Scott Kalitta F/C crash at Englishtown

[IEATV8S]

Very bad crash, not much detail so far!

http://www.nitromater.com/nhra/15765...tta-crash.html

They are now saying that Scott passed away about an hour ago!

May or may not be true, Prayers to him and his family!

Reported that a camaraman lost his life from debris from the car crash!

[bmackinnon]

Yep, just heard the confirm on espn... RIP...

[Dwayne]

Townhall.com::The News::News ArticleNHRA driver Scott Kalitta killed in crash in NJNHRA driver Scott Kalitta killed in crash in NJ

[MeanBuicks]

That crash was absolutely brutal! Why the hell does the concrete wall curve around the backside of the sand trap?

Hate to see something like this anywhere but it's strange that Scott's career began and ended at the same track (my old home track).

[V8Assassin]

Very Tragic. Huge loss to the drag racing world. Our Prayers to him and his family in this terrible time.

[Otto J]

Here is the video
May not be easy to watch for some.

RIP Scott.


YouTube - Scott Kalitta killed in NHRA qualifying incident - RIP

[VETKILR]

The question i ask of all the tracks ive visited and the few i have raced, why do you have a concrete retention wall at the end of the track and not sand straight into the farmland or clear flat land with no trees or anything for that matter around???? Someone is going to have to answer that one for me and good luck on explaining that to his family despite the fact they know the risks they take... pretty angry seeing it

[1LowLeSabre]

RIP....

Thanks Scott..... - THE H.A.M.B.

[notacarlo]

RIP Scott. It was a pleasure watching you all these years.

[III'S 87 GN]

Originally Posted by Otto J

Here is the video
May not be easy to watch for some.

RIP Scott.


YouTube - Scott Kalitta killed in NHRA qualifying incident - RIP

Wow that is ugly.

RIP !

[garyk1970]

if i have to go too early,i hope its when im doing what i love most.............
RIP.

[TURBOV8R]

Sad time at a home track.....

[nordy racer]

it was a SAD DAY today.. i came out to the East Coast to take my dad and a couple of friends to this event.. we where there at the top end (1000 ft mark) and saw the hole thing unfold.. as soon as i saw the car not slowing down after the motor went, i know it wasn't going to turn out good. he hit the sand trap at over 200mph and launched into the air and took out the end track camera (that was videoing it the hole way down the track on the large TV for the fans).. we then saw the trees catch fire and i know that we just witness a death of a great racer and father... very very SAD R.I.P Scott

[Buicksx2]

Originally Posted by VETKILR

The question i ask of all the tracks ive visited and the few i have raced, why do you have a concrete retention wall at the end of the track and not sand straight into the farmland or clear flat land with no trees or anything for that matter around???? Someone is going to have to answer that one for me and good luck on explaining that to his family despite the fact they know the risks they take... pretty angry seeing it

>>> I can answer that as that is my home track and have turned off at the last turnoff many times.

The reason you have a retention wall after the sand and after the large netting is you have Pension Road behind that netting which is a main road to and from the track. Across Pension road is farmland that if Pension Road wasn't there maybe he could have stopped.

Englishtown has enough problems from local residents who hate the track and there is no way IMO you can extend that shutdown further without further uproar.

Hot Rod Fuller was able to stop his dragster without chutes with just his brakes but he did not have to contend with a major explosion either.

Never the less it is a very sad day for the drag racing community.

[buickrob]

Oh Man, I knew it was a brutal crash but didn't realize he passed away. We left right after the wreck because I figured it was going to take a long time to clean up and get them running again. Terrible loss.

Riddle me this though, did that track not have a giant sandpit at the end of it just a few years ago? I remember seeing videos of Bernstein run through the end and coming to rest in sand. When Kalitta was flying down there I figured he'd hit the sand and be fine. Now looking at the video it looks like there is 10 feet of sand, that won't do anything! How is a car supposed to slow down if a driver passes out and there is no sand trap. Am I missing something here?

[VETKILR]

Thanks Rich for the clarification!

[Buicksx2]

Originally Posted by buickrob

Riddle me this though, did that track not have a giant sandpit at the end of it just a few years ago? I remember seeing videos of Bernstein run through the end and coming to rest in sand. When Kalitta was flying down there I figured he'd hit the sand and be fine. Now looking at the video it looks like there is 10 feet of sand, that won't do anything! How is a car supposed to slow down if a driver passes out and there is no sand trap. Am I missing something here?

>>> For as long as I have been racing at Etown (20 plus years) they have always had a sandpit there and large netting and the sand is longer than 10 feet as a top fuel dragster went into the sand when we were there yesterday and from the replay there was plenty of sand left.

The track is not to blame for this crash, that car was still moving very fast before it hit sand and I think it's safe to say it was going well over 100 mph, who really knows for sure but no sand would have stopped it, that's what the netting is for and sadly at that speed IMO that wouldn't have stop any car going that hot into it.

[RoseyT]

As per this article, he hit a concrete post that supports the saftey net

Driver killed at Raceway Park | mycentraljersey.com | MyCentralJersey.com

"The car didn't slow up enough, (the car) got airborne, and he happened to hit a post that's virtually impossible to do. I mean, I would've never thought that that could happen. I would've never thought that you could get airborn and hit
that guardrail and hit that post.''

The concrete post, Prudhomme said, serves as support for the safety net that's designed to catch cars veering off the strip. Since Kalitta's parachute never deployed, Prudhomme said the car "never had a chance'' once it hit the post at such a rapid speed.

"I don't think it's the track's fault. I just don't,'' said Prudhomme, team owner for Top Fuel driver Larry Dixon. "If I thought it was a dangerous racetrack, if I thought it was the NHRA's fault, I wouldn't be here. It was unheard of to see that. I was just stunned.''

[MeanBuicks]

Here's an aerial view of the shutdown area: Old Bridge Township Raceway Park - Google Maps