400

Anyone know if QC called it before first round on 5/20 for their gamblers race? 90 minutes to home with an open trailer and leaky door seals, I got out of there as soon as it started sprinkling with the radar looking terrible.

Yes called it. Your run card is your rain pass. Good for 30days .

quote:

Your run card is your rain pass. Good for 30days

Nope Dion it was changed, it's good for the season.

Wayne is right, nothing has changed!

So I hear they had a couple incidents this weekend that could have gotten real ugly and wondering if anybody learned anything?

I hope we all learned one......Like a dog, engine diapers are a racers best friend....buy one, install it, and reduce your risk.

engines diapers a must and also be good idea to get fire equipment that actually works. a poor guys car is totaled due to the track equipment not working. if it had worked guy would of replaced some batteries, cables and some other stuff. Now its a burnt pile of fiberglass and chassis.

quote:

Originally posted by 519M:
engines diapers a must and also be good idea to get fire equipment that actually works. a poor guys car is totaled due to the track equipment not working. if it had worked guy would of replaced some batteries, cables and some other stuff. Now its a burnt pile of fiberglass and chassis.

Oh man, that sucks. Who was it?

Bob Pinkerton

Well did the poor guy have a fire extinguisher in his car as mandantory by IHRA rules for cars that fast? I heard there wasn't any anywhere to be found.
Also that engine containment is a Quaker rule for anything faster than 9.99, time for some enforcement.

The required fire system wouldn't have stopped a fire in the trunk..... IHRA requires a 5# system with one nozzle each in the engine compartment and one at the drivers footbox area.....

as for the diaper rules....IMHO if the car comes into the facility on/in a trailer it should have a diaper.

So the track's equipment didn't function properly leading to the fire not being put out with only minor damage? I would think that checking/testing that equipment before any car goes down the track would be mandatory.

I don't know that that car was fast enough for the on board system but for sure fast enough for an extinguisher but as told Terry years ago if they tried to enforce that rule they would knock out over half the cars on any given day.
Yes Shawn the track needs to have operatable equipment and people who know how to operate it.

[as for the diaper rules....IMHO if the car comes into the facility on/in a trailer it should have a diaper.[/QUOTE]

Agree Brian, however you will never get guys with street rods thinking they need a diaper, some of which are trailered.

Is it my imagination or at this years racers meeting, thought the rule was anything faster than 11 seconds requires a diaper. I have had a diaper on the last two race cars. My car has run low tens all year and no one has checked my car for a diaper. I even offered to open the hood during tech and was told not to bother because I run there all the time....doesn't mean I have the proper racing equipment.

I really wish they would take the time and check the cars for proper equipment before someone gets hurt. However, more and more tracks are leaving it up to the racers and not requiring tech. Heck, even been to Norwalk a dozen times in the past couple of years without anyone checking my car. However, this is very dangerous to think that all racers abide by the safety rules. I know several that are cutting corners with the thought that it wont matter.

But to Terry's defense, you need more than one guy looking at over 100 cars if you want a proper tech department.

quote:

Originally posted by CulpK348:
[as for the diaper rules....IMHO if the car comes into the facility on/in a trailer it should have a diaper.

Agree Brian, however you will never get guys with street rods thinking they need a diaper, some of which are trailered.

Is it my imagination or at this years racers meeting, thought the rule was anything faster than 11 seconds requires a diaper. I have had a diaper on the last two race cars. My car has run low tens all year and no one has checked my car for a diaper. I even offered to open the hood during tech and was told not to bother because I run there all the time....doesn't mean I have the proper racing equipment.

I really wish they would take the time and check the cars for proper equipment before someone gets hurt. However, more and more tracks are leaving it up to the racers and not requiring tech. Heck, even been to Norwalk a dozen times in the past couple of years without anyone checking my car. However, this is very dangerous to think that all racers abide by the safety rules. I know several that are cutting corners with the thought that it wont matter.

