NO DATA FROM WILKERSON CRASH
Tue, 2009-11-03 13:51
Reliable sources reported to CompetitionPlus.com that Ford Motor Company and NHRA were unable to retrieve any data from the “crash box” installed on Daniel Wilkerson’s Funny Car following his wreck in Memphis. Daniel’s father, Tim, confirmed that this was the case, blaming the problem on the fact that his team had but one charger for the system that had to be shared between the two cars. “We charged the unit completely on Thursday (of race week),” Wilkerson said, “but by Sunday it must have run down.”
Reliable sources reported to CompetitionPlus.com that Ford Motor Company and NHRA were unable to retrieve any data from the “crash box” installed on Daniel Wilkerson’s Funny Car following his wreck in Memphis. Daniel’s father, Tim, confirmed that this was the case, blaming the problem on the fact that his team had but one charger for the system that had to be shared between the two cars. “We charged the unit completely on Thursday (of race week),” Wilkerson said, “but by Sunday it must have run down.”
The car also lost both rear wheels in the accident, leading to rumors suggesting the team had either forgotten to tighten the lug nuts, or had done so improperly. The senior Wilkerson assured us that this was not the case, stating, “I spoke to Daniel a few minutes after the accident, and the first thing he told me after he said he was all right was that he’d watched the guys torqueing down the lug nuts and that they’d done it the right way. None of us has any idea why the wheels came off.”
It may be of little consolation to Wilkerson, but this is far from the first time accidents have strangely resulted in the rear wheels separating from cars for no apparent mechanical reason. In a blowover at Pomona some years back both rear wheels came off Eddie Hill’s car – while it was still airborne and prior to impacting the ground. While this has nothing to do with that situation, a then NHRA Senior Vice President watched in total bemusement from the tower as one wheel and tire, floating like a Frisbee, went at least 100 feet in the air and floated down into the street paralleling the race track. It bounced once in the northbound traffic lane and then landed up against the race track fence. A man driving a pickup truck who’d slowed as the wheel and tire bounced in front of him, pulled to the side of the road, jumped out and threw the wheel and tire into the back of his truck and sped off. A few hours later Hill’s crew was still asking officials where the errant wheel and tire had gone. And now you know the rest of the story!
We'll never know exactly how violent Dan Wilkerson's Memphis crash was since the Ford Blue Box data recorder didn't work.
The car also lost both rear wheels in the accident, leading to rumors suggesting the team had either forgotten to tighten the lug nuts, or had done so improperly. The senior Wilkerson assured us that this was not the case, stating, “I spoke to Daniel a few minutes after the accident, and the first thing he told me after he said he was all right was that he’d watched the guys torqueing down the lug nuts and that they’d done it the right way. None of us has any idea why the wheels came off.”
It may be of little consolation to Wilkerson, but this is far from the first time accidents have strangely resulted in the rear wheels separating from cars for no apparent mechanical reason. In a blowover at Pomona some years back both rear wheels came off Eddie Hill’s car – while it was still airborne and prior to impacting the ground. While this has nothing to do with that situation, a then NHRA Senior Vice President watched in total bemusement from the tower as one wheel and tire, floating like a Frisbee, went at least 100 feet in the air and floated down into the street paralleling the race track. It bounced once in the northbound traffic lane and then landed up against the race track fence. A man driving a pickup truck who’d slowed as the wheel and tire bounced in front of him, pulled to the side of the road, jumped out and threw the wheel and tire into the back of his truck and sped off. A few hours later Hill’s crew was still asking officials where the errant wheel and tire had gone. And now you know the rest of the story!
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