History Crash!

Neat little video. Crashing is one thing but fire really scares me.

 

The Indy roadster that hit the wall backwards and burst into flames killed the well known driver. Who's an Indy historian who knows his name?

 

Those guys had HUGH balls!,,,the lack of safety equipment,,,Racing has come so far since those days,,but damn,the cars now are not near as good looking as those in the past. HRP

 

The flames across the track with cars going through them must have been a trip. Not really being able to see the other side. I agree about modern cars not being as good looking, but the saftey factor is definetly welcome!

 

weren't you on "the real world".

 

Interesting that none of the cars crashing are French.

The car backing into the Hay is a Veritas RS they handled like a 3-legged chicken, and swapped ends all the time. I don't think it was the driver's fault. Unless you count getting in the thing in the first place.......

 

That #23 looks like the McFarlan that Bert Adams crashed in the first Indy 500 in 1911.

 

Note to all race drivers "Do not use the Caveman Theory. Fire Is NOT Your Friend" Certainly an eye opener>>>>.

 

maybe i'm an idiot, but i don't see a video?? i just see a picture of a car missing some wheels. where is the link?

 

'' I'll post more info on that crash tonight, Bob Swanson was involved as well with the exFrank Lockhart powered V16 powered car.

 

remind me to never try to ride a three legged chicken..

 

I've been driving fuel altereds since 1966 and I'll tell ya looking back at the old equipment scares the hell out of me. I wonder "What was I thinking" I guess the phrase "Ignorance is bliss " really is true

Randy Bradford

 

You are not alone, click on the second photo below the #23 car.

 

Hey Bluto,Where is the 3rd leg placed on the chicken??>>>>.

 

Back when the Speed Channel was changing it's name, they had a day or more dedicated to old films of old racing. All different styles of racing were presented, but mostly old stock car racing. I was watching one race that was at Langhorne Speedway and I had to turn off the TV and walk away. It was just carnage among the cars, and worst, the drivers. You're right Ryan, racing back then was so very dangerous.

 

Kinda glad that's low res (on this end anyway). Yeah, racing is safer today, but it's still not 'Safe'.

 

Now when fires start with alcohol,you can't see the flames because it burns so clean.

 

I've heard some racing classes mandate chemicals in their alcohol fuels to make the flames visible (basically add a dash of gasoline is what I hear).

Sounds good to me, every time I think of an alcohol fire I remember watching an Indy race on ABC, and the fire fighters put the car out while the driver is jumping up and down in front of them, 'cause he's a human torch, but it takes them what seems like a year to figure it out (yeah, I know it was only a couple seconds, but...). I'm not raggin on the safty crew either, that's just the problem with alcohol, and a good reason to run alky burnin races at night.

 

The third leg is in a very "wrong" place

AND I suspect more people here drive 3LC's than know it or care.

Generally what happens is, with suspension compliance, something touches and the whole mess goes "infinite stiff" this loads the opposite corner. Resulting in the 3LC coming round on you pretty damn quick.

Next your gonna tell me no one ever told you a stop watch was a 'Tick-biscuit'

I remember a guy at Ascot trying to explain short track 'Suspension Geography' to me........It was in a terrible State!

 

Well that's a waste of time, Americans are notoriously terrible at geography. I'm evidently on an island somewhere off the coast of California (or so I've been told ).

 

The title of the french black and white video loosely translates to "What could arrive" or "How it could arrive"

 

Methanol has a higher flash point than gasoline and is easily extinguished when ignited. After the Sachs/Macdonald inferno at the 64 Indy, methanol became the standard in American open wheel racing. You probably would have seen twice as many fires, over the ensuing years, had gasoline been the fuel of choice.

 

Back in the mid/late '50s, I went to the Nebraska State Fair "Big Car" races each summer. The races were sanctioned by AAA, and often featured current or past winners of the Indy 500.

Of course, it was very exciting for a youngster like myself. There was nothing like the sound of Offies doing hot laps, and the smell of Castor oil wafting through the air as you walk from the parking lot to the track, to get the blood stirring.

The cars were mostly Offy powered, and many times obsolete Indy cars from a few years earlier. They were "straight-up" designs with tall skinny Firestone knobbies. Roll bars and shoulder harnesses were non-existant. Helmets were rudimentary at best, and seat belts (if used) were likely WWII surplus.

It seemed like there was ALWAYS one or more drivers in the group who had lost a hand, forearm, leg, etc. I can still recall going into the pits after the races and checking out how a one-handed driver had specially modified his steering wheel to accomdate his loss.

Accidents were taken very seriously though. When there was a rollover, or other bad wreck, the racers themselves would stop and render first aid. Safety crews consisted of little more than semi-clueless ambulance drivers, who would unceremoniously scoop up the poor victim and toss him in the back for a bumpy ride to the hospital.

I'm not so sure the "old timers" had more balls than today's drivers. It was simply a different society. The real early guys had come out of WWI (or at least knew others who had), and then came the WWII-era vets. Life itself was much more of a crapshoot deal. Things like world wars, polio, comparatively crude emergency and medical care, lack of workplace safety concerns, etc, fostered a more fatalistic mindset. And, there was nobody to sue if you got hurt. You took your lumps and (hopefully) moved on.

 

Absolutely, I was however commenting on being able to see it (fire), as opposed to having to depend on the evidence of it (blistering paint, smoke, charing of the fire suit, etc...).

 

Great video. Scary as hell. I just had the gas tank valve go on my tank over engine Ford tractor and spill several gallons of gas over a hot motor and exhaust. Did not catch fire. I was glad.

 

Nope. I guess Ted my 3 legged rooster is fairly common. And shit I thought I had something. Wait till I get my hands on Mr. Haeny>>>>.

 

If this counts, let me know....but the only firiery crash i have ever been in was when i was 13 and on a skateboard....yes...a skateboard. Myself and two friends were cruising down Central High Hill (@ 55 MPH) and I lost it veering off the road and into the yard of a city council members house. I hit the 8 foot long propane tank at about 35-40 MPH and knocked it over.... As the gas was leaking from the tank, I got up, limping, and hit the tank with my skateboard and this starting a huge freaking flame...or should I say flame-thrower.....The fire dept. came and cut the gas off at the regulator and I was taken to the sheriff's dept. where my mother used to be a deputy, and she was called......to come kick my ass.....no charges were filed. But I did pay a huge fine...........the fine being my ass hurting for a month for skateboarding down a public 4 lane road....And yes, I learned my lesson...for a few weeks...until I got brave again.

Mott

 

About that #23 car in the opening picture;
That was not unusual in the early years on those banked turns and boardtracks.
Reason is wooden spokes and speeds exceding the gradient of the bank, as long as you keep the right speed the forces are perpendicular to the roadsurface, speed up and the G forces start to try to push the car sideways.
That is something that wooden spoked wheels are not made to withstand, the spokes give way, and all you have left to race on are the hubs.
The driver of the #23 car was very lucky, normally the axlestubs would dig in the track and launch the car end over end with a dead driver as a result, talking about dangerous...