Woman dies after being hit by tire

In '99 at Pomona, I was in the stands when Doug Herbert's blower
let go on the line. Mushroom cloud. I was sitting 20 rows up, no time to
duck. Shrapnel found 800 ft away in the pits too. Luckily no one was hurt.

Trying to recall if in that same event, during the opening ceremony, a
veteran parachutist performed a "death spiral" too close to the ground.
He hit a concrete barrier waist high and died.

Condolences to the woman's family on this latest incident.

i watched the race last night. very sad, and this will lead to more rule and regs. i have a freind that has a nastalga fuel car and i contacted him last night he and his family are ok, they weren't there. it gave me a real scare thinking that they might have been there.

Although this was a tragic event, I'm curious to see what the 914 members feel about the entire safety versus freedom discussion. I love to go to the drag strip to hear... no... feel the cars race. But when they invite families and children to these events, how far should they go to ensure the safety of the spectators?

I have mixed feelings about this myself. It used to be that you could go to a race, drag, road or oval, and really feel a part of the event. It seems to me that the safety issue has sanitized these races to a large extent. But in the long run, which is better???

Eric

Happened 15 minutes from my house! Always a risk attending any motor sports event. Many incidents come to mind, e.g. Indy, Mille Miglia (de Portago), Le Mans (Levege), WRC, etc. I always make it a point to watch from a place (other than my TV) where I'm not directly in the line of fire. Pretty hard to do that at a drag race, almost anywhere is in the danger zone.

here at the seattle traack the tower side stands are closer than i think any other track that i have seen, about 40' from the tower side lane. and these stands were moved back about 10 feet from where the old stands were.

i can see catch fencing or moving the stands further back coming.
this woman that died was on the return road right next to the track with only a concrete barrier between them.

Here's an interesting post from the "Autoweek" website from someone that says they were at the race:

"geoffsdad wrote:
We attended the race and my friends and I were not impressed with the facility at all. There are almost no safety features of any kind and Firebird seems like a track more suitable for club racing than pro-classes. How this unfolded was the two cars did their burnouts and backed up to stage when rain caused the starter to shut both cars down due to rain. Those two cars were then sent to the back of first round eliminations and when they returned they again did their burnouts, staged and then the race was run and almost immediately at the hit of the throttle Antron's car shook violently and lost the wheel. I'm not saying that I'm sure the two burnouts back to back caused the problem but in the second round Morgan Lucas and Steve Chrisman suffered the same issue with rain after their burnouts and were told to shut their cars off. Upon the resumption of their race the cars were restarted and immediately staged with no burnout. Lucas went 3.88, only .07 seconds off the ET that won Tony Schumacher the top starting position, a pretty remarkable pass considering the lack of a burnout. I've never known a fuel car to make a pass in competition without a burnout and wonder if the decision was made to avoid a second burnout over concerns that a similar failure might happen. I also wonder if a catch fence might have contained the loose wheel somehow. Additionally, after his win in round one Pro Stock driver Greg Anderson was extremely critical of the racing surface complaining that he went sideways through the timing lights on the big end. Several others were critical of the racing surface as well which may be the reason that the remaining Pro Stock elimination rounds for the Firebird race will actually be held at the NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway during qualifying. I feel that Firebird needs improvements badly!
2/22/2010 11:14 AM EST "

I have been at the Firebird track and kind of agree that it is more of a "club" track.

Any thoughts?

Irwindale Raceway 1965. We were sitting low in the bleachers about 1/3 down the strip. We decided to sit much higher and moved way up almost to the top. The next AAfueler that went by blew up the blower and we could hear the shrapnel banging into the seats below, right where we were sitting. We just kinda looked at each other and nothing was said but we all knew what could have been. Later that night it was...

I feel for her family, period. However, she made a choice to go.

1) Darwinism: Shit happens, its unfortunate. Humans by nature, to survive, don't put themselves in harms way. Crossing the river to get the berries could be fatal, so eat the berries on this side and stay alive.
2) Stockholm Syndrome: We go to these events and we know they are dangerous, but we convince ourselves that the odds of being hurt or killed are low. And we would be right for that rational balancing of odds, but YOU CAN GET HURT.

