I raced the bike back towards the fence and jumped it, with Grant and Chris beating me to the scene. A John Force Racing crewmember was also on hand and took the track crew’s fire extinguisher and killed the still running motor. Luckily the car was wedged against the wall. While this is happening, there was a tire still turning! Gene was unconscious. After regaining consciousness, he was removed from the car with the cage on because the track’s jaws of life were malfunctioning, which is another issue for another day.
Looking back at old videos of Don Garlits’ Englishtown blowover, had he been knocked unconscious we could have had an accident much like Shelly’s. I have heard rumors that one of the Safety Safari trucks was rolling to intercept his dragster in the event of this, but I cannot substantiate that.
Harker’s recent blowover along with Clay Millican’s Top Fuel blowover show these types of accidents will happen again.
At a bare minimum, steps need to be taken to prevent the car from coming back towards the starting line under power. But why stop there? I think a more proactive approach needs to be taken and the major wheelstands themselves need to be prevented.
I would like to call myself racer first, journalist second. I’ve driven and crew chiefed Top Alcohol Dragsters. It’s real easy to say shame on a driver for riding out a wheelstand. What complicates this situation is the culture of drag racing. Wheelies are cool. A Top Fueler or Top Alcohol Dragster ‘packin’ the front end to half track is a thing of beauty. I’ve got a picture on my wall of the car I crew
chiefed on, Jason Cannon’s B/AD. On a cool Saturday morning qualifying in Houston, Jason made one of those runs where it picked the front end up about 18 inches and carried them there till about 500 feet. It was just one of those ‘wow’ runs. I’ve seen Marty Thacker and Larry Dixon make more than a few of those. The problem is there’s a very fine line between one of those ‘wow’ runs and an‘oh no’ run.
Anyone who has ever dreamed of making a pass in a Top Fueler or Top Alcohol Dragster probably dreams about driving into a powerstand and hauling ass. So, when you’re racing it’s a fine line between the haul-ass run that will make you the cool guy or gal in the pits vs. the blowover run. Luckily Harker was unharmed and will be back in action. Snow’s driving career is now over as a result of his accident. Shelly and Brian now live in our hearts as a result of hers.
Nearly every safety rule and/or device on today’s racecars is the result of someone getting hurt or dying. Helmet shrouds and 85% were results of Darrell Russell’s death. Better roll cage padding and FC helmet shrouds came after Eric Medlen’s death. Nothing was done following the death of Shelly Howard. I’ve taken it upon myself to get the ball rolling so her death will not be in vain.
If this type of accident happens at a national event, whether it’s a Top Fueler or Top Alcohol car, it will be very, very, very, very bad. I have had correspondence with NHRA over the past few weeks and they agree.
I’ve done some research over the past few weeks, and have a few conceptual designs after talking with several device manufacturers. The idea is to create a device that will detect a pre-set ‘point of no return’ that will kill the car, thus preventing the blowover. There are problems on both fronts of that. Finding a device that will reliably sense the height of the front end is one problem and an effective method of killing the car instantly under power is another.
Before we go any further, many people look to the wheelie bar in these situations. One would think that’s what these devices are for. However, a wheelie bar on a dragster is designed to work on the starting line. The wheelie bar is preset to a certain height, which is relative to the normal height of the rear tires in a still state on the starting line. Anyone who has seen just a few dragsters make a pass will notice the tires grow taller going down track. As that tire grows, so does the wheelie bar height. So a wheelie bar that may have kept the front end no more than a foot off the ground at launch will now allow the front end to travel several feet in the air before hitting. At that height and speed, the wheelie bar may slow the inevitable, but it will not stop a blowover. It was not designed to prevent down track wheelstands, period.
Yes, in the ESPN2 coverage of the Harker blowover, the wheelie bar broke, but if you watch it in slow motion, it was already going over. From a scientific point of view, the wheelie bar is no more, and possibly less, effective than relying on the driver alone to catch it. Moreover, it may plant a false sense of security in a driver.
