HAMB drags near miss

It happens. Back in the 70's on a local 1/8 mile we had that happen. open up the bottom of the scatter shield and block plate like a can opener. Yes the bolts were in and they were grade 8.

The track had a concrete launch pad and an asphalt track. We were spinning coming off the launch pad and as the car hit the asphalt it got traction and the front of the car came up in the air and there was a loud explosion and the car can to a stop.

The flywheel hit the track and went off into the spectator parking lot about knee high and was stuck in the door of a Chevy pickup. No one could actually see the flywheel going through the air, but they heard it. The drive shaft also looked like a cork screw.

It sheared all the bolts off the back of the crank and took the input shaft with it. The motor was a 351 Cleveland with a large shaft top loader Ford trans. A couple of use were just talking about that at last weekends reunion.

 

On first glance that makes a lot of sense to me.

When the class limitations, parts availability, and the drivers attempt to make a scattershield of some kind, (as described by Kerrynzl and others) are taken into account it seems at the very least there are at least TWO legitimate points of view to this incident.

edit<< (and lots of stuff for everyone to think through and improve for next year)>>

 

Did it pass tech inspection???

Sounds like there are lessons to be learned by several groups here. Rules, Builder, Tech for the track.

 

Robert, sucks this happened to your truck, but really glad no one got hurt.
My car has a scattershield and only ran 16's. To me it's a no brainer, I like my feet. Gary

 

DW is in the one photo because the piece that hit 4oberts truck just missed DW's head! The driver of the car never once came over and asked if every was ok and trust me he knew there was damage as at two seperate times two of Roberts pals tried to talk to the guy but both times he just walked away from them. Roberts great people, one of my best Texas pals and didn't deserved to be treated like shit from this clown. One apology and the whole thing would have been forgotten.

Thanks Ryan for stepping up. Means a lot.

 

What happened might well be one side of the story, but if I had been driving that car the fact that someone was near about killed I think would have had me both apologizing and thanking God all night.

I can't imagine this guy just ignoring the gravity of this situation. This guys attitude after the incident makes me less likely to see things his way at all.

This information changes my thought as noted in my previous post a lot.

 

He really had that GMC wound up when it let loose, I saw a chunk of red fly in the air and a bunch of shit scatter over towards the other lane. I thought it was lucky that the other driver didn't catch some parts to the head and no one person got hurt is the important thing.

 

Do I understand this correctly... the HA/GR guys are angry that the rule-makers make them drive unsafe cars because it costs to much to make them safe...?

 

How about Robert gives us a paypal address and we'll take carre of it? I bet we'd have it paid for by the end of the day.

The Alliance membership is cheap compared to what we get out of the site. I don't understand how anyone could not be a member.

 

Great idea. Count me in.

-mike-

 

Ya know first off, Ryan that was way over the top to do that my complements....wow now I been doing this for years at our event we will not let em run without nhra tech even the street cars at 1/8 mile man I dont know whats goin on I was not there all I can tell ya is last yr at our event a young one , got crossed up in her own oil she went for a ride,well I listened to all the armchair guys say how she should not have been out there well if you have ever threw a rod through a pan it makes a mess and she did not even know what happend till she hit the wall the first time ya can not be to safe, as a kid I took a ball in the noodle from reggie years ago ( thats why I dont spell good) but he did not say he was sorry I,m sure that the guy feels bad well that racing all I can say is Ryan your action was way over board but cool....

 

WOW!!!! way above and beyond the call.

Thanks for putting on such a great event Ryan. Hats off to you man

 

X2...
It sucks. And it happens. This is why rules always change.
If ( IF... ) the car met the requirements and regs for it's class, then that is all it, and the driver, can do.
racing is dangerous, and, I can tell you from experience, when your car explodes, you tend to be a little out of sorts afterward. Just a bit... If you have never raced, much less had a catastrophe happen while you were at the wheel doing such, it might be a bit hard to imagine yourself in those shoes.
Sorry about your truck, looks like Ryan will take care of ya...
If the car was in violation of the rules, well...all bets is off, but, of course, it wouldn't be racing with out rule bending and cheating, either, but, if you get exposed by, say...an obliterated flywheel, well, a closer look will usually reveal ya...

