Another NHRA driver killed....SEATTLE

I doubt you could find a test driver who would get behind the wheel to test the system. Here's a you tube link to two top end crashes at Englishtown in 2009 where the safety net system worked for Marty Northstien and Alexis Dejoria, and both walked away from some scary crashes.



I guess the million dollar question is why the did the safety net system fail to work for both Neal Parker in Englishtown and Mark Niver in Seattle?

 

i wasnt thinking someone would be driving, more like a guided vehicle at say 150mph, maybe a small hook hanging down under the car to catch a wire? there has to be a simple solution.

 

aweful. looks like the sand alone would have slowed him down. Just aweful. absolute shame.
go in peace.

 

Real Sad

 

Crap, I saw this thread and didn't realize who this is. I just got the news from another buddy that it was Mark... Crap What a nice and very talented guy, I didn't know him well, but we've been floating around the same cirlcles for the last twenty five years or so. He will be missed.

 

From competition.com:


Winners Cory McClenathan, Tim Wilkerson, and Greg Anderson and their fellow National Hot Rod Association racers completed the Northwest Nationals Sunday evening and are moving on to Sonoma, Calif., for this weekend's FRAM-Autolite Nationals at Infineon Raceway.

Meanwhile, the King County Sheriff's Department Criminal Investigations Division will continue its examination of the Pacific Raceways scene where Top Alcohol Dragster driver Mark Niver died Sunday in a high-speed top-end accident.

Lead Detective Jay Moloney said Monday morning, "We're just barely getting started. We processed the scene yesterday, but I haven't had a chance to do much but just the initial paperwork on this. The autopsy was most likely early this morning, but I haven't heard from the medical examiner's office yet."

He said "it's too soon" to determine whether negligence on anyone's part played a role in the accident.

"I know the NHRA is looking into the causes so that they can prevent it from happening in the future. The vehicle still needs to be inspected to figure out what happened with the parachutes and why the vehicle folded the way it did. The biggest question's going to be what the vehicle inspection show us," he said.

No cause of death has been announced officially, but Moloney said, "I think (with) Mr. Niver, the cause of death probably will be head injuries."

He confirmed that Niver, 60, of Scottsdale, Ariz., was pronounced dead at the scene after his A-Fuel Dragster became tangled with the netting beyond the sand trap and crumpled like a paper wad.

"King County Medic One makes that determination. When I got to the scene, I notified the medical examiner's office and they responded." He said Niver never was transported to a hospital or treated away from the Pacific Raceway property.

Moloney said he has no timetable when his investigation will be completed but guessed "about a month, possibly longer, definitely not a year."

He said, "I don't expect any charges" to come from his investigation. Any time there's a death, we have to do some sort of investigation to make sure that there really was an accident. And there's nothing in this case that would indicate that it's anything other than an accident."

What Moloney's department will be inspecting, he said, is "mostly the car." The NHRA, he said, "is mostly going to be doing most of the inspection on that. It's beyond my expertise to be able to tell you what failed on that vehicle."

Glen Gray, vice-president of technical operations, will be working with Moloney, as will Graham Light, NHRA board of directors member and senior vice-president of racing operations. Both were at Pacific Raceways Sunday, helping Moloney and the King County Sheriff's Department. "Mr. Gray is the one I primarily spoke with," the detective said.

Said Moloney, "Luckily, Pacific Raceways really doesn't have that many accidents. This has been kind of a rough year for them, because they had a motorcycle fatality earlier in the year. It was on the road course. He failed to negotiate a curve. I can think of only one other. The driver of a roadster died of natural causes. He made the quarter-mile and had a heart attack, and the car just rolled to a stop."

Niver's fatality was the second in a month and the third of the year at an NHRA national event. A female spectator was killed in February at Phoenix's Firebird International Raceway, hit by a tire that came off Antron Brown's Matco Tools Dragster.

 

Medical examiner says NHRA driver dies from blunt force injuries to head, neck and torso

 

According to the news here in phoenix he was from here. If I hear of the funneral plans I will post the info.

http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/regio...nix-man-killed-in-crash-at-washington-raceway

 

"Medical examiner says NHRA driver dies from blunt force injuries to head, neck and torso"

I figured as much. With all the crashes I've seen, his definitely appeared to be survivable. Cars chassis are intended break at certain points to keep heavy and rotating parts away from the drivers compartment. When the nets cause the car to fold back into itself, there are bound to be parts that come back at the driver as ultimately happened here.

I still can't believe Mark is gone.

 

Man....this makes my stomach sick. Really sad!!! RIP. JOKER JASON.

 

"the corperate dollars need to leave, lets get back to how it was, a bunch of guys get together and build a car and go racing. No more multi car teams. Reduce the blowers to 6-71's make the funny cars look like the car they are suppose to be, not some super slick areodynamic wedge.
As far as the tracks go, if they are too short to handle todays cars they need to be taken off the circut. (This should be for the pro classes only)"

I agree whole-heartedly with these suggestions. But then again, I don't race like I used to since the dog-food execs took over...
r

 

Not trying to stirr up shit. But that is what the nostagia racing was suposed to be. They have fucked that up already in my opinion to! It is people and you will not be able to please them all. I have been to plenty of racer meetings over the years and no one ever seems to agree on anything. I raced with John Shoemaker for many years and I have been through all of this and it sucks. It will not change unless the racers want it to change. I agree that cars do need to slow down. Years back it was the tires, now shutdown area's. We all went nostagia racing to keep the cost down. That is all gone now. You can't compete without 50k in spare parts in the trailer anymore. NHRA will come up with some bullshit new deal to passify people and continue doing what they will do anyway.

 

HERE IS A COPY OF TRACK WITH SHUTOFF LENGTH ...............

 

http://www.nhra.com/story/2010/7/14...unces-amendments-to-rulebook-in-four-classes/

 

Mark Niver Memorial picture. RIP Mark!