Thread: How Dangerous is Drag racing

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How Dangerous is Drag racing
How dangerous is drag racing when it is sanctioned and at a legal place? I hear that underground drag racers are always dieing according to someone i know that works at a morge... I was thinking about getting into it but I don't want to DIE!... But it must be safer where it's sanctioned and note I am talking about racing classic cars not like the real long dragsters that go like 250 mph...


also i posted this on the drag racing forum first but since i wanted responses and no one goes on that other forum i just put it on here.

Originally posted by MGMan75
How Dangerous is Drag racing
How dangerous is drag racing when it is sanctioned and at a legal place? I hear that underground drag racers are always dieing according to someone i know that works at a morge... I was thinking about getting into it but I don't want to DIE!... But it must be safer where it's sanctioned and note I am talking about racing classic cars not like the real long dragsters that go like 250 mph...


also i posted this on the drag racing forum first but since i wanted responses and no one goes on that other forum i just put it on here.

No drag racing can ever be totally safe, especially if your in a fast car. But, no question sanctioned drag racing is far safer than street racing (Underground racing) hands down. Sanctioned racing is a controlled environment. The cars are safety checked and are required to have whatever safety equipment needed for the speed the car will run. Drag racing safety has been refined over the years (unfortunately by investigating crashes) to reduce the dangers.



Street racing is just plain NOT a good idea, but you problee' already knew that.

In my opinion racing at a sanctioned drag strip is safer than driving to work. Ask your buddy at the morgue how many commuters show up there?

As Pro70 said, there is nothing absolutely safe, but drag racing at a drag strip that follows strict safety rules is probably the safest form of motor sports.

Street racing is a dangerous proposition because there are so many things outside of your control. Is the other driver sober, are you sober? How safely built are the cars? What about the road itself? What about innocent drivers who just happen to end up in the wrong place? The black 55 Chevy roling over in American Graffiti is all too real an occurance

I accept the fact that street races happen, expecailly impromptu ones. Someone in a hot car pulls up next to your hot car and the adrenilin and testosterone kick in. I'm sure most of us have done it. Many of us have gotten away with it, both legally and without injury. But the ones that have had something go very wrong have paid dearly. This problem really rears it's head when there is not a drag strip in a community. The racers start looking for places to race, people want to watch and you end up with tradgedies. In the Sacramento area they are talking about making it illegal to watch an organized street race. They want to be able to arrest members of the crowd that have gathered to watch the race. San Diego has such an Ordinance and also opened a local track and their street racing deaths have dropped significantly.

Racing is a great sport, but do it at the track, not on the street.

Pat

Everything is dangerous, drag racing is no exception. At least at sanctioned tracks there are rules and regs in place to help reduce the dangers. Walking down the street is dangerous, riding a bus is dangerous, riding horses, motorcycles. Heck, you could choke brushing you teeth.

Drive fast, take chances. You only live once, and remember, second place is just the first loser.

I Guess racing at the track is a little safer. But our track has not tech and no safety personal. So basically it is the same as street racing, notice I said basically.

The most dangerous thing in sanctioned drag racing is what it does to your wallet.

No one is ever really safe anytime. This whole world is gone on attack. Oh this is my own opinion. Civility and civilization is a thin veneer at any rate.

Drag racing anywhere is dangerous if you are keying your laptop for 8 seconds of a 12 second run like that completely bogus flick "Fast and Furious!" That's the kind of worthless promotion for street racing that does get people killed attempting to emulate Hollywood fakery.

Several years ago we had a Super Comp dragster come over to Firebird from New Mexico for a weekend event. He cleared the lights at 175 mph with the throttle stuck wide open (HEY, the return spring worked when I teched it!!!!!!) and continued to accelerate past the 2,000 ft. shutdown area and on into the desert at the end of the pavement. I don't know when the engine blew, but it apparently worked itself to death at some unknown rpm (no rev limiter), so it's anyones guess what the speed was before the car finally made a left turn in the dirt and began flipping, rolling, flying, etc, etc. I jumped into one of the rescue trucks and hauled butt to where I thought he would be. It took us quite a while to find him upside down under some brush and several mesquite trees. There was sheetmetal and parts everywhere (we saw sheetmetal up in the tops of the surrounding trees) and a scoop in the dirt which we saw on the way to find him about the width of the cage and some six to eight feet long and about a foot deep where the top of the cage had gouged the earth out like a giant ice cream scoop. It must have done that going backward through there, because when we found him, there was no dirt packed in the cockpit. There was only the bare chassis sitting there with him still belted in it, upside down with no tubing whatsoever forward of the footbox or rearward of the motor plate. We righted what was left of the car and got him out. Miraculously, nothing was broken and he had no injuries whatsoever. Of course, it rang his bell and he was a little incoherent for about an hour or so, but later he was down there gathering up what was left of the car. My point is that the cage was intact, a tribute to the design and construction of the car.