But to Terry's defense, you need more than one guy looking at over 100 cars if you want a proper tech department.[/QUOTE]



I think a lot of the "softness" of tech at a lot of tracks(not Norwalk) is caused by the owners not wanting to lose racers. I understand that. I take the safety of my car upon myself and make sure that I have everything I need to be as safe as I can. Now, the track having inoperable equipment, that's a whole different story.



What I'm trying to say is that the racers need to make sure their cars are safe, not tech. After all, it's our asses in the car.

For anyone who thinks skipping on some safety equipment is okay, all it takes is one accident. My dad had the best of everything and that did not make any difference.

The one thing I would like to draw attention to is what we found in my dad's car after his accident. As I and my dad's friend tore it apart searching for any clues we could find, we took the roof off the car. The roof was the original steel roof of a 70 Duster. When the chassis builder put dad's new chassis together in 1992 (updated to Chrome Moly because of new NHRA rules) the roof was left on the car and the chassis was built inside the car. The chassis builder never took the roof off and when we finally did in late 97/early 98, we found the tops of the chassis bars above dad and between the roof (funny car style cage) were not welded all the way around. The bottoms where anyone could look in the car and see were welded with no issues, but the top 50% were never touched. Unless you would have reached your hand up and under, nobody would have ever found the non-welded spots.

This did not contribute to any further injuries dad had as none of the bars came apart and caused more damage, but if he would have rolled, what are the chances that some of those bars would have come apart??? I don't know, just wondering out loud.

Point is, double check everything. Dad and I never saw that and if the accident would not have happened, we would not have known about it still. Pretty scary for a car going 820s at 170 20 years ago.

Clint

[What I'm trying to say is that the racers need to make sure their cars are safe, not tech. After all, it's our asses in the car.[/QUOTE]

Tony, not to argue with you, and like you I have the best that I can buy and my stuff meets or exceeds NHRA/IHRA safety requirements and then some. I am in a business where unsafe practices causes lives to be lost...it is extremely important to me. But I am not the type of guy I am worried about...its the guy that doesn't think it matters and doesn't care. These guys are in the lane next to you and I and unless the tech group checks their cars, they will not improve the safety because buying safety equipment does not make the car go any faster...that is the person that I worry about. Their mistake may cost you a car or injury and how mad does the thought that the rules require certain equipment that would have controlled or eliminated an incident make the guy that follows the safety rules, spent the money on the equipment only to find out the other guy did not and now your car is gone or you have medical bills to pay. Its a dangerous sport and I accept that, but that doesn't mean that I want to increase the chance of an accident because someone did not install the required safety equipment.

Mind you, I am not talking about the incident with the fire equipment. That incident I did not see and have only heard second and third hand reports about what happened. I am talking about a general lack of tech resulting in the increased possibility that someone can run their sub 11 second race car without the proper safety equipment.

Well Jim you could do like I did when I saw such things happening and report them to Terry.

quote:

Originally posted by CulpK348:
[What I'm trying to say is that the racers need to make sure their cars are safe, not tech. After all, it's our asses in the car.

Tony, not to argue with you, and like you I have the best that I can buy and my stuff meets or exceeds NHRA/IHRA safety requirements and then some. I am in a business where unsafe practices causes lives to be lost...it is extremely important to me. But I am not the type of guy I am worried about...its the guy that doesn't think it matters and doesn't care. These guys are in the lane next to you and I and unless the tech group checks their cars, they will not improve the safety because buying safety equipment does not make the car go any faster...that is the person that I worry about. Their mistake may cost you a car or injury and how mad does the thought that the rules require certain equipment that would have controlled or eliminated an incident make the guy that follows the safety rules, spent the money on the equipment only to find out the other guy did not and now your car is gone or you have medical bills to pay. Its a dangerous sport and I accept that, but that doesn't mean that I want to increase the chance of an accident because someone did not install the required safety equipment.

Mind you, I am not talking about the incident with the fire equipment. That incident I did not see and have only heard second and third hand reports about what happened. I am talking about a general lack of tech resulting in the increased possibility that someone can run their sub 11 second race car without the proper safety equipment.[/QUOTE]



Agree 100%, buddy. If everyone had our attitude towards safety, we wouldn't have to worry about the other guy. Never happen, though.