Anyone else see a problem with the amount of people tracks allow to be in the staging lanes?
I can only imagine the carnage that would occur if one car has a mechanical issue while doing the burnout. Maybe a stuck throttle or blown tire. IMHO there should be a limit of 2 people directly associated with each car permitted anywhere near the starting line. While I haven't personally witnessed it, only "as seen on TV" with the "Street" racing shows, it would be front page and first on news if anything happened and would certainly harm the sport.

I agree. There should be NO SPECTATORS anywhere near the starting line or burnout box. Max of two crew members, and stop holding the damned cars in the burnout!!! It will continue however until someone does get hurt, then all hell will break loose.....

The stands are probably filled with smart (but lazy) Lawyers. They don't have to "Chase the ambulance", just walk down to the starting line and sign 'em up!

Really, this is a disaster ready to happen, and eventually it will.

Bob

No driveshafts ever break... at Lights out at SGMP a few years ago they assigned a wristband with a certain color that allowed u to be on the staring line, Milan Mich is doing it too but only on the FRi heads-up races, no time Sat is a whole diffrent story....

You all need to see this at Big Dawg night at Piedmont. I saw one on here the other day where a guy in a wheel chair was right up there in front of everyone.

Not a fan of that crap. Saw a driveshaft nearly kneecap a couple folks a while back. Lucky for them, it missed em by a foot or so. Have heard many horrific stories of "accidents' between water box and starting line. Saw a video recently of a car doing a burnout with idiots on the track side of the wall. Car got sideways, idiots didn't move, idiots got squeezed/squished by the car. I assume they learned their lesson? What legitimate reason would there be for more than one person to be alongside the car as it's being staged? At Frank Hawleys school a few years ago, he talked about a clutch that came apart and went through the car in the other lane as they were doing their burnout. I wonder how many folks have been hurt by being up there for no reason?

I agree with all the comments posted thus far. However, I don't see it very often when bracket racing is going on. However, I see it all the time when there is some sort of heads up deal going on. Maybe that is because we don't draw enough spectators to even create a crowd. Take care. Tom Worthington

I think the original post here was referring to the Starting line / Burnout box and not the Staging lanes.

Here at the Ghetto Nationals they have dozens of people in burnout box and starting line. It takes 6 of them to hold the car during burnout and 6 people to stage the car. The other 32 people in his crew are there for moral support for the driver. They are smoking pot and drinking beer in bottles right there on starting line. Even with all that help it takes them 4 or 5 minutes to stage the car and then it is a dog. He had "No Time" and it ran like a 7.50 in 1/8 mile. They think it is impressive, I think it is a sad joke. Some are there simply to start trouble. Twice I have went up there to make a test pass and come back some low life parked his truck in my pit where I could not even get my racecar in my pit. Then he wanted to fight about it! Most tracks have a rule no Glass Bottles yet that rule is ignored during those events and does not apply. Also most tracks say no Guns or Drugs, that crowd does not care about those rules either.

What bothers me is I do not care if they make themselves look like fools but if a converter, driveshaft or something like that comes loose and hurts one of them they would be the first to sue. Even a rock or bolt that gets under a tire on a burnout could put out an eye or serious damage. There was a guy in a dragster had his Borla type muffler come off and hit a guy behind him breaking his leg. Things can happen.

At my home track during one of the Ghetto National events a guy was Drunk, Texting on his phone and walking over to pit side. He tripped over front of a dragster and fell breaking his wrist. He sued and won a lot of money.

That costs the track more money and raises the cost for us to race. I think the track puts up with it because everyone is paying to get in and on those street type races they have no pay out, but if someone gets shot and killed or some major accident the track may be sued out of business. And some of those people are there looking for trouble.

Most of the bracket racers are good, they do their burnout, back up, stage and are done quickly. It is during the street type Ghetto events that gets bad.

I don't understand why ANYONE is allowed past the head of staging except the drivers. If you can't do a burnout and/or stage your car without help, you need to look for a different hobby.

Boy, I'm glad all of us were so safety conscious when we were young and never did anything foolish.

quote:

Originally posted by BTR69:
Saw a video recently of a car doing a burnout with idiots on the track side of the wall. Car got sideways, idiots didn't move, idiots got squeezed/squished by the car. I assume they learned their lesson?

I think I know the incident of which you speak..it resulted in a $65,000 helicopter ride, and YES, the promoter DID learn a lesson, a little too late. Pure idiocy.

quote:

Originally posted by Goob:

quote:

Originally posted by BTR69:
Saw a video recently of a car doing a burnout with idiots on the track side of the wall. Car got sideways, idiots didn't move, idiots got squeezed/squished by the car. I assume they learned their lesson?

I think I know the incident of which you speak..it resulted in a $65,000 helicopter ride, and YES, the promoter DID learn a lesson, a little too late. Pure idiocy.

YEEKS!!!! No Bueno for them... I figured it was bad, but DAMM,,, helo ride bad??? That's some serious mess they got in...

quote:

Originally posted by BTR69:

quote:

Originally posted by Goob:

quote:

Originally posted by BTR69:
Saw a video recently of a car doing a burnout with idiots on the track side of the wall. Car got sideways, idiots didn't move, idiots got squeezed/squished by the car. I assume they learned their lesson?

I think I know the incident of which you speak..it resulted in a $65,000 helicopter ride, and YES, the promoter DID learn a lesson, a little too late. Pure idiocy.

YEEKS!!!! No Bueno for them... I figured it was bad, but DAMM,,, helo ride bad??? That's some serious mess they got in...

Yeah, the rotund gentleman ended up over the guardrail, on his head, and the track location is probably most of an hour away from a decent trauma center, by road.

I probably would have let him bleed out.
Dumba$$

Literally ONE STEP backward and all of those idiots would have been behind the barrier.

I will admit I do not even understand the "No Time" deal on Amateur Nights.
But what I REALLY don't get, is why a track owner / operator would permit the large crowds at the water box / starting line.
And I would think their insurance company might have a voice in the matter if they knew about it. (Which I am guessing they don't, until something goes wrong). Does anyone know how the insurance policies are worded, regarding the responsibilities of the track operators to adhere to even the most basic safety rules? One bad mess, and the insurer points out a written clause in the contract that absolves them of any liability, and there goes the track into the history books.

quote:

Originally posted by FootbrakeJim:
I will admit I do not even understand the "No Time" deal on Amateur Nights.
But what I REALLY don't get, is why a track owner / operator would permit the large crowds at the water box / starting line.
And I would think their insurance company might have a voice in the matter if they knew about it. (Which I am guessing they don't, until something goes wrong). Does anyone know how the insurance policies are worded, regarding the responsibilities of the track operators to adhere to even the most basic safety rules? One bad mess, and the insurer points out a written clause in the contract that absolves them of any liability, and there goes the track into the history books.

They are on the starting line Drinking and Gambling and right in the the middle of the action. It makes them think they are important, they know they are not supposed to be there but "They" think they are important and can do what they want.

The track puts up with it because that is pure cash coming in and they do not have to pay out anything.