Daddy Dave Wreck Amarillo Dragway

In looking back through my SFI books, my wild guess as to why they don't have a dedicated spec for the harness/belts weld-tab size or thickness is probably because there are just so many different acceptable ways to mount a harness/belts in the first place.

IMO if a belt is to be bolted to the cage/chassis with a simple tab, I feel that the minimum thickness for a small tab (that is also flat) should be around the 1/8" range for 'moly, and 3/16" for m/s. If the tab size used is a little bigger/wider & also has bent-folded sides for added strength (say a 25* to 45* bend each side), then the minimum (again IMO) should be at least .090" for 'moly & .125" for m/s.

If the belt is to be bolted to a welded sleeve/tube (either threaded, or non-threaded through-bolt design), the OD of that sleeve is pretty much dictated by the size bolt used & the tube/sleeve wall thickness. Threaded tube inserts/weld bungs are also an option.

Wrap around belt mounting is pretty much self explanatory. Just don't use it anywhere the tube it's wrapped around could come in damaging contact with anything during a crash and possibly damage the belt's webbing.

Eye bolt & quick release/snap-on belt mounting.......I'm not a fan of this type belt mounting, never have been.


As for the seat mounting, IMO SFI probably doesn't have a dedicated spec for this in 25.1, 25.2, 25.4, or 25.5 (not sure about 25.3) because it's already covered in the NHRA/IHRA rule books.


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Another thing to think about. It has been mentioned on other forums that if he didn't have his belts cinched/pulled tight & were kinda loose, that possible "belt slack" could have lead to the tab bracket & seat mount failures in a high energy crash. This theory is indeed possible (some say it's why/how Lee Shepherd died), so always remember to give the belts another good tug before staging.

supervel45 wrote:I would not enter a no prep race myself.

It be a blast in an 10 or 11 second street car, but the shit these guys want to run is way to freaking fast.

I looked at the wreck footage on my computer at work. It has a huge screen. I stopped it when the guy held the tab up. It didnt look the weld that was on the tab was very good. Didn't look like there was much penatration.

[quote="dr's wife racing"]I looked at the wreck footage on my computer at work. It has a huge screen. I stopped it when the guy held the tab up. It didnt look the weld that was on the tab was very good. Didn't look like there was much penatration. [/quote


X2 looks like the welder was set to low looks like a cold weld with no penetration

dfree383 wrote:

supervel45 wrote:I would not enter a no prep race myself.

It be a blast in an 10 or 11 second street car, but the shit these guys want to run is way to freaking fast.

you aint lived until you have been 5.0's on an unpreped track ...... :-)

richter69 wrote:

dfree383 wrote:

supervel45 wrote:I would not enter a no prep race myself.

It be a blast in an 10 or 11 second street car, but the shit these guys want to run is way to freaking fast.

you aint lived until you have been 5.0's on an unpreped track ...... :-)

Mid 8s in 1/4 at Firebird in Phoenix on any weekend that wasnt NHRA national weekend before it was reground.  
Ice had more traction...
 I got it nearly 90 degrees to the wall 3 or 4 times trying to save it; and not roll the car, before it finally settled enough to coast to a stop. 
 I gave up daredevil racing.  Fire suits and seat covers get expensive, and after I got the stuff un-sucked out my clenched ass...  it was pretty shit  coverd.    Glory days my ass....    God damn scary nights.  A little trophy and a couple 100 bucks wasnt worth waddin the car up.

I just don't see the fun in wrecking a car you spend hard earned money on becouse the track is shit. It's about as dumb as a backward flip on a dirt bike or driving drunk! it's not "if" it'll happen it's " when" it does that it gets noticed.

richter69 wrote:

dfree383 wrote:

supervel45 wrote:I would not enter a no prep race myself.

It be a blast in an 10 or 11 second street car, but the shit these guys want to run is way to freaking fast.

you aint lived until you have been 5.0's on an unpreped track ...... :-)

Damn right.....especially on a 10.5

I don't run near as fast as most of you guys but having the car start to point to the centerline or the bushes at 100+MPH is no fun and trying to drive out of it is a no go in my books. I had a run this year that started to head for the bushes at about the 990 mark so I lifted and it corrected itself....No big deal to me as it was just a qualifying run. I get back to my pit, I saw my cousin was there watching with his wife so I went over for a chat. The first thing out of his mouth was " I'm some glad you lifted".....I didn't think anyone would have noticed it but he did and it worried him he said....I was doing about 125 at that point. I've seen a couple cars get off the track in the last couple years, I'll pass on that thank you.

