NHRA F/C death

wow ..what a shame for the team , this just happened minutes ago ...rip and prayers go out to the team

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gevRq1Q5ccWq260Xzhxnu7cGVP-wD9G96UT80


http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20100611/NEWS/100611031/1-dead-after-crash-at-Old-Bridge-Raceway-Park




Top Alcohol Funny Car
Results for Qualifying Round 1
ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. - ENGLISHTOWN - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Top Alcohol Funny Car at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, 41st annual NHRA SuperNationals listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed, and position in order following run: Right Lane: Eric Lourie Runs 5.664/251.11, Now #111:52 a.m. - Lourie took his car down the groove. Left Lane: John Headley Runs 6.666/158.00, Now #3 Right Lane: Neal Parker Runs 5.732/249.90, Now #2Headley spun the tires coming off the starting line and it sounded as if he never shifted. Parker ran his career best ET and speed but then never opened his chutes. The car went off the track into the sand. We'll be down here for a while.

May not be a FC according to other reports

Sad.....rip and prayers go out to the family and team.

RIP fellow racer! ???? no word on who it was???

Neal Parker

Heading up there tomorrow, to watch. Our prayers are with the family.

Sad deal. Prayers to the family/crew.

AP news said he ran into a wall at the end of the track. Yeah....

Bill

Very sad day in drag racing. Condolences to the family, at least he died doing what he loved and he set his personal best at that too. He did not die undignified. Rest In Peace, bless the rest of the racers from heaven Neal. Good bye.

Englishtown NJ should not be on the NHRA circuit they are WAY to short a track to run.... I think this is to many deaths there....


Randy

I wonder if the guy didn't have something physical happen like a stroke, seizure or heart attack early in the run???

Amen^^^ to that coug.

That track has a shi*** shutdown area

73f100shortbox557SCJ wrote:Amen^^^ to that coug.

That track has a shi*** shutdown area

National Trail ain't much better......both suck!

the Coug wrote:Englishtown NJ should not be on the NHRA circuit they are WAY to short a track to run.... I think this is to many deaths there....


Randy

Sounds like that track and NHRA have changed little at that venue since Scott Kaletta got killed there a couple years ago. Ironically, almost the same scenario.
Just give me your money, baby ... we'll pay somebody off.

Pomona is even shorter...!

Doesn't NHRA have minimum specs on tracks? If your gonna get the big show, your track should be up to par. These cars are faster and faster, the they take more distance to slow down.

Sad someone (or a few) needs to die before they make changes.

Bill

I don't think it was a T/F funny car,it was Top Alcohol.Still a terrible deal. It can happen to any of us guy's,we never know when

bbf-falcon wrote:I don't think it was a T/F funny car,it was Top Alcohol.Still a terrible deal. It can happen to any of us guy's,we never know when

I agree with Rick, we've had a couple of forum members with close calls recently. Fortunately neither was hurt, only their racecars. Don't have to be running a fuel car to get killed. You can't be too safe.

Their had to be more to it than just running off the track? I wouldn't be to quick to blame the nhra for this one.

He was running TA/FC, no question. Fast, maybe too fast for Englishtown.. it is a short shut-down

Associated Press wrote:The Associated Press reported that the car ran through a containment area with soft barriers, sand and a safety net and wound up in pieces in front of a wall at the edge of the raceway property.

I wouldn't think the shortshutdown was the problem being it was a TA/FC , considering the TF cars can stop there. It's a bad deal anyway it happened.But when you strap your ass in any racecar ,it could be your last time.

I hate to here of things like this. Thoughts and prayers to all.
There was a crash at the local track that i go to. Rear engine dragster just went right out the end of the track, hit a mound of dirt and burst into flames. It didnt look like the driver made any attempts to stop the car. No signs of using the brakes and parachute were not deployed. He was a very experienced driver. An autopsy report said he had a brain aneurysm.

dfree383 wrote:I wonder if the guy didn't have something physical happen like a stroke, seizure or heart attack early in the run???

Good point, Dave. I ran into Roy Hill a few weeks ago in the Concord, NC Hooters (Yeah, I know....what are the chances? ). I told him that the last time I saw him driving a racecar, he was rubbing his new ProMod Mustang all over the left guardwall at Gainesville in '03. He replied, "Yeah, that was the last time I actually raced....I was having a major stroke at the time." It can happen.

At least at Pomona they can peel the fencing back to allow run-away cars to keep going onto the golf course.
Englishtown is one of the NHRA's original east coast tracks so they can litterally get away with murder. After all, Princeton is in the ivy league and those people supposedly make all the rules.

NHRA should serously look at upgrading some of the older tracks. Instead they talk the 1,000ft crap or 8th mile every time this happens.

chutes didnt open , thats not the tracks,or nhra fault,

If the problem was with the racetrack, the women that lost her brakes when the shoots deployed shouldn't have walked away. (Deployed and ripped the brakelines out and never slowed down.)

It's like they say in F1, there use to be deaths every year and it was excepted. F1 is the cutting edge, ground breaking, how much are you willing to risk racing class!