I Saw This One Coming
Only a matter of time. The NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing tour this week is smack dab in the,middle of NASCAR country in Charlotte, North Carolina, for the running of the very unique 4 Wide Nationals at Zmax Dragway. This very interesting and out of the box thinking format, which 4 cars to be run simultaneously , instead of the two-by-two fashion equated with traditional drag racing.
This make for very interesting and exciting racing. The noise level is incomprehensible. The location of the track it relatively low elevation and huge abundance of trees in the area mean that there is an abundance of oxygen in the air. This means that crew chief can and do get very aggressive with their tune-ups.
What has been seen here since they started running this race is plethora of body shedding runs by those in the funny car contingent.
Matt Hagen was the first of many to experience these very spectacular and expensive engine explosions where the concussion of the explosion sends a one hundred thousand dollar carbon fiber body sky ward. Up to this point the damage, and danger of the body coming back to earth from it low level orbit has been confined to the track and the owners wallet. Moreover, it was inevitable before one of these bodies would makes its way either close to or into the grand stands.
Yesterday (April 20, 2013) in Q4 Robert Hight of John Force Racing experienced one of these body shedding engine explosions. However, the body did not land back on the track or the side of the track, the body ended up in the grand stands. There are some excellent images,by famed photographer Roger Richards and article on Bobby Bennett's Competition Plus site showing this event transpiring. (http://www.competitionplus.com/drag-racing/news/24811-hight-explodes-engine-sends-carbon-fiber-body-into-spectator-area)
If the NHRA is truly "Dedicated to Safety" then should not Graham Light, Glen Gray, Danny Gracia, and Timothy White put their heads together with racers and engineers like Jim Head and devise and implement a way to tether these funny car bodies. Therefore in the event of a catastrophic engine event, where these carbon fiber shells are pitched into the air they are not coming back to earth in a spectator area or worse yet, in a viewing area where those watching have limited mobility and cannot escape and become injured by this debris.
From this perspective motor sports and moreover, the NHRA can not afford to deal with such a PR nightmare of having spectators let alone special needs spectators injured from debris coming off a race car and getting into the spectator area. Especially when there is a way to prevent it from occurring.
I hate to say I saw this coming, but I did, The NHRA was fortunate to have dodged a bullet on Saturday,and from all accounts it appears that thankfully nobody was injured in when Hights funny car body landed in the stands at Zmax. However, lets hope those powers to be at NHRA see fit not to rest on their laurels and deal with the situation after it occurs and some spectator gets injured the next time a body is blown off a funny car. And trust me it will happen again.
Lets hope that the NHRA will live up to its brand and be dedicated to the safety of not only the racers, but that of spectators as well. Devise a system to tether funny car bodies so that spectators can continue to enjoy the most exciting type of motor sports on the planet.
