Flying tire kills fan at NHRA race

Sounds like something right out of Final Destination.

 

The IRL has forgotten it too as there was no mention of that Charlotte race in the last set of media guides I had my hands on.

 

not to be reactionary or 20-20 with the hindsight but when will tracks have high fencing or screening covering the stands. in hockey after there was a fan death the NHL put netting up in every arena. in auto racing there are several cars and it seems like it's even harder to get out of the way of tires or engine parts. there's no way to catch it or block it.

 

In this case, the woman wasn't actually in the stands. She was on the return road.
If you ask drag racing fans, they don't want fencing up. Unlike a circle track, the chances of a car actually going into the stands is too remote to calculate and even this deal had a real slim chance of ever happening. Most drag strips (at least NHRA approved strips) are set up the farther you go down the track the more separated the stands are from the track and they rarely to never go past the finish line where the worst accidents happen. Fans get to sit closer to the starting line and these days, after they cut the percent of nitro used down to about 90 percent after Doug Herbert's engine explosion, the chance of a major event at the starting line that would send shrapnel flying is also very slim.

Yes, I know many will say even if there is a slim chance of something happening you should react. That's not always true. You have a far better chance of getting injured in an auto accident to or from the track than you do being injured during a national event.

 

I don't know if this is accurate, but I read today that this was the first spectator fatality at and NHRA national event in 40 years.

 

To date, here is the most thorough analysis of last weekend's tragedy in Phoenix. NHRA track announcer Alan Reinhart, host Joe Castello, and Antron Brown's DSR teammates Cory McClenathan and Jack Beckman. Some great commentary including a discussion about the media and "citizen" coverage of the accident.

http://media.wforadio.com/archives/archivefiles/20100223-joecastello-tue.mp3

 

There were similar accidents with tires and suspension parts flying into the crowd at Charlotte and Michigan a couple of months apart. The IRL and CART, prodded by their drivers, came up with the wheel tethers for both series.

And yes, the IRL wiped out as much evidence of the Charlotte race as it could from its media guide, because it was stopped before halfway plus 1 lap, and not restarted, because the fence couldn't be repaired quickly. It was the race immediately before Indy in 1999. I believe Greg Ray was the leader at the red flag, and he might have won the pole as well. Teams were paid traveling expenses, but no prize money.

The Michigan 500 was run to conclusion, because the debris went over the fence.

Pre-tether, there was also an IRL night race in Atlanta (like Charlotte a Bruton Smith-owned track) where a tire coming off a car in a big Turn 4 pileup flew over the fence and either into a suite or high into the stands, but there were no injuries.

 

As for Joe's scolding people for spreading misinformation while praising the way those at the scene released information... Ahem.. I'll politely disagree. Unless "Out of respect to the families, we will not be releasing any information" is considered wonderfully forthcoming.

 

I remember the footage from that. The amazing thing is the fan was sitting like 30 rows up and FAR from the track, you'd never in a million years think a fan was at risk in those seats. Amazing how far that tire flew.