Just for the record, It looks like Dave lifted at the 17 second mark, of the first vid of the link I posted here. He left at about the 15 second mark. Make what you will out of it.

Freeze frame at the 16 second mark, that lighting bolt is pretty wild. You will almost not see it if you don't freeze the screen it was so fast.

supervel45 wrote:Just for the record, It looks like Dave lifted at the 17 second mark, of the first vid of the link I posted here. He left at about the 15 second mark. Make what you will out of it.

At 17 seconds he would have been further ahead crossing center line and coasting out the other end, lifting with a turned steering wheel, set the front wheels, and the rest is the result.  At 17 seconds he was on the center of the track, with both rear wheels out the grove. The thing launches to the center line.... he was never in the groove.

I did not say he was still in the groove, or that he could not have lifted sooner. I just said he lifted about 2 seconds into the run, to point out how fast it all happened. As for as the Jersey wall causing the roll over in this wreck, I don't know. Dave was on two wheels before he touched the wall and about to go over anyway. It does look like the car settled a bit on all 4 wheels and the wall may have lifted the front a tad. That one is a really tough call, but you have a point about them not helping matters.

supervel45 wrote:I did not say he was still in the groove, or that he could not have lifted sooner. I just said he lifted about 2 seconds into the run, to point out how fast it all happened. As for as the Jersey wall causing the roll over in this wreck, I don't know. Dave was on two wheels before he touched the wall and about to go over anyway. It does look like the car settled a bit on all 4 wheels and the wall may have lifted the front a tad. That one is a really tough call, but you have a point about them not helping matters.

Not arguing with you.  Woulda, coulda, should a, story of my life.  Should have stayed in school and been a doctor, woild have made a grip, could have top fuel team.   Cant say I wouldn't have had an even worse wreck.  From the sidelines and after watching video replay its easy to see and say what was wrong.  But as you mention, the whole thing was basically shit in 2 seconds, unless a driver is prepaired to perform a reaction to sn action, most would have had similar if not worse results.   When it jerked right on launch, had he lifted, he'd have the car still.  But in riches or wreckers mentallity the lift at launch isnt inany peoples mindset.  Pro's have had similar accidents, they just have the numbers of laps, to have realized that if its bad at the hit...   it aint going to get better.  No use in risking wrecking the car.

There is a fine line between being brave and being dumb.

Lem Evans wrote:There is a fine line between being brave and being dumb.

Most often the difference is wholly based on the outcome of the situation.  Charge a fortified position and kill an enemy,  brave.   Same said action, die two feet from the onset, dumb.

It depends on the track. A no prep track at holly springs Ms. is better is better than most of what they call a preped track around here.

Its crazy how much momentum a mid 5 sec car has about 60 or so feet out.... Thats what happened in the sb car to me a couple years ago at a no prep.

The race I went to last fall i was the 7th car down the track and i rode the wheelie bars an easy 60-70'.... After that it wiggled but wasnt to terrible to drive

It also depends on the track and there rules, ours allows us to use our own "prep" as in pour some pimp juice in front of the the tire and then start it and do a burnout... It gets drug a ways out. After a dozen pairs go down the strating line has serious teeth.

Some tracks allow water burnouts only, the sticky stuff dont get drug out so it makes it trickier.

Any body have any idea what the MPH would be at 2 seconds into a run with a car like that?

Bout 85 mph give or take 5.

Did anyone notice it took from the end of the 18 second mark with first contact with the wall to the 24 second mark for the car to come to a complete stop? So the roll of about 5 seconds appears to have absorbed a lot of energy from the crash. If he had come to a dead stop on the wall I think it would have been worse. As for as a guess on the speed he impacted the wall, I would say it was over 60 MPH, and he was going quite a bit faster when he lifted. He left at around 14.7-14.9 on the video lifted at around 17.3 or so and hit the wall in the at the end of the 18 second mark, so the car only had a little over a second and a half to slow down on two wheels touching the track about half of that time. I would like to know how far down the track he was when he turned towards the wall?

It also looks like Dave drilled the brakes about 4 feet from the wall as the back tire appears to lock up right before the impact? If so I would say that's a damn good reaction time.

Dave posted this morning, and it sounds like he is doing better. He say's he is looking forward to getting back to racing, and can remember back to Saturday around lunch time. I wish him a full and speedy recovery.

Had no idea on mph. I agree with slow energy loss being a good thing. He shild take a good look at safety features in that car. There is no way it should have come apart like that. I wounded who welded that stuff in ??