Nostalgia FED driver passes out from heat stroke.

Seems like you are one of those "gotta get the last word" guys, but guess what...

metalshapes has a kill switch and will use it

 

Holy Jesus Tony, look at the cage. I could flunk that car from the grandstands!!

Although I drove in Gas and Stock classes as a young man, that's not the issue here. The issue is keeping everybody alive and healthy and the fact that I have stepped on some toes by suggesting that some of these nostalgia cars are dog shit. There are some nice cars and there are some POS cars. So be it.

 

My avatar reflects innovation in drag racing by intelligent racers. It is the High and the Mighty, a '50 Plymouth coupe that had many new and unheard of features, including moving the rear axle forward to increase weight on the rear tires. It was built and campaigned by the Ramchargers, a group of Chrysler Corporation engineers. It was all the rage in 1959/1960, as a C/Altered car.

 

Photos of the car in question....photos stolen from IowaHawk. Incident was on Saturday, I was there Sunday only. Car looks pretty nice to me but I'm no expert by any measure.

 

Go for it. I've been thrown out of better places than this.
I'm reminded of that line that Jack Nicholson delivered in the movie A Few Good Men.... "You can't handle the truth"!!

 

You are full of it. A narrow cage is better because it does not allow the head to acelerate into it and the currrent SFI padding (except the head bumpers) is rock hard. Wouldnt need all that padding if the cages were not so big. Current helmet designs are so much better than the old days that all the padding does is keep the helmet from getting scratched.

 

Alligator mouth, Humingbird ass....

 

Was one of them your old Tech job?

Or did they con you into believing it was your own idea?

 

How did that work out for Jack's character?

 

For what it's worth (nothing really) I think the driver was out before he impacted the wall. I know what it's like to be sitting in a multi layer suit all day in the heat and humidity. I'd buy that he had heat stroke.

I have legal Sfi padding in my car and it's hard as fuck. I would be more than willing to bet that he was wearing a dot and snell rated helmet. None of this really matters, just my opinion. I also feel this way-I know the rules, and if I choose to break them and I still pass inspection, it's on me. I've had cars certified and not once was it done with a driver in the seat with a helmet on. Never has clearance above the helmet or in front of the helmet been measured.


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A question for Mr. fridaynitedrags when you teched a car,did you have the driver get in the car with helmet on and measure for correct clearances or make a judgment call?
Just curious.

 

Looks like we were thinking the same thing.

 

So racing is that important to you that you would risk life-injury-equipment by sitting suited up for twenty minutes baking your brains?

 

Now you're just being childish with your attack on my personal integrity.

 

"I'm done on this thread"

Don't let the door smack your ass on the way out...

 

Mission accomplished...

 

I don't know if that was meant towards my reply or not but no, it's not. I stay as hydrated as possible every day, heat or not. But I can see how it could happen and I would believe heat stroke happened in this situation. To me he seemed out before the impact.




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Yes, I had the driver get in the car just as if he were going to make a pass. That's part of the routine when doing a chassis certification. It's pretty easy to see if there is clearance between the helmet and the top of the cage....or any other part of the cage without measuring it. Hell, I can see that there is insufficient clearance on the dragster from looking at the video, which was shot from the stands. You can also see that there is no padding, 45.1 or otherwise, on the front hoop......and I'm bettin' that's exactly where the driver whacked his noggin and scrambled his brains. I'm not sayin' that the heat didn't play a hand in what happened, but there were other things goin' on too that you guys don't seem to want to talk about. Even if he hit the second bar in the cage that looks to have had some kind of padding on it, I'll bet it was not 45.1. And another thing......What was the rating on his helmet??? How did he bang his ribs? Was he not tightened up in the belts? Did the belts fail? If they failed, what was the date on the belts?

There are lots of unanswered questions here.

 

Thank you for your intelligent and insightful response. I can understand how you might feel that way if you haven't the common sense to know what the hell I'm talking about.

