The injured at the Cacklefest ? (B.G.KY)

Anyone know if the guys injured at the Cacklefest are ok ? We talked to a lot of people, some said the driver was inexperienced and had just bought that altered and had it in gear when they fired it....I don't know that for sure, but it jumped and sweeped towards the wall when it was fired because the wheels were cut that way and smashed the former owner, and older gentleman that was on one of those Gopher wheelchair cart things between the wall and the front end. Then it chugged down the wall smashing him along the way when a fireman douched the injector w/ a fire ext. and killed it. They said that gopher thing was mangled but kept him from being crushed. Then another guy went running for help after it happened and had a stroke. The guys I was with were looking right at it when it happened, but I was watching Ray Godman's F/C lurch when they fired it also. Not good for the Cacklefests. Hope they're ok.


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YIKES. Hope there werent any serious injuries. how about a couple of pics?

 

My buddy was there with his Willys (runner up in the class BTW) and said the guys involved (not the stroke/heart attack guy) were on the grounds Sunday and were ok.

 

That's the word I got from a friend of mine that was there,....... there wasen't anyone seriously injured,.... ( but this is the first I had knowen about the stroke victom )

 

There were probley 50 cars on the track at the same time and everyone was suppose to be behind the wall. The guy that got hurt was the owner who didn't "scoot" outta the way of his own car backing at him by mistake. Like others have said, it didn't ruin his weekend.

There were so many cars fired up at the same time I couldn't sit/stand in the grandstands the fumes were so thick. I was able to take one photo of it before I had to run for fresh air on high ground. I'll post the one when I get home.

 

A lot of the appeal of drag racing is that sepectators can mingle with the machinery and racers in the pits, right in with cars moving out to race or coming back down the return routes, many of the cars with poor visibility and generally poor suitability for maneuvering in close quarters...real attention to safety here would require strict separation of race cars and spectators, and much tighter restriction of even pit crew...
The separation necessary would absolutely kill my interest. I'm sure it will come, too--one good catastrophe would probably be enough to kill off the whole world of pit passes and seeing anything except from the bleachers.

 

I also thought it would be safer to let them make a soft half pass or something of that nature than to start them up and just set there. There were so many people on the track when they were running that it appeared to be mass confusion from my vantage point in the grandstand. I was surprised that no one got run over when they push started the Greek and Garlits right thru the crowd. I would rather see the "Train" run that just set there. I hope everybody came out ok!

 

Seems like a waste of time to not make a run.

Can you imagine all that time and effort and you can't run it down the track?

Imagine restoring a P-51 and being told you can start it but you can't fly it.

 

The cars restored to their prior glory have no chance of passing modern tech and making a pass.

But wouldn't it be cool to see...

 

Lots of the cars were making passes all weekend long. The cacklefest was just something in addition to the racing.......to get lots of them out on the track at the same time.....to see how loud and smelling they can get the air

 

if i had to list the top 10 moments in my short life thus far, asside from being raped by jersey shore girls in seaside when i was 16, in the top 3 would be watching the Winged Express make a run.

i love altereds. i have DVD's i just watch over and over in the garage when im (supposed to be) working.


BUT, i cant stand the caclefests, they just dont "do" it for me, its like going to a strip club and the girls dont get naked.

 

I wasn't there, but it seems irresponsible to build a car today (race or street) with out a neutral safety switch. I am assuming this car had auto tranny.
Panhead Guy

 

If you have never seen or attended the cacklefest then you just dont understand. If you like drag racing nostalgia style then it is the ultimate firing of the nitro cars. They call it cackle fest because it is so many notro burning cars just sitting there idleling and cackling away. No spectators were supposed to be on the track just the owners and the crews. The guy that owned the fed that got ran over would not have changed a thing. It could have happened any other time during his 40 plus years of family racing. It sucks it happened to him because he was a cool ol man. We had just met him earlier in the day while checking out his fed. And to add to the story he had moved over to the rail while all the cars where set up on the center stripes. The car that hit him, ran over him in Reverse not drive. He was pinned between the wall and the back of the car. they could not get it out of gear and off of him so thats when they dowsed the injectors with the fire extinquishers. The driver and others from the crew did not even realize at first anyone had been hit.

 

I was standing directly behind the "Pure Heaven" altered when it backed into the wall, pinning the old guy. He just sat there while the driver freaked or something, and hit the trottle, backing down the wall draging him along. We were certain he was seriuosly injured. But some guys grabbed the front of the car and pulled it off of him, and after jumping the fence running over to check on him, he appeared in good shape. He had to have some burns though. I understand that the heart attack victim was a track worker running to get help. It seemed to take forever to get EMT's over to the old guy that was pinned. All the noise was so loud that crews with cars next to the accident didn't know anything had happened. Totally ruined my experience, but I have seen it in 2 previous years! I hope every one is okay! If not, there will probably be some rules comming out. Does anyone know how bad the car got tore up?

 

I doubt there were any automatics out there, except in a door car. Typically these cars all clutch cars, either direct drive or with a trans.

