressed the motor (and slicks) stayed together as long as they did.

 

Guys....since I am the President of the Meltdown and I spoke to the driver of the FED..3 days after the accident......out of respect to him and his family...I posted this right after the event.....we dont need a thread of speculation out here....jeez guys.....

FED DRIVER UPDATE
On a more serious note……I just spoke to the driver of the FED….he is leaving the hospital and in good spirits. He has 3 broken ribs but is doing great! I would like to add this quote from him “You guys put on one hell of a show and I am disappointed I wasn’t able to see the rest of it.” The MDA and all friends and supporters are happy to hear he is doing well.
On a side note, I would also like to mention that the video someone posted is NOT funny, it is NOT entertainment, there is a person in that car, someone’s husband, brother, father, fellow Hot Rodder, and it took some brave people to go up to a Nitro Motor running full out to extinguish it without knowing if it was going to explode……this situation was terrible but could have been so much worse.
People stating they should have cut the mag or used the kill switch…….that would have turned the engine into a bomb, The crew did EXACTLY what they should have done to properly cut the motor off……so thank you to one of the crew who knew to extinguish the engine through the injectors…..any other way and it would have become dangerous!! (fuel or air)
Racing is fun, but things can go wrong in a blink of an eye, the driver clearly had someone watching out for him….and all of us this past weekend!

For those that were not there....the car was running full out...there was MOLTEN liquid rubber, and concrete spewing from the rear wheels and it was going nearly 360 degree's..there are holes 5 inches deep from it trying to dig to china!

If you think you could have hit the shut off switch....turn on a sand blaster and stick you face in front of it.....without a mask.....let us know how well that works out for you......this car was NHRA certified......the driver went through a horriffic event, it is easy to play Monday morning quarter back....
I apologize to those that have to read this....and thank those wtih the respect not to post anything dis-respectful.....I personally feel for the guy and his now wrecked rail!

 

thank you for posting this

 

Looked to me like the front bar is what knocked him silly. The rulebook says that the cage must be padded ANYWHERE the helmet may come in contact with the cage. And I'll bet a nickel he was not using 45.1 padding. I'd also like to see the SFI tag in the helmet. I'll bet it was a DOT helmet only. And another thing, the front bar is waaaaaaaay too close to his face. The rule calls for 3 inches. Wait until he goes up over the corner of a concrete barrier. You say the car was certed? I don't know any Division Director or Division Tech Director who would cert a POS like that.

I love drag racing probably more than any of you guys, been doin' it since 1957 and I feel that I have to point out these deficiencies in the cars and driver's equipment if we are to continue to have a sport. Insurance is now the highest cost of putting on a drag race and if nutballs like this guy show up with inferior equipment, the insurance companies can make it or break it for us.
IF the cage had been properly fitted with 45.1 padding at all places where the helmet could make contact with any bar.....and.....
IF the cage had been properly constructed for the size of the driver....and.....
IF the driver had been wearing an SFI 38.1 HANS device, there would likely have been no driver injury. A HANS is required at 200 mph and I know that car.....ON FUEL..... would eclipse 200. I've seen plenty of SBC FED's and RED's go 170 on gasoline.

Anyway, like I said originally, if I were teching, that car would have been put back on the trailer and sent home.

Not trying to be an ass here, just pissed off at people who slack on the rules.

 

With all your knowledge, why don't you come out here next year and tech inspect?

 

It was down right scary, I would say it is one of the worse things I've seen. It's amazing he didn't suffer from far worse injuries.

 

What about heat stroke do you know? It was a hot day, the driver was wearing heavy protective clothing. He passed out, that simple.

I didn't see any neck or head injury mentioned? So how would a HANS prevented his rib injury? Hell I have broken ribs having rough sex before!

Sounds to me like the driver came out with very minor injuries compared to what might have been the case.

 

They keep telling us over the radio at Bonneville, two bottles of water then one bottle of Gatoraid. All day long. For those guys in a fire suit strapped in a car, someone needs to attend to them, they are people too. I hope this driver is up and around soon.