 

This comment of yours reminds me of 90% of building inspectors and architects I deal with on a daily basis in the construction industry. They, like you have all the answers but have never done it themselves... looks good on paper though. The ones that never touched a tool in their life other than borrowing the wifes hammer to hang a picture... you know the type.

Racing is and always will be extremely dangerous. This video did help me put safety through the roof while planning my fed project. No, it is not cheap to run a perfect car, and yes, perfect cars will fail too... Accidents happen, and he will be back to race again without a doubt in any of our minds. Nice looking car by the way!!

ps... this is after all the hamb, generally, we are all into obsolete, unsafe, scary as hell hot rods and race cars. I'm going to say almost every hot rod and custom on this forum has no seat belts, driving down busy roads and highways... Putting our lives in someoe elses hands. Although "unsafe dragsters" cause a major issue... anyway... That's why we do what we do!! Now go remote start your four door Vovol and get yourself a cheeseburger.

 

It would be nice if someone actually checked with the people directly involved in the incident rather than posting at times mindless speculation. I know the builder of the car and certain other people that were there and know the driver (who incidently is getting better by the day) and will post when I have some concrete and confirmed information.

Roo

 

I think you meant in this case a ' Happy Meal' from Mickey D'z!

 

this is his intro. splains alot


"Long time hot rodder from the 50's. Built motors, drag raced, engine swaps, clip swaps, frame swaps, scratch builds, etc. Pretty good fabricator. Enjoy the technical side of things. Very opinionated about certain aspects of engine building. Firmly believe that you have to build to a "combination" of parts that will work in concert with each other. Get frustrated when a newbie picks a cam out of thin air without knowing anything about his motor. Also firmly believe that most everyone starts at the wrong end of the car. Gears first, then rear suspension and tires, then transmission, then converter based on cam specs, then work on the motor.
Thanks for having me here. Look forward to meaningful interaction. "

 

Thank you, but I was more interested in tech for a race not a chassis cert.
I guess what I mean is if the car was certed with one driver and someone else got in that was a bit taller?, you see the right chassis cert and all the rest of the equipment checks out do you still have the driver get in the car?

 

You are correct, SFI 45.1 is hard. If you haven't seen the engineering tests done on it by SFI, you'd have a hard time understanding that it is just barely adequate at the forces seen in an "incident".

How do you feel about getting your car certed without you being in the driver's seat to see how you fit?

 

Honestly, I feel fine with it. I know what the Sfi spec is on whatever car I'm driving. If I choose to not pay attention to it and it gets certified anyway, who am I hurting? Me. I've only done 2 dragster cages so far but both times I followed the Sfi rule for the style of dragster and the et that it was going to run (both are front engine cars with pretty decent looking legal cages). I take responsibility for what I do.


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I just noticed you Edited out your promise to be done with this thread, so you can keep trying to turn this into the fridaynitedrags show.

So I guess we know what your word is worth...


But all joking aside...

I have a little trouble taking anybody seriously that will go out on a limb as far as you did, without any meaningful information gathering.

And I think its worse when that is done with an air of professionalism.

 

I see what you mean. No, having the driver fit the car is not something I would be looking for during a routine tech inspection. Even so, we have been known to look the other way if the Race Director wants us to. He's the boss and he writes the paychecks and if his oversize buddy wants to make a pass, then his oversize buddy is gonna make a pass.

It's just politics. Maybe the driver who hit the wall in this case was somebody's buddy. Maybe not. I have no idea and it doesn't matter anyway.

 

Because a chassie cert does not require "the" or any driver to be seated in the chassie.NHRA Chassie Inspectors can only check for compliance assosiated with the SFI spec book. If the starter or race director determinds that your head sticks out too far then they can pull you out of competition.
How about the time J Force picked up a certed chassie and when they went to put it together it was noticed that is was not welded on the bottom.

 

As I was trained by Division 7 Directors and Division 7 Tech Directors, you put the driver in the car and see how he fits. It's part of the process as it was taught to me by NHRA. Maybe your Division guys do it differently.

How else are you going to verify that the side bar will help hold the driver in the car in the event of belt failure if you don't put a driver in there to see? Side bar design is all over the board.