DEMANDING CHANGES – RACERS SPEAK OUT ON SHUTDOWN AREAS
Safety goes both ways as drivers say, "Fix your tracks or else"
Bob Vandergriff Jr. is just one of several racers demanding answers as to why so many obstacles were in the shutdown area including a camera boom, a concrete barrier and especially an Armco guardrail.
Current Funny Car point leader Tim Wilkerson said in a post race press conference that he raced on Sunday in Englishtown, N.J., after the tragic death of Scott Kalitta with no confidence in the facility.
"In my opinion, Scott's tragedy at the speed he was going, I don't know if anything would've saved his life but, there needs to be standards – and this place is below them."
Defending Funny Car world champion Tony Pedregon told U.S.A. Today that he's personally taking a walk through the shutdown area prior to this weekend's NHRA Summit Racing Equipment Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio before he makes a lap down the strip in qualifying.
The champion said he didn't realize such a chore was his responsibility."The only dangerous thing the Englishtown shutdown area was missing was a lake full of sharks." – Bob Vandergriff, Jr.
Pedregon has already suffered three major incidents this season, one of which included hitting an open gate in the guardwall during his fiery engine explosion at the NHRA Route 66 Nationals in Chicago. The NHRA admitted the incident was precipitated by an overanxious safety crew eager to reach the driver and promised the error would never happen again.
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Tony Pedregon told U.S.A. Today that he will personally inspect the shutdown area in Norwalk. He added that he didn't know the responsibility was his.
At the time of the Kalitta crash, in the shutdown area, were metal poles which held a catch net [one of which nearly ended up inside the cockpit of another dragster the night before] and beyond that a camera boom with a remote control camera, and beyond that a concrete wall, as well as an Armco guardrail and a row of trees before an active highway.
Witnesses have said Kalitta's errant race car nearly struck all of these objects before stopping in the woods.
"We see Funny Cars blow up and catch fire often, and that's not really out of the normal," Top Fuel racer Bob Vandergriff, Jr. said. "Unfortunately when something like that happens and you're at a facility that doesn't give a driver a chance to walk away because of all the dangerous obstacles in his path, there's a problem. The facilities should give a driver the opportunity to walk away instead of putting everything in his path to prevent that.
"The only dangerous thing the Englishtown shutdown area was missing was a lake full of sharks."
Vandergriff is understandably angry and emotional as he broaches the subject. He's at a point where he's prepared to sit out a race if the facility is unsafe and the veteran driver said he could care less if there is solidarity behind his decision.
After all, Vandergriff isn't waiting on anyone else to build a safer car for his class. He's taking matters into his hands with a dragster version of the Car of Tomorrow.
"This new car means nothing if the facilities that we are racing at aren't up to the same levels that the teams are trying to uphold," Vandergriff admitted. "The terrible side of Scott Kalitta's accident in my opinion is (it was) preventable."
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John Force issued a statement to the media earlier this week advising the media that he will not answer questions or give opinions surrounding the tragic death of Scott Kalitta.
The accident on Saturday justified his fears. If you wondered why on a seemingly clean run during his first round bye run when Team Kalitta driver Hillary Will was a no-show, Vandergriff pulled the parachutes at the eight-mile, he said it shouldn't be difficult to figure out. He would have done the same thing if he would have been in a close race with Brandon Bernstein in the second round. He smoked the tires in his UPS-sponsored dragster and by his assessment wasn't the least bit disappointed.
"I consider myself to be one of the toughest drivers out there, I was scared to death for myself and every racer on Sunday," Vandergriff admitted. "That's why my car went to half-track with the parachutes out on Sunday in the first round. I would have done the same thing in the second round."
Vandergriff confirmed that he told his crew that if something went awry with his dragster, he was going to take his chances by turning into the concrete barrier to get slowed down.
"I'm in a different situation because I am an owner and a driver and I don't have to report to anyone as to why I shut my car off," Vandergriff continued. "Some of the drivers I have talked to feel they are not in a position because they could get fired. They are not in a position because they know they could be replaced. I would hope that would never be the situation, but I think that's the feeling many of them have."
Vandergriff regularly inspects the shutdown areas at the tracks he races because he feels it is the responsible thing to do.
"The problem is that I am one of the very few drivers that go to the top end and inspect every one of the facilities and The Safety Safari told me that," Vandergriff said. "They've told me that not very many of the drivers go down there. That's mind-boggling. I want to know if I've got a tire blown out and I'm out of control what is in front of me.
"I want to know if left is where I want to go and not right because there's a concrete wall or a ditch or something I shouldn't be headed for; I want to know that before I get there if there's ever a problem. I think every driver should spend time down there so he can be aware of his circumstances before he's headed to it. I'd say the majority of the drivers don't do that."
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Gary Scelzi said for years he's been speaking out about conditions such as those in Englishtown. He said he doesn't bother because his pleas fall on deaf ears.
After all, Scelzi said he's been sending warnings for years and he feels no one bothers to listen.
"All anyone has to do is go back and look at all of the stories about the poles and scoreboards being away from the track to know that I've told them time and time again," Scelzi said. "My story has never changed for years. It just falls on deaf ears. That's about it and until all of us band together I don't see any cure for this. Everybody says we want to fix something, but we keep losing lives. I really don't see a fix in the future."