Once a suitable device is found to sense the height of the front end, this device would fire a fuel shutoff device of some sort. Without further engineering, I believe this could be achieved by placing an additional fuel shutoff behind the fuel shutoff controlled by the driver. It could be closed by a throttle control device much like what is currently used on throttle stops and throttle control on Pro
Mods.
Ignition kill might sound simpler, but ignition will not kill a nitro motor at wide open throttle. While working on Jason Cannon’s A/Fueler, we had it shake so bad one run it bent the throttle cable and the throttle stuck wide open. It also shook so badly it shook the mags off the car. The only way Jason killed the car was reaching over and killing the fuel shutoff. Any data recorder takes its rpm signal from the mag system. Upon reviewing the run on the data recorder, the driveshaft rpm continued to accelerate like nothing was wrong nearly a second after it lost rpm signal (shaking the mags off). Ignition will kill an alcohol motor most of the time, but not a nitro motor.
This column will be an ongoing project devoted to this cause over the next few months. Our first two devices we studied was Rieker, Inc.’s SlopeAlert Inclinometer and Toby Graham’s Wheelie Control.
INCLINOMETER
I decided to take a look at Rieker’s Inclinometers after a tip by Follow A Dream Racing’s Tommy Howell put a link to their website on my website, InsideTopAlcohol.com. Their device is designed for heavy equipment operating in conditions in which a rollover could occur due to extreme slope. If such a device could be adapted to a drag racing application, a preset ‘point of no return’ angle could be programmed into the box. The question lies in whether or not the box would still be accurate under the extreme physics of these cars. Despite dabbling in astro-geo-quantum leap-extra special relativity physics in my off time, I defer this subject to the experts. Skip Gosnell, of Rieker gave me this response on his product:
Thank you for the video and picture link – the accident you described is very devastating. Regarding a statement, please note that although the SlopeAlert has a proven record it has never been tested for such an extreme application – however in theory the concept of using the device to switch off the fuel system when the front end of the vehicle is raised to a preset angle is viable. Keep in mind that the influences of acceleration and centrifugal force (as we initially discussed) will severely affect the performance on any gravity based inclinometer. Without proper testing, the SlopeAlert unit may malfunction at such a velocity the dragster is traveling and not trip the switch or trip so early that it may cause additional complications. Legal statement just to cover us: IN NO EVENT WILL THE COMPANY (Rieker, Inc) BE LIABLE FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND.
Angle Monitoring & Early Warning System: The SlopeAlert, unlike our liquid capacitive type inclinometers, does not use linear inclinometer sensing - it is strictly an on/off switch used to indicate out of level conditions or to indicate a specific angle. The construction of the SlopeAlert sensor is a variation on our manual style inclinometers utilizing automotive type solid state circuitry to detect the trip angle - it provides only Normally Open (for out of range condition) or Normally Closed (for in range indication) output to signal tilt angle either by buzzer, LED, or signal valves to shut-off equipment. It is mercury free - fluid damping combined with our unique sensor geometry prevent false triggering under harsh environments. The sensor and corresponding circuitry are completely encapsulated with a rigid epoxy within a molded plastic (Noryl) enclosure making the part extremely rugged and completely sealed - it has been shock tested in excess of 500g's without failure.
This tilt warning system has been developed and manufactured in accordance with the needs of OEM customers who required measurement and control under high vibration. The slope Alert offers a flexible solution to the various application needs for operator error factors, prospective construction safety standards, recommendations, and requirements, and can be installed on all types of construction equipment, tractors, and off-road vehicles. While designed for the construction equipment OEM, it is well suited for any application where inclination needs to be limited or equipment controlled.
A SlopeAlert tilt indicator will indicate if the operating angle is approaching dangerous limits, giving the operator a better idea of how safe a particular slope may or may not be. Using a slope-measuring device will aid in helping reduce the number of rollovers operators experience.