For anyone who watches NHRA Drag Racing, some bad news
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/0 ... t_old.html
Scott Kalitta Killed
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JustinMFox
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mopar_mark
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Re: Scott Kalitta Killed
Bananarama!, thats a bad bit of newsJustinMFox wrote:For anyone who watches NHRA Drag Racing, some bad news
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/0 ... t_old.html
"I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered."
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Dave-R
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Pretty sure it will be the wall that did it. the front of the chassis looks badly damaged from the explosion. Hitting the wall full-on like that would have smacked what was left of the Hemi right into him.
He did manage to pull the chute. But it didn't open correctly. The heat in there must have been terrible.
He did manage to pull the chute. But it didn't open correctly. The heat in there must have been terrible.
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Anonymous
............. with the chute burnt off there is no way to slow the car down.............. -
JustinMFox
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I don't understand why there isn't a long gravel track at the end, it's insane to think that there's a concrete wall not far from the end with cars doing 320mph, I would say it was definitely the wall that did it as those kind of fireballs happen reguarly and the drivers come off without a scratch, looking at this video of a top fuel car it's scary the type of speed they go
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Steve Chapman
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Sent a shiver down my spine watching that, quite chilling with the presenters commentary. RIP Scott. Apparantley they don,t have much of a run off at that track as a county road run along the bottom of it, it was ok for the speeds cars were running when the track was built but not now. Agree with Dave it was the wall that did it finally for poor Scott.
1965 Coronet
Wow, that is really sad, it is always a shock when a well known racer is killed like that, despite the speeds it is still a very rare occurence.
Agree it was the crash at the end, and also agree it's the older tracks that have less runoff. However - I have NEVER seen a crash like that, I don't know how it can be possible for that to happen - even at a track with a short runoff there should be arrangements to slow the car with catch fences, water filled barriers, etc, whatever it takes. These days it should be possible to do that.
Of course at 300mph anything is going to have a limited effect, but usually even with failed chutes the brakes will drop a lot of speed, don't know why that didn't happen this time - maybe Scott was unconcious after the explosion.
Anyway, a great tragedy, he was 46. Bet Connie did not think he would outlast his son, very sad.
Agree it was the crash at the end, and also agree it's the older tracks that have less runoff. However - I have NEVER seen a crash like that, I don't know how it can be possible for that to happen - even at a track with a short runoff there should be arrangements to slow the car with catch fences, water filled barriers, etc, whatever it takes. These days it should be possible to do that.
Of course at 300mph anything is going to have a limited effect, but usually even with failed chutes the brakes will drop a lot of speed, don't know why that didn't happen this time - maybe Scott was unconcious after the explosion.
Anyway, a great tragedy, he was 46. Bet Connie did not think he would outlast his son, very sad.
Gavin Chisholm - 414ci W2 Stroker SmallBlock Panther Pink '71 Challenger convertible - in bits
Car progress can be viewed here
Car progress can be viewed here
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Anonymous