The Professional Racers Organization, long considered a mouthpiece for the nitro racers, would clearly be the group to bring such an action. The P.R.O. upper management has repeatedly confirmed they are working with the sanctioning body to resolve issues related to racing and any other issues. Such efforts are done in secrecy and despite requests to discuss any issues, P.R.O.'s upper management declines to speak with the media, including CompetitionPlus.com.
Many racers, including Vandergriff, while they feel the organization does a lot of good that the general public doesn't see, believe changes are needed in P.R.O. to intervene in such situations as unsafe race facilities.
"You have to remember that P.R.O. is made up of a bunch of team owners," added Vandergriff. "Whether they want to admit it or not, there are times that we need to make stands and it is not done for fear of retribution and that relates to their sponsors. You're not in a position to make a stand when lots of times that needs to be done. I think we need to look at an outside person who doesn't have to have that concern and give him a grocery list of things the owners would love to have."
Such a stand could force the NHRA to ante up answers and in a hurry.
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Graham Light has been shielded from the media when discussing the Scott Kalitta's accident and other related issues.
Such a statement is likely to draw comparisons to the 2004 racing death of Darrell Russell. In that case, the findings from an NHRA investigation have yet to be made public.
Vandergriff and other racers will be looking for answers. Why, when the teams are upgrading the safety of their race cars has the NHRA seemingly takes a swwmingly lackadaisical approach to making the tracks safer. Anything less than assuring racers the track will be clear of dangerous obstacles won't satisfy the high-spirited Vandergriff.
"One of our prominent team owners in a discussion with multiple crew members and drivers afterwards in the pit area mentioned that there was no fault in hand from NHRA or from the racetrack and that drivers were just as much at fault for not knowing the facility and it was actually just a freak accident and that it was just one of those things," Vandergriff said, voice cracking with emotion. "He's lucky I wasn't there because if I would've heard that, he probably would be drinking out of a straw for a couple of months because I would've smacked him.
"That is not the case here. This is not a freak accident; this is an accident that we see all the time at our races. A Funny Car blows up. The problem was that he had the bad luck that it happened at this facility and not at another one. That's not a freak accident; that's just rotten luck."
What Vandergriff didn't say publicly at the time is that in the final qualifying session, he could have easily crashed through no fault of his own. He burned out and his dragster was pulled off the track when a front tire was cut down and deflated.
"I ran over something on the track," Vandergriff alleged. "It was probably a Dzus fastener on the burnout. Something cut down that tire and it was fine on the burnout.
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Del Worsham's Pomona 2006 accident bore a striking resemblance to the Englishtown accident.
"There's already a folder prepared," Vandergriff said. "There has been and just because of that. I used to take all that for granted but I don't any more."
Pedregon made such a comment to CompetitionPlus.com last year following John Force's devastating crash in Dallas.
"For the first time in my life I left my house and made sure my insurance was taken care of and told my wife to make sure my will is intact," Pedregon said last October. "That's pretty scary. I want to be safe. But, I don't think there is enough done to make sure these cars don't run 330. These cars shouldn't run 330. I think they should run 310 or 315. I think that's something the NHRA needs to handle. They will come up with a lot of reasons of why not, but they need to give reasons why. I think there are more pros than cons."
Such comments by Pedregon are directed towards the safety of the car, but there are other drivers advocating a slow down due to the tracks, some of which were built in the 1960s. Englishtown's Old Bridge Township Raceway Park was built in the summer of 1965.
CompetitionPlus.com has learned that a standard for sand traps will soon be implemented, although the NHRA's public relations department has censored their upper officials from commenting from speaking with the media.
A source close to the situation told CompetitionPlus.com the sand traps are groomed prior to the professional sessions, following rain and after a racer goes into the area.
The sand-trap in Englishtown didn't have sand in it and instead had the pea-gravel. Runaway truck ramps on the interstate highways usually have a combination of this fine gravel and sand.
NHRA officials who spoke to CompetitionPlus.com under the condition of anonymity said the sand-trap was angled high to prevent a car from sticking in the gravel and flipping out of control. Such an issue becomes a moot point if there are other obstacles in the pathway of an out of control race car.
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Vandergriff said shortening the racing surface to less than a quarter-mile is not the answer. He pointed out an out of control Pro Stocker with a hung throttle in Englishtown could have presented the same end result.
"I'm not trying to point my finger in anyone's direction," Vandergriff added. "It's everyone's responsibility. The race tracks, the drivers and the owners. They need to come to an agreement on standardization."
Immediately the new drag strip being built in Charlotte comes to mind when Vandergriff mentions the standards. While owner Bruton Smith takes quality to the next level, Vandergriff said he would be remiss if he neglected these issues in conjunction with the lack of specified standards.
"Knowing the way he [Bruton Smith] operates, I'm sure it's not going to be a problem," Vandergriff said. "But we could go there in September and he could have a 20 foot sand trap with a cable going across it because there isn't a regulation in place that tells him how to build his facility.
"If we had something in place that tells him you have to have 300 feet of sand, you have to have this type of sand and I think 20-30 minutes before any professional category they need to go out there and groom the sand traps. There just needs to be a regulation. Once the pros start they need to groom it. Things we need to look at now to take one extra step. Try and give all of us drivers one extra chance to survive an accident, then I think it's a step we need to take."
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