Fatal crash at Englishtown

[SteveR]

There was a fatal crash today at Englishtown during qualifying. This is at least the third fatality at the national event in the last five years involving the shutdown area.


http://www.nhra.com/story/2010/6/11/accident-claims-life-of-alcohol-funny-car-competitor-in-englishtown/

[NastyEllEssWon]

i wonder what etowns gonna do??? lengthen the shut down area???

[BonzoHansen]

Dave Nelson, who comes out to our meets in the South, is friends with Neal.


http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...GVP-wD9G99FO82

Driver killed in crash at NJ raceway identified

By BRUCE SHIPKOWSKI (AP) – 6 minutes ago

OLD BRIDGE, N.J. — Authorities have identified the drag racing driver killed in an accident at a New Jersey Raceway as 58-year-old Neal Parker of Millville, N.J.

New Jersey State Police say Parker's alcohol-fueled funny car ran through a net at the end of the track and he died of head injuries.

The accident occurred shortly before noon Friday during a qualifying round at the NHRA SuperNationals at Raceway Park in Old Bridge.

The accident comes nearly two years after top racer Scott Kalitta died when his Funny Car burst into flames and crashed at the end of the track in central New Jersey.

[JerzLT1]

was it due to the car or the track?

[DevilDougWS6]

Just saw this on the news, very sad. I wonder if E-town will change a few things because of this and the other fatal crashes semi-recently.

[T69SS]

Thats a shame.

RIP

[Fast92RS]

Its very sad. RIP. I have a feeling that unless E-town makes the changes needed that NHRA may not come back next year. Thats just my opinion.

[maroman88]

RIP... i saw it on the news, they sed the parachutes didnt open

[79CamaroDiva]

Its very sad. RIP. I have a feeling that unless E-town makes the changes needed that NHRA may not come back next year. Thats just my opinion.

The unfortunate fact is that there is a LOT of money to be made in the northeast, and I doubt that they will actually pull the national event away.


I have a close friend on the safety safari.. he couldn't say much, sounds like its still under investigation, but he did say he didnt believe it was a track issue this time

[Mike]

i wonder what etowns gonna do??? lengthen the shut down area???
to where, these same issues came up last year, there is perhaps 50 feet of woods and then a public road after the shut down, and englishtown already has one of the longer shut downs out there.

Just saw this on the news, very sad. I wonder if E-town will change a few things because of this and the other fatal crashes semi-recently.

they re-worked some things last year, and the nhra shortened the "1/4 mile" to 1000 feet last year for the top fuel cars, we should at least wait to see the cause of this crash before blaming englishtown

Its very sad. RIP. I have a feeling that unless E-town makes the changes needed that NHRA may not come back next year. Thats just my opinion.

they had made all the changes after last year, there really isnt any foolproof ways of fixing the track, again, lets find out the cause of the accident before blaming the track...

[BonzoHansen]

Neal was a Chevy man.


http://www.competitionplus.com/07_15_2004/photos/friday_parker.jpg

http://www.nitrojam.com/images/uploaded/6eb5868b5fe54ff81c6bfe0f74232090.jpg

[BonzoHansen]

Track length is the topic again. Until the investigation is complete, who knows. But by this ETown is on the shorter end but certainly not alone in this issue.

This appears to be from 07/08 so I don't know if it still holds true.
Here is a list of track lengths. It is a few years old because my local track (Maple Grove) added 250 feet to the shut down area last year.
http://www.dragracingonline.com/agent1320/2008/1320-x_6-55.html
http://www.dragracingonline.com/agent1320/2008/images/0703/chart.gif

I looked at the aerial map last night. I think the only possible way to make it longer is to run a shutdown across pension road. It appears maple grove does this now. I cannot imagine ETown can grow the other way, the costs would be insane - that would mean moving everything.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v359/SIBLY/Cars/FixETown.jpg

[Mike]

so its in the middle of the tracks that have national events, there are still TONS of tracks out there that are shorter with alcohol cars running every day without issue

[baddest434]

damn that sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[79CamaroDiva]

so its in the middle of the tracks that have national events, there are still TONS of tracks out there that are shorter with alcohol cars running every day without issue

From what I've heard, englishtown is the shortest national event track.. the fuel cars have been complaining about it for years

[BurninrubberGT]

was it due to the car or the track?

both, his chutess didnt open and the nets failed


its very sad, it was kinda wierd walking around there yesterday, before they restarted qualy, its was almost silent, even with all the people and cars there...

last year there was a car that went into the netting and it did its job and the driver walked away, dont know why they failed this time.