 

I don't think anybody is angry at all

The rulemakers are not wanting them drive unsafe cars at all [ quite the opposite ]
Some of the restrictions in place are making the whole class "less economical" than what the "spirit of the bug" was originally intended.

The whole problem here is 1950's era cars ,and people with 2010 knowledge [ everybody has hindsight here ]
To keep within the "spirit of the bug" [ as quoted from HA/GR rules ] they must have pre 1962 inline engines or flathead V8's , 6 inch tyres, and manual transmissions
That is a lethal combination for a clutch
As previously mentioned, Scattershieds [ hydroform lakewood style ] are almost impossible to get for most pre 62 inline engines.

The 6 inch tyre rule is a great power [ and $$$$ ] leveler,
But it creates a dangerous problem. [ which is caused by driver aquired skill ]
Most drivers are starting in 2nd Gear, and slipping the clutch to get traction [ no wonder the clutches are exploding ]

A simple cheap fix, would be allowing auto transmissions [ no trans brakes, or reverse patterns etc ]
An auto transmission would be cheaper than a scattershield

A lot of HA/GR racers are getting old[ish] and they would welcome autos, as they are more driver friendly

Me personally, I prefer manual gearboxes [ I've raced them my whole life ], and with my engineering skills I could easily modify an old 3 speed toploader to pro-shift with split sliders for clutchless shifting.

But I also see a bit of common sense here for other racers
This is only a hobby class just for a bit of fun

Lets all hope this is the last time this happens [ we can all learn from it ]

 

Everyone involved is lucky it didn't cause more damage (sorry about the truck). I did walk by the car afterward and I think when I was there was the first time he heard someone almost got hit by his parts. He was in shock to say the least, he turned white pretty quick and walked to his truck and sat down. We were down past the 1000' marker and there were parts scattered all the way down the track and one of the guys picked up the bottom of his bellhousing or scattershield at about that point.

 

so is this guy supposed to just get on a loud speaker right after it happened and aplogize to everyone at once? I know if my car blew up like that, I wouldn't be looking for parts. I would be trying to get it stopped. Besides, if the parts traveled that quickly, do you think he even saw where they went anyhow? Do you think he even knows about all that went wrong? And if his car was properly equipped and past tech ( don't see how he got on the track without that anyway ) is it really all his fault? Again, this type of stuff happens all the time. Luckily, as stated, noone got hurt. We should all be thankful it was a truck that got it and not anyone. Not trying to sound like an ass here, but trying to shoot out some questions for better understanding. I am hearing a bunch of assumptions rather than questions.

 

When your car blows up that dramatically and people come over to see the car and ask you questions about the safety equipment and you completely ignore them and walk off knowing you've damaged their property, that makes you an ASSHOLE in my book. DW is my husband and Robert is my friend. Not cool at all. Like Denise said, how hard is it to answer questions and apologize. I know that most HAMBers would have been concerned with others safety had it been their car that had blown up potentially injuring people and property. Just reading this thread makes me sick all over again.

 

I wasn't there so I can't say much about what happened. I personally don't think that Ryan needs to dig into his chinos for this but he is and that's pretty damned acceptable in my book.

I would say that the fella driving the car was probably a little shook and judging from the pictures of the car its the one that lives a couple of blocks from here. I have seen him drive by in his pickup when I was in the drive working on my stuff, I've waved but he hasn't stopped to say hello yet. So I'm going to guess that he is a little shy. Not everyone is an extrovert maybe he just doesn't approach people well. It would be harder when you had to approach someone in that circumstance.

Anyway maybe he'll see the post and drop a PM to the injured party.

I'm glad that everyone still has toes and cranium. Now let's give this thing a chance to settle out. Things always have a way of working themselves out if all the parties know who is who.

 

Will insurance cover it since it happened in conjuction with a race?

 

Lets be honest, many of the cars that run at the HAMB drags would not pass tech at an NHRA event. I think the tech inspections do a good job of being reasonable, so that obvious safety violations are caught. Many of us push the envelope when it comes to safety, especially when it involves a significant amount of $, along with losing the "look" that we all like.
As "traditional" car people, we walk that line.
Actually, this is an opportunity for someone to build a better shield for these cars.
Look at the damage and build it better.