You can also get hit by a drunk driver, or get cancer, or,or,or. At what point do you have to stop worrying about all the what-ifs and accept shit happens. Your going to die some day, so please lock yourself in your room and don't make any laws that dictate how I live mine. So long as I'm not hurting anyone else or forcing a lifestyle on others, I should be free to choose. And don't say "what about your family and friends?". Your focusing on the wrong context of that statement. Thats exactly it, they are family and friends who care. I would be sad if they worn't sad once I'm dead. But if they are sad, that means they cared about me, and thats a happy thing. Mourning and sad funerals are for the regretful, telling stories and laughing at the good/stupid times are what I want to be remembered for.

I get being at these events are cool... the sound, smell, teargas fumes, rumble, it all is an amazing feat of man chasing Laika and Albert II with the internal combustion engine. Safety fences are hard to see through at acute angles, but they do make massive monitors, and areas that would prove to be less hazardous.

Wow... didn't think I had that rant in me today. all done.

If you are worried, Don't Go.

I have seen people hit by baseballs, hockey pucks, etc.

And NEVER turn your back on the action !

I just saw this a bit ago "The fatality on Sunday was believed to be the first in a major National Hot Rod Association event since the mid-1970s, at least among non-participants."
Not a bad record for safety if you ask me. I wonder if these cars use full floating rear ends? If not they should be mandated.

In 1980 I worked at SIR here in Seattle/Kent. We took some incredible risks that I can't believe today. I held the Christmas tree down while the two rocket cars took off and blew rocks down the track and cut my head. I loved it.

But the worst was I was standing on the line putting down bleach and the local cocaine fiend Jerry "The King" Ruth had brought his new drag rail out (it was still in primer) and blew the blower off during hist first burnout. I got hit with metal and a big bolt, knocked on my ass and bruised.

I have never been back to the track after that, I got in my car and drove away. Quit and figured I was lucky. So I reduced my risk.

Sad to hear about someone dying, I love racing, just can't see the NHRA stuff anymore for my own obvious reasons.

Larouex

I've been attending NHRA events for about 15 years and for sure, with the speeds these cars go, the further down the track you are the more chances you will be in the "debris field" of a disintegrating car.

I like to hang out at the starting line for 2 reasons:

1) I feel safe. Cars are hardly moving when they take off.

2) Each car spends at least a few minutes at the starting line. You get to see the crew working on the car, the burnout, etc.

At the far end, you only see the car in front of you for about 0.01 seconds.

The speed is awesome but then again, you are in the debris field at the far end.

I think we all remember riding in the back window of our parents car or riding in the back of a pick up truck or station wagon. Times have changed, how many sporting events do you go to that you could be killed? It is one thing to be a participant or a Non-paying spectator as in off road racing, it is entirely different to be in a sporting arena, which is what a race track is. The monster truck circuit faced this same issue a few years ago and changed their safety standards.

The argument that sometimes people die does not protect our kids. Had this kill a child, the only reason the child would have been there is if a parent took him. The child can not appreciate the danger. The NHRA should review and create standards for all racetracks that keep spectators safe. First rule of business, don't kill your customers!!!

One of my first memories from childhood was of my mom pulling my brother and I out of the way of a bouncing tire at some sort of a Porsche race in Powell, Ohio. I was about 4-5 years old. My love for Porsches started a long time ago.

I feel sorry for the womans family. I don't think it's unreasonable for catch fences to be installed at these tracks. Nascar,IRL,hockey have all adapted to these and it helps the fans a great deal. You can't plan for every accident that could happen but this would be a start. When Kalitta was killed last year the NHRA acted almost immediately to go from 1/4 mile to 1/8. If they were that quick to protect the " show " let's see how quick they are to save the fans.

Firebird does almost seem more of a club track than a professional venue, we were just there last month to see the 24 Hours of Lemons, and the drag racers were having trials at the same time.

Obviously, there are risks at any motorsports event, but they should be minimized whenever reasonably possible.

It is interesting that the raceway is located on an Indian property - hence they do not have the same liability as would be found elsewhere in the country (at least that's according to my old roomate who is an attorney in Phoenix). I'm also afraid that you'll see more and more liability concerns in motorsports no matter what happens.

It still comes down to an unfortunate accident, wrong place at the wrong time.

you guys need to undersand that this woman was on the return lane right next to the track, not in the stands! she was with the nastalga race cars that had just done a parade lap down the track and were parked on the return lane.