Time to make some safety changes.




A woman was killed Sunday at the NHRA Arizona Nationals in Chandler, Ariz., when she was struck by debris from an accident involving Top Fuel driver Antron Brown.
The Gila River Police Department confirmed that an adult female was killed at the Firebird International Raceway during the NHRA races, but they did not release her name.
Brown was racing Troy Buff when Brown's left rear tire separated from the car and he lost control. The car crossed the center lane and hit the retaining wall as the tire bounded off the track surface.
USA Today reported the woman was a member of a Nostalgia Funny Car team, but ESPN.com has been unable to confirm her affiliation or the reason she was at the track.
The NHRA said Brown was uninjured in the accident.
"We're racers and we race and I'm ok," Brown said in a statement released by his team, Don Schumacher Racing. "It all happened so quickly and I want to thank the NHRA Safety Safari for being there so quickly to help get me out of the car and also the track medical team for tending to me so quickly."
The release said Brown went to Chandler Regional Hospital for further observation.
NHRA officials are investigating the incident.

Woman killed by debris in Top Fuel accident - ESPN

 

I don't think they need to make any safety changes.

I mean, if you wanted that to be 100% safe, you'd put a prius with a roll cage and restrictor plates on the drag strip. Those are large hunks of metal moving and accelerating very fast, stuff happens.

Sounds like one random piece hit someone. While tragic, the only way that the same thing could be prevented would be to remove everyone from the stands and around the entire track. If a bolt came off at high speed, just right, it could get through the fence between the people and the track and kill someone. Unlikely, but it could happen.

Just a freak accident.

 

I agree ............that link had the video of the crash but its been taken down now.....it wasnt a bad accident just that the tire really got some air and went flyin away..It was almost way worse then it was if that car would of kept goin towards the stands.

OH and btw you cant put restrictor plates on a prius

 

YouTube - Woman Killed By Debris After NHRA Crash

ESPN video

 

Can you not? I don't even know what they really are, just sounded good.

What part actually killed the lady, they didn't say. Was it the tire?

 

Yea it was the tire......I know in nascar they have like umm.....UGH i cant find the word im lookin for ....I guess i will say chains so u get the idea but they have chains on all major parts of the car to avoid this kinda thing ....you cant really keep a tire attached though.

 

You heartless SOB! You are probably against a safer hot dog, too!

Pediatricians call for a choke-proof hot dog - USATODAY.com

 

That's awesome

 

Motorsports of any kind is a dangerous game, but the improvements in safety over the decades has been astonishing. It used to be in Formula 1 racing that at least 10% of the drivers were killed every year - and that was as recently as the 1960s. There has not been a driver fatality in Formula 1 since 1994 when both Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger were killed on the same weekend in different accidents. Two course marshalls have lost their lives in that time, both killed by...... flying tires. Wheels are now tethered (that's the word you were looking for, chevyboyac) in most forms of motorsport but even that isn't a guarantee. When car impacts car, or wall, or whatever, stuff is going to come loose. And the faster the car is going, the faster and farther that stuff is going to fly.

Crowds have moved further away, fences have gotten taller and stronger. But those who work trackside are at the highest risk from flying debris, and it looks like this woman fit that description. The drivers are incredibly well protected, and the spectators are far removed. Track workers, pit personnel, etc are virtually unprotected against heavy, flying debris. You can put a helmet on them and make 'em wear fire suits (which is very common) but throw a tire/wheel combo at them at 100+ mph and nothing much can be done to prevent serious injury or, in this case, death.

But we've come so far from those days when the drivers wore no seatbelts, their helmet was but a leather cap, and even open cars lacked any sort of roll over protection. Heck, most of the time a drivers shoulders were up higher than the surrounding body work, let alone his head! Drivers will continue to die, as will track workers, pit crew, etc. But I doubt we'll ever see (and pray we don't) another incident like LeMans in 1955 that killed one driver and perhaps as many as 100 spectators. That was the event that caused Mercedes to pull out of motorsports for almost 40 years.

 

maybe we should just chew it for them and feed it to them like baby birds.......

These guys need to join the real world.... watch your kids and teach them well. There are NO guarantee's in life... it is risky..... nautral selection and all that..


Sorry for the lady and her family.... very unfortunate... but it was an accident...

 

YouTube - NHRA Death Of Spectator


HOLY HELL that tire went FARRRRRR way back in the pit/Public area ....lucky it didnt kill more people, I was right they are lookin into ways to lock the tire to the car......its just not possible to build a fence....it would kill the sport, and Im sure if the dead lady could talk she wouldnt want a fence up either.

 

You can see how much force that tire had behind it. It smacks the entire car sideways when it his the front.

Went an eight of a mile. That's just crazy.

 

Well said, Mike-in-orange. Looking back at the safety advances in motorsport(all the advances, actually), one does wonder what will come in the next 40 years to make motorsport safer, etc..