The cacklefest cars are usually push started on the track, coming from the big end and turning around in the water box before stopping on the track. Very few people on the track because the push cars leave the track after the car starts. The track was wet and they thought it was safer to static start them instead. Problem was there were maybe 6 authorized people with each car, plus another 6 that didn't need to be out there. Those numbers add up pretty quick. Since the cars were originally scheduled to be push started they still had couplers/driveshafts installed. In retrospect I'm sure the organizers wish they had the teams remove those parts. Note that you aren't allowed to start one of these cars in the pits unless it's on jack stands or the coupler is out of the car. I doubt they'll make the same mistake twice. Personally I love the spectacle of push start cacklefest and look forward to it every year. The color, getting dosed by 98%, watching the headers turn cherry red, the sound of 20-30 cars wacking the throttle, echoing between the bleachers. Shit, I still gives me chills.

 

The standard procedure for Cacklefest at BG was for each car to be push-started in the left lane at the finish line, then drive to the starting line(push vehicle right behind 'em), make the turn into the right lane(which was a chore for the FEDs )and idle down to about mid-track and park on the center line. The push vehicles would shoot over into the staging lanes and park, and crew people would push the cars back far enough to make the turn. After all the cars parked and were shut down, the spectators were invited to go on the track .
THIS year, the powers that be(because of the rain)changed things..........all the cars were pushed to the center of the track and lit off simultaneously.
Man, I don't know why they allowed all those folks to be out there while cars were fired/ran........

A lot of people left after the rain...especially when the facility was telling everybody the nights activities were cancelled. I'm glad we heard different at the last minute---I wouldn't miss it for the world! 20-30 sets of zoomies, fuel flames shootin up in the night sky......wow!

 

There ARE rules in place,but I believe they will need to be revised following this accident.
www.cacklefest.com

Troy

 

I'm glad some of you guys are setting these people straight!!!
What happened Sat Night was not how it is usually run. Due to bad weather, NHRA decided to have it this way as to minimize risk to cars and participants.
Sure it backfired a little, but overall it was ok.

FYI
only 1 car out of all the cacklefest cars is NHRA Certified to be able to make a pass down the 1320.
Fuel cars and/or altereds didn't have Automatics. Direct drive and/or slipper clutches were the norm..

Having to been both coasts for both cacklefests, California makes the Bowling Green one look silly.

MY .02 cents...

Spoons

 

Ive been to/witnessed several Cacklefests,,Bakersfield only.
This incident at Bowling Green should be a reminder that playing with Blown & Injected Nitro motors can get ugly really quick.Like stepping in a cage with a 'tame' Cougar.
I love it,& really glad no one was seriously hurt.

 

You would think... but when you mix inexperience with nitro... shit happens.

Hopefully there was a DRIVER in the car.

Hopefully he would know where neutral was... or would have enough sense to have it in neutral AND push the clutch in.

Hopefully the guy starting it would know enough to rock the car back and forth to check to see if it was in gear... or in park on an automatic...

and HOPEFULLY the guy that got hit would have enough sense to not stand in front of the damn thing when it was being fired... or roll his little cart thingie to the side.

...and doing it like they did it... they didn't have enough time to put the proper jack stand under the back to get the wheels off the ground too...

Sam.

 

I hope this does not kill "Crackle Fest" Insurance will get expensive. or they will have to clear everyone from the drag strip and only have operators so there is a barrier between the car and spectators..

 

this is usually the coolest part of the weekend.....this year was pretty much a total cluster @#$% ....there were cars lined up like usual ...a couple cars lined up on the sides of the track ...( chrismans comet and the goose vette) ....the greek and garlits getting pushed down track ....and then more cars getting pushed into the line up.....figure the 20 plus cackle cars...with push cars going in and out of the track area.....and a lot of people on top of that......what was there , like 4 amblances and a emt car on the track right after the end .....it was chaos.....with a good dose of nitro and some quality exhaust tones......not a total washout.....but not as good as past years......now that friday night deal......you couldn't run away from the fumes.........lots of good nitro in the air......hahha brandon

 

i wish best condolances to all partys involved,,


..however,guys,,NEVER ,,,,..ever,,EVER !! stand in the front of or behind of a running car at any time!!!...any car!!!!..ESPECIALLY a HOT ROD or race car..

....ANY car (ESPECIALLY an old one) may jump out of gear at any time,,,

also,,while i have your attention,,,,ALWAYS USE A JACKSTAND!

 

OK. Enough about the "inexperience" comments. Jim Adolf was in the seat that night. Adolf has more than enough experience both racing and in previous cackle fest events. Go here for an official word.
http://www.dragracingonline.com/agent1320/2006/1320-viii_6-15.html

 

That doesn't say anything about why it happened, just double talk.

 

Some of these "piss and moan" people remind me of typical left wing bitching liberals that feint every time something even remotely bad happens. God forbid if they end up changing the rules just because of this one "freak" accident. The men, and women, that made drag racing what it is today were young brave men and women who defied the "norm" of a safe haven life ann went for the excitement of noise, smell and speed. They knew it was dangerous and did it for the love of the thing anyway. We need these people and their cars to remind of us of just how great it was. I only hope that NHRA doesn't over react and do something stupid.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong....I'm sure someone here will, but don't those cars have some sort of "kill switches"??? and wouldn't an "experienced" driver be able to find that switch with his eyes closed??

 

It ain't the bitching liberals who'll shut things down--it's the liability, insurance, and lawyers. An insurance company would just need one hint of a racecar mowing down spectators to change the shape of racing forever--and perfectly decent folks sometimes are forced to go the lawyer/tort route if they are left crippled and maimed.
Spectators mingling with racers make dragracing interesting--the actual races are pretty damn dull, in my unpopular opinion--but that whole concept is always a bomb waiting to go off.