Last weekend at the Detroit dragway reunion a terrible accident happened. Keith Hallett driver of the old Dick Jesse Mr.Unswitchable funny cars was killed in a freak accident. He was not driving. Details are in the blower safety thread. Funeral arrangements have been set. Sunday 18th 3-8 viewing Monday 19th burial Details at wintfuneralhome.com Clarkston Michigan
They were talking about this over the speaker at the drag strip today, and one of my buddy's said they discussed it in the team meetings. All day long I've noticed how every one is staying clear behind the race cars. Very bad deal
I was racing there. As soon as I heard the engine rev to the moon I knew something bad happened. I couldn't look. The driver of the funny was the grandson of Keith. He was found to be NOT under the influence of drugs or alcohol. It was a mechanical issue with the car - not his fault, if that is any small consolation. My prayers to the family. Racing for the remainder of the weekend was cancelled out of respect.
Another suggestion: Rules call for a master cutoff switch outside of the car, accessible by track personell. Two of my race cars have an additional master cutoff switch inside the car for the driver. I used mine once in an on-track mishap [I won't bore you with the details] that would have resulted in me striking many bystanders without it. I am not sure one would have done any good whatsoever on a blower car. But the next morning I ordered two more for my other race cars.
Those switches look like the cheap fie units. I have had the button fall out of mine a few times on passes. I use the higher quality one now. It's from good vibrations. Of course it's more money for the better part. The driver and family are very good friends with our family. As I write this I'm on my way to Clarkston Michigan for the funeral. A bolt holding the injector to the blower came loose. It fell into the blower. The rotor pushed it through the case. The resulting large hole made the rpm go extremely high. It's a uncontrolled vacuum leak. There is no stopping the car. It's a run away at this point. The driver has been running funny cars for at least ten years. He has alot of seat time. He did nothing wrong. If you run a blower get a screen on it.
Right, You need the screen. I have never run a blower without one. This was a tragic occurrence. Things happen quick in drag racing and the outcome is sometimes devastating. My heart felt condolences to this person's family and friends.
I ALWAYS hate to here about tragedies in auto racing (rarely do they end well...hence the name tragedy) Now...the bolt went thru the blower case and punched a hole....which caused a huge vacuum leak...which cased the engine to uncontrollably run away. So then what....the car wrecked?? what am I missing here? Horrible no matter how it happened...the guys grandson!? WOW! 6sally6
A freak accident we all can learn something from. My deepest symphaty to the family and friends for their loss. Maybe screens will now be mandatory, I have one in my engine as well as a kill switch under my thumb. Race cars are dangerous even when nobody makes mistakes. Be alert at all times.
^^^^ 6 Sally6 & French Town Flyer ^^^^^^ Prayers to all involved and affected by this ,,, Inside cockpit,(T/Fc , A/Fc , N/Fc) there is master shut offs for the ignition, and also fuel shut off's, In my opinion, the picture shown of your power shut offs are on the cheap side, I would up grade . The RPMs are controlled by a controlled vacuum leak , "Mechanical, Fuel Injection" pump or pumps are engine driven as Rpms go Up Fuel volume goes up , fuel is controlled by jet nozzles and bypass pills, also most of this style engine combo uses a slipper style clutch , Rpms latches are set with gram weight on clutch leaver / arms & also works like a centrifugal clutch with a clutch pedal, Most of these engine combo leave between 6,000-8,000 rpms with 2,000-4,000 hp,, Things Happen very "Quick"" Now imagine (If you have never pilot a Funnycar) Doing a burnout stopping car with Hand brake with the Foot engaging the clutch , locking the ""Reverse In" watching most of time the track backing up until a crew member is seen to help guide you back Ridding clutch & Hand brake , then all the sudden , the car goes wide open"""!!!! Against the rev limiter, which is set to 8,500 to 10,500 Rpms back wards """" there is No Time to React!!! Most ,including Me !can not grasp what is going on !! Pulling so Hard on hand Brake maybe blowing seals in master cylinder or a line & trying to get your Leg/ Foot back on Clutch pedal ""Because the RPMs have kicked Leg/Foot off when engine went pass the set RPMs of clutch, ""No matter""" how hard you try to push clutch its Not going to disengage all this in "1.5 sec" or less car now traveling backwards 80-120 mph,,,maybe 140ish depending on how far the burn out was, and where it happened when backing up,,, Most Just can not comprehend how fast things happen !!! I feel if you're a real racer or Racefan, you know the dangers of the sport ,,, No matter @ race surface, or the grandstand,, just look at the Indianapolis this year, that wheel when it came off the car, how high in the air it was clearing the catch fence how far from the race track it traveled, Luckily, it went between the grandstands. Not Hitting No on expecting spectators. And totaled the car it hit, It is a very tragic uncommon incident that has happened,,, We do not Need Lectures on how dangerous this is "" Racing!!! I have requested pictures of Blower case, I do not want t see the incident, I've seen too many over the years in person. This is first I have heard of this happening from a broken blower case ,, Run away engine..
Very sorry to hear about this. As has been said, things happen in a matter of a few seconds. No second guesses, no second chances. My condolences to Keith Hallett's family and friends.
Thanks for the suggestion. Truth be told, I am using a premium GE #CR104PXF12 switch module and a couple #CR104P contact modules - one NO and one NC - on my three fastest cars. They retail for around ninety bucks a pop so the one I showed was a less expensive one I plan to use on my slowest (11 second) car and it should be adequate for the average HAMB racer with few accessories to control. https://az343058.vo.msecnd.net/productlargeimages/0591c8d56f2844189e9fa280a7d2cbb7.jpg
This tread was posted to let us know about a tragedy, a person lost their life. NOT, a pissing contest about kill switches! DAMN!!!
Did it have an Enderle Birdcatcher Injector ? I think they have bolts inside, and probably hard to reach in to safety wire the bolts. The same thing happened here back in the early 80's. The car, a ( sand racing Funny Car) was running on the trailer (body up) and the mechanic was standing along side whooping the throttle. It broke a large hole in the side of the blower, the engine when wide open, the mechanic jumped off the trailer, and it ran until, another guy jumped up and pulled the fuel shut off. I didn't run a screen for the time I was racing, because I didn't want to give up the horsepower, and a Bugcatcher doesn't have bolts inside. Condolences for the loss, and the horrific memories all involved will have.
Godspeed Keith Hallett. Our collective focus here should be to extend our condolences to those close to Keith. Special thoughts and support for Nick from all of us here at the HAMB.
No pictures of the car or video will be shown out of respect for the family. We stopped by their house yesterday. We dropped off some kringles from our home town if guests stop by. The car was not far from the starting line. There was no time to react. If a funny car can move forward covering 60 feet in one second flat it can go backwards in almost the same time frame. Let's all be respectful here.
I don’t know what to say except that it’s heartbreaking no matter how you look at it. My sincere condolences to the family.
The funeral was well attended. Flowers were sent from all over. The receiving line was out the door. Keith's photo albums were set out for viewing. Wow did he do alot for many years. He showed me one a while back. I got to see all of them. There were so many pics I would like copies of. I will ask Nick about getting some time later.
If my comments in the wake of this tragedy make one racer think about improving the safety of their ride you can piss on me all you like. Bring it.
The blower safety thread got locked because the conversation turned ugly. Out of respect for the family let's all not go down that path and get this one locked up to.
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