June 21, 2008

NHRA Driver Scott Kalitta Killed.

Story here.

From what I'm hearing from ESPN2, which was televising the qualifying rounds of Sunday's event, the NHRA SuperNationals in New Jersey, the car overran the runoff area (the "kittylitter") at the end of the dragstrip, but I haven't seen it, so I don't know for sure.

Sorry, Steven

UPDATE: Okay, I've seen the video (no, I'm not linking it), and it's not pretty.  Kalitta was just about at the end of his run, and he was timed at 300mph, when, I assume, his engine blows, enveloping the car completely in fire.  It was so bad that when his 'chutes deployed, they were already aflame.  The car goes off the end of the track, through the kittylitter, and into a wall.  For what it's worth, the dust kicked up when the car goes through the gravel prevents the camera from seeing the final crash, but the fireball that results is quite visible. 

Before you wonder, I gather that beyond that wall is a highway or four-lane street.  The runoff  area looks very, very small, way too small considering the speeds funnycars and dragsters can hit.  And whomever thought that having a dragstrip that ends just short of a street might have something to do with this accident.

Not being familiar with other dragstrips, though, I can't really say if the track at Englishtown has a smaller-than-normal runoff area.  I'll bet it is, though.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 05:34 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1

Damn.

It's a dangerous sport, but in fact the NHRA has a very good safety record compared to other forms of motor racing (measured in fatalities per race).

But it is dangerous, and the drivers know it. And Funny Cars are the most dangerous of all.

Oh, crap.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at June 21, 2008 10:13 PM (+rSRq)

2

I just took a look with Google Earth. That track is .7 miles long, from the far rear to the barrier. By comparison, the track at Las Vegas is .85 miles long before you hit a barrier. The Gainesville Raceway is .93 miles long, and if you overrun the end it looks to me like you end up in a lake, which is not the worst thing that could happen to you if your ride is burning.

On the other hand, the track at Pomona is only .75 miles long.

I doubt it mattered. I don't think it was the crash that killed him. From the photo and the description, he probably died from the fire and would have even if he hadn't hit the wall. There's only so much a firesuit can do for you, and you have to breath something.

That's the reason Funny Cars are the most dangerous ride, even compared to Top Fuel. In Top Fuel now the engine is behind the driver and there's armor plate between them. If the engine burns, the wind carries the flames away from the driver, and if it explodes the armor protects him.

But with Funny Cars there's no such armor plate as far as I know, and with the engine in front of the driver, if it burns the flames go right back onto the driver.

Also the short wheelbase of a Funny Car makes it easier to lose control, but that wasn't a factor in this tragedy.

SuperStock also has the engine in front, but they're not operating at the kind of power levels that Funny Cars use, and they're not burning nitromethane. I don't think I've ever heard of a SuperStock engine exploding like that.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at June 21, 2008 10:35 PM (+rSRq)

3 I'll admit I don't know the difference between SuperStock and Funny Cars... they both look the same to my level of casual knowledge.  I DO know I've never seen a car catch fire like that and stay burning. 

I can't believe I'm going to argue this point, but my guess is that the crash did, technically, kill him.  No question the fire didn't help matters, and who knows what would have been the result if the car had stopped before the wall, but from the time the car catches fire to the time the car hits the wall is only eight seconds.  Firesuits are designed to last longer than that, and that's one helluva head-on crash.

Over at the FARK thread on the crash, a commenter who says he's raced at that very track says "But yes, E-town is a deathtrap. There's no space to scrub speed after the line. Even worse (and more dangerous) is the exit lane is a 90 degree turn to the left about 60ft past the god damned finish. The track itself is usually well maintained.. but the layout is just stupid."

Take that for what it's worth.

Posted by: Wonderduck at June 22, 2008 12:41 AM (AW3EJ)

4

SuperStock is the original drag racing. What you got is a classic hotrod, and with a bit of work they could be made street legal. They run on gasoline. The car bodies and frames are similar to normal cars. The driver gets in using a standard on-the-side door.

Funny Cars look a bit like a real car, but it's all illusion. The body is one big fiberglass piece which is shaped and painted to look like a standard car body. But inside the structure and drive train are entirely different. The driver gets in either through a hatch on the top, or by having the entire body propped.

Funny Cars run on nitromethane, and the engines are so powerful and have so much torque that one big danger with them at the start is that the car could do a wheelie and go over backwards. As a result, the rules require them to have an assembly that sticks out the back to prevent wheelies. SuperStock car engines don't have that kind of power, and no such gizmo is needed to protect them.

The record quarter for Top Fuel was 4.428 seconds. The record quarter for Funny Cars was 4.659 seconds. SuperStock was about 8.5 seconds.

Speed record for Top Fuel is 336 MPH. For Funny Cars it's 333 MPH. For SuperStock it's 136 MPH.

So the differences are quite dramatic.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at June 22, 2008 02:05 AM (+rSRq)

5

Firesuits are designed to last longer than that

It depends on what's burning, and how much of it. To get the kind of flames we see in that damned picture, the fuel tank must have gone up. And a nitromethane fire is going to be a worse than a gasoline fire because it's largely self-oxydizing. Bad as gasoline is, a gas fire is partially throttled by requiring air flow in order to burn.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at June 22, 2008 02:19 AM (+rSRq)

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