One of the most bizarre & tragic events in drag racing history recently took place at our local track. I'm sure that all the sanctioning associations will eventually require some type of remote "kill" switch to be standard equipment on some vehicles. The following is an official press release from the track: On Saturday, April 2, 2005 Shelly Howard, and her son Brian Howard, were killed in a racing accident at Tulsa Raceway Park. The accident occurred while making a test run of Shelly’s new dragster during the bracket racing program. At 10:12 p.m., Shelly made her third pass of the evening in the tower lane. The car left the starting line in what appeared to be a problem-free run. After passing the 1/8 mile mark at 201 miles per hour, the dragster began what is referred to as a blow-over. A blow-over occurs when too much air goes under the front wing of the dragster causing the front end to lift. At this point, Shelly lifted off the accelerator. As the dragster became vertical, it rotated 180 degrees on its axis and then touched down on all four wheels and against the wall with the car now facing the starting line. The impact of the dragster to the pavement could have been severe enough to cause Shelly Howard to lose consciousness. This theory is supported by the fact that she did not hit the kill switch, deploy the chutes or turn the fuel supply off to the motor. At that point, either the throttle stuck wide open, or, Shelly’s foot jammed the throttle down. Extensive damage to the dragster and the onboard “black box” made it impossible to determine which occurred. The car continued down the track backwards making almost continuous contact with the tower lane wall, while the tires were spinning in the opposite direction. The dragster passed the ¼ mile stripe in 6.633 seconds at 115 miles an hour. The car continued down the track backwards until approximately 1,500 feet from the starting line when it ceased its rearward momentum and began to travel forward towards the starting line, under full acceleration. After traveling several hundred feet uptrack towards the starting line, the car swerved into the spectator lane and then back into the tower lane at the 660’ foot line. The car made hard contact with the wall in the tower lane at the 320’ foot mark and light contact with the tower lane wall at the starting line while traveling an estimated 250 miles per hour. At 125’ past the starting line, the dragster struck the crew’s chase car. The chase car’s occupant, Brian Howard, was sitting in the rear seat, and along with Shelly, was killed instantly. The force of the collision hurled both the dragster and the chase car 225’ through a rear burn-out wall and into an open field and stream. An investigation by the Tulsa Police Department ruled their deaths an accident. No other injuries were reported.

And another freak accident claims lives in NHRA. Both will be missed in the world of racing.

These accidents were in "serious" dragsters and not your common street strip car.

I would suggest starting with an eighth mile strip and when you feel comfortable work your way up to the quarter.

If I may. I would like to compare Drag racing to the Off Road racing that I used to do. One thing I feared the most was breaking a hub or a wheel bearing. Saw that happen a few times and it sent the guy flippin and flyin. I wonder if this ever happens in drag racing? I know there is not as much force on the hubs and bearings as high speed turns would cause but I still think about it. I also had my throttle stick a few times but allways managed to turn off the ignitiion switch.

Originally posted by racerguy
If I may. I would like to compare Drag racing to the Off Road racing that I used to do. One thing I feared the most was breaking a hub or a wheel bearing. Saw that happen a few times and it sent the guy flippin and flyin. I wonder if this ever happens in drag racing? I know there is not as much force on the hubs and bearings as high speed turns would cause but I still think about it. I also had my throttle stick a few times but allways managed to turn off the ignitiion switch.

There Isn't much force from turning but there's a bunch from torque on the rear axles. I saw a car leave the line at Eddyville Dragstrip (1/8 Mile track) back in the 70's. The car was on 2 wheels when a rear axle snapped. the car rolled and rode the guard rail right in front of me. Car was totaled, but the driver was O.K. I have pictures here somewhere but can't locate em' right now.

Watched a guy blow a tranny cooler line (thought rubber hose would be ok) and oil down the right slick!!! The car made an abrupt turn into the guardrail about mid track when the line blew. Car was junk, driver and gaurdrail were just fine!!!!!