I also do not understand why every series isnt running the system they do in nitro, to where if the engine blows, the system shuts off the fuel system and automatically deploys the chutes. saw it happen last night, its a great idea but needs to be in every class

[NastyEllEssWon]

maybe build an overpass there on pension road and run the shutdown past it ???

[JerzLT1]

Neal was a Chevy man.


http://www.competitionplus.com/07_15_2004/photos/friday_parker.jpg

its an LT1!!!

[deadtrend1]

maybe build an overpass there on pension road and run the shutdown past it ???

yea, that would go over well with the locals. They already moved next to the track, then bitch that hey live next to a track.

[BonzoHansen]

maybe build an overpass there on pension road and run the shutdown past it ???

the cost of a bridge would be crazy, they'd have to figure out how to cross the street.

[SteveR]

the cost of a bridge would be crazy, they'd have to figure out how to cross the street.

I think the problem is that the road is about ten feet lower altitude than the track. After the catch net theres some trees then a steep drop off down to the road.

[z28rob18]

both, his chutess didnt open and the nets failed


its very sad, it was kinda wierd walking around there yesterday, before they restarted qualy, its was almost silent, even with all the people and cars there...

last year there was a car that went into the netting and it did its job and the driver walked away, dont know why they failed this time.

I also do not understand why every series isnt running the system they do in nitro, to where if the engine blows, the system shuts off the fuel system and automatically deploys the chutes. saw it happen last night, its a great idea but needs to be in every class

yea it was wierd walkin around i got there 5 minutes after the crash everyone was kinda in a daze in a way. itd be alot of work and money but they could tear up the shutdown and elevate it. make it an uphill thing. i heard that he hit the sand at over 200mph so if thats true there's more to it then just the chutes not opening since the fuel cars can usually come close to stoppin them with just the brakes.

[Firebird]

both, his chutess didnt open and the nets failed


its very sad, it was kinda wierd walking around there yesterday, before they restarted qualy, its was almost silent, even with all the people and cars there...

last year there was a car that went into the netting and it did its job and the driver walked away, dont know why they failed this time.

...

that was my dads friend

[MonmouthCtyAntz]

GF told me about this a few days ago...sad :(

[BarneyMobile]

I do agree that Etown has a rather short shutdown area but its still enough to stop. I don't think you can place the blame on the track since no safety net is gonna stop a car moving 200+ mph. Keep in mind, all of the other cars stopped without incident. In both Kalitta's and Parker's accident, niether of them showed signs of an atempt to slow the car. None the less this is very saddening, RIP Neal.

[Kat]

RIP.

Buddy at work was there when it happened.. He said that word around the track that he had a stroke during his run. :(

[mc73nova]

First off, R.I.P. Neal.

I was there Friday(after it happened) and Sunday and there were some rumors that he may have had a heart attack. Which would explain why the chutes didnt open and the car did not attempt to slow with the brakes. It was a car issue, what exactly happened is yet to be determined.
It is hard to say what a proper shut down area should be. Many of you have been to Island I'm sure and although they dont hold any National events like that, they do have cars that can run as fast as 200mph with much less of a shut down area. I am not knocking Island what so ever, Im simply saying that all tracks have a limited amount of room to work with. Most of these tracks were built back in the day, although the idea is to go as fast as you can in a 1/4 mile(or 1000ft) I'm sure when they built the track they werent thinking of 3,4,5 or even 6 second cars making it down the track.

[WildBillyT]

First off, R.I.P. Neal.

I was there Friday(after it happened) and Sunday and there were some rumors that he may have had a heart attack. Which would explain why the chutes didnt open and the car did not attempt to slow with the brakes. It was a car issue, what exactly happened is yet to be determined.
It is hard to say what a proper shut down area should be. Many of you have been to Island I'm sure and although they dont hold any National events like that, they do have cars that can run as fast as 200mph with much less of a shut down area. I am not knocking Island what so ever, Im simply saying that all tracks have a limited amount of room to work with. Most of these tracks were built back in the day, although the idea is to go as fast as you can in a 1/4 mile(or 1000ft) I'm sure when they built the track they werent thinking of 3,4,5 or even 6 second cars making it down the track.


I agree. Back in the 70's, running 6.xx was top of the line. Now people run 3's. That's a big difference.

[IROCZman15]

yea heard about it and went sunday. unfortunate event for sure r.i.p.

[SteveR]

RIP.

Buddy at work was there when it happened.. He said that word around the track that he had a stroke during his run. :(

That seems to be the common excuse used every time. I'm waiting to hear the medical examiners report.