Scott Kalitta Died Today.

RIP Scott!

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Rest In Peace! He died doing what he loved, driving a funnycar. Thoughts and prayers going out to the entire Kallitta family. "D"

I saw the crash on TV, and I had to wonder how the NHRA approved that track. No nets, no sand trap, no gravel- just an asphalt strip with some dirt and a concrete wall at the end. I sure hope they've got more than I could see.

I wondered that also, the other tracks seem to have more at the end.

They probably got about enough to put in a shoebox, based on similar air crashes Ive been around.

Gunner

Something I find odd is that is the three articles I've read that mentioned family there wasn't a single word about Shirley.

Saw it too. And the first thing I wondered is, if the Navy can trap an F14 safely with a net, causing minimal damage, why can't someone come up with a last ditch safety net device for drag strips? Something that could be taken from track to track, and easily resettable to allow for a couple possible incidents per event?

When his chute burned off and failed to slow him significantly, he must have known he was in deep shit and probably screwed. Those long few seconds before impact would have been a lot different if he had hope of safely stopping in a safety net.

Jon

Jon Anderson wrote in news:nMqdnT7xCJRIXcPVnZ2dnUVZ_r snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:

I don't think he was even alive or at least awake when he hit the wall. I think the explosion got him first.

Saw that a few minutes ago. Damn sad thing.

Wes

May not have been conscious, but he was alive long enough to be transported to a hospital according to the news. But an aircraft carrier type trap net across the track would be passive so far as the driver is concerned. Hell, if I had the engineering background and time to burn, I'd give designing one a go....

Jon

The other day while channel surfing I watched a drag race. They had a net set up at the end of the strip. Drag bike lost control, skipped off the wall, both bike and rider went right through the net into the sandbox. Looked like the net failed but I don't know for sure. Net could be designed to slow bike and rider before they impact the sand not catch them.

Tom

F14's are a lot stronger than anything running at the track. A net strong enough to stop a dragster at 300 miles per hour would probably be strong enough to act as a pretty good strainer. It's also worth remembering that anything either behind or in front of the cockpit on a rail would end up in the net with the driver so even if the cage didn't collapse, you'd be left with other consequences.

I'm not an expert on carrier safety barriers, but I believe they are designed to give as cables play out from drums, bringing things to a stop pretty quickly. A straight net would have to be pretty damned strong, and if that strong, would not be a lot better than a solid wall. But if the whole thing could enfold around the vehicle and slow it down over 25-30 yards, it would certainly dissipate the energy over enough time to make survival likely.

A long enough sand trap runout would work too, but I've seen a car or two tumble pretty violently after hitting the sand.

Jon

Is this what you wanted me to see? Elastic nets known as barriers are commonly used as a backup system. These would catch the wings and fuselage of an aircraft and use an arresting engine or other methods such as anchor chains to slow the aircraft down. These systems are normally located in the overrun area of a runway. The development of the angled flight deck has reduced the need for net-based arresting gear on aircraft carriers.

On some land-based airfields, materials such as foam, dirt, mud, or gravel are located in pits at the end of a runway or distributed over the runway surface in an emergency. These materials are used to catch the landing gear or underside of an aircraft and slow it via rolling resistance or friction. At larger airports, a series of concrete blocks referred to as an Engineered Materials Arrestor System is used. Aircraft are stopped by the transfer of energy required to crush the blocks.

I think I'd as soon have a chute that didn't go up in smoke attatched with FR cable. At any rate, I doubt the guy ever really realized what had happened. I hope not anyway.

They needed about 1/8 mile longer run off, it seems that Scott was probably unconscious after the first explosion, the brakes were never applied and one chute kinda deployed because of the flames. It was said tonight on ESPN that a saftey net was there, that freaking concrete wall should be bulldozed and the run off extended. The net that was there was not rated to stop a full speed car but to simply "catch" a slow rolling car. NHRA will get the heat from this one.

I met Shirley in her pit several years ago at the Gator Nationals. She was running a resurrection tour.

Most tracks have a longer runoff, why the hell did they put a wall there? Sound baffle maybe?

The reason I say he may have been unconscious is that NHRA driver normally use the side walls to diffuse the speed in a crash, fire or whatever, they steer into the side wall to help slow the car and so the fire crews "The Saftey Safari in NHRA" to help rescue the driver asap.

Scott never attempted to get into the side walls. He was out cold.