 

For this to happen and not check into how things are done at tech and the track would be foolish in my book. You basicly got luckier than hell and all eveyone is worried about is attitudes and damage. If someone would have gotten badly hurt or killed, what would the focus be on then ? You got your one free pass, learn from it and move on.

 

Wow

 

Can't really argue with that. Some things may be done making a car unsafe, which may be unintentional. Someone mentioned that was a cast flywheel, are forged flywheels available? I would feel real bad if a part of my car hurt someone because I wasn't aware that I could have made my car safer somehow. I'd feel worse if I cut corners to be cheap. Maybe some things should be looked at.

 

I wasn't there, it would be hard for me to assume anything, either way, So, I won't. But, I will speak from experience: I blew up a motor at the one thousand foot mark under full throttle, ( a motor...FAR less scary then a clutch, even though I still couldn't see through the oil on the windshield, at 110 mph! ) and I somehow still managed to remember what I was taught, and got the car over to the guardrail, asap...I am surprised I could do that, most amateurs and a lot of times pros, forget. Your mind is scattered...My friend very nearly rolled my Galaxie on another occasion, pulling second gear, when a freeze plug popped out...he could neither sit in the car afterward and steer it back to the pits as we towed it, nor anything else that day, really...he sat quietly, thoughtfully...in his own world all the way back home.
It qualifies as a near death experience, in fact.
It's hard to gather your thoughts, and people react to different things in differing ways.

Maybe he will post his thoughts later on here, maybe he doesn't give a shit and is a lousy sportsman, I don't know, but, as usual, it's kind of one sided if the other person is not on the computer to respond.
I hope everything works out o.k. for all, and it is a good thing no one got hurt.
I hope these kind of things never begin to erode low-tech racing, but, I imagine, as before, they will.
Once again, sorry to all involved...

 

This is a good time to take a second look at HA/GR rules. Racing constantly evolves. That's how it always has been. Safety comes first.

 

his truck wasnt racing, it was parked so it shouldnt matter...

Regards less if he was startled or not it was still damage cause by his property and imagine how scared Dave was. If that was my vehicle that exploded, all I would worry about is if I hurt someone.

 

This is actually a good time to rethink the tech procedure at all these events for all cars IMO.I have raced at several tracks in the last few years and not one had done what i would call real tech on my Dodge ever.I went to great lengths to make sure mine was legal for my speed when i was doing the rollbars ,rear firewall,safety harness ,etc.,and asked lots of questions from people on here and other sites.Although my car looks a bit rough its legal and the best i could do in the safety department.I have been to a few tracks here local that didnt look at Damn thing on my car in tech ,just wrote the # on the window.I see lots of cars at the track racing with all kinds of obvious violations like fuel cell and batt in the trunk and no rear firewall (or it has holes in it) ,no seat support to the rollbar ,slicks and no aftermarket wheel studs , way to much rubber fuel line ,shitty looking welds on steering and rollbar components ,etc.I understand that these events are a bit more laxed than professional events because alot of these cars are street cars ,but this deal coulda been alot worse and we should all consider our selves lucky that no one got hurt.I love Nostalgia drag racing and dont want to see it go away over Bullshit that could be prevented ...

 

The Alliance membership is cheap compared to what we get out of the site. I don't understand how anyone could not be a member.[/QUOTE]

I have been a member of this site for many years and never an alliance member. I choose to contribute to auctions and bid on items. I need to do a little more than I have the last couple of years but I will take care of that. I think that anyone who uses this site should contribute in any way they can. I do not think they are less worthy if they are not an alliance member. The alliance approach works good for many but not everyone.

John

 

D.W. glad to meet ya at dirty johns pit!..... D.W. good to know that i can meet you and your wife again! all involved are lucky! doesn't the guy post on here? at least an apollogy on here would be nice!? maybe? i know i would have probably lost it if i had almost killed someone??

 

I have to agree, DW and Robert are friends of mine and I'd hate to be the one to have to tell Lil' Johnny why Dad aint coming home that night or any night after that, I don't care how shook up I'd be, the only thing on my mind would be the safety of the fans and I'd have been there in a heart beat to make damn sure everyone was alright.

Shy my ass, what a stupid comment, maybe spineless or has no balls. The right thing to do would be to find out if any one was injured and accept responsibility for what happened, not walk away and hide, that's what cowards do.

Dude, what would you have done, really?