Serious car driver wins.

I use to go to a big swap meet held around Englishtown, NJ. I don't know it it's held there anymore,.though.

He ain't laughin' now.

I knew you weren't a Cali native, Chris.

Never said I was. Born in Miami and lived there until I was 3. Was a Marine brat.

Jeez what a crash. The explosion at the end is pretty stunning. Any funny car fans care to venture a guess as to what happened?

Any funny car fans care to venture a guess as to what happened?

The car blew up.

Mid track, probably blew the engine and it caused a fire. End of track, ruptured fuel cell + fire. Since I'm guessing, I would think that the first part of the accident knocked him unconscious or killed him instantly because he didn't make any attempt to slow down. The chute comes out by itself I think.

On a cheerful note, this guy died doing what he loved to do. It's no consolation to his family, but I bet if you could ask him he would say it wasn't such a bad way to go.

"The car blew up."

Don't you just hate it when they do that?

Dayum!

As the former Drag racing photographer for Drag News, Lions Drag Strip, and Irwindale Raceway I can shed some light.

The race was a normal drag race with Scott ahead untile between the 900 ft to 1100ft when Scott lost a motor in a violent explosion. The body was destroyed in the blow up and this damaged the parachute stopping system. The car continued with little loss of speed and went into the sand trap.(the final try to stop the car before the nets) He hit the sand at a higher speed than I have ever seen a car do before. Sometimes when a car hits the sand it can be sent into the air and over onto the roof. This car was traveling much faster than the sand can handle and the car further erupted in more flames. This is due to the fuel tank being torn open. The fuel isn't really very easy to burn if you just throw some out and light it. In this wreck the fuel tank emptied at a much faster rate and was vaporized. This makes it burn quite well. The car was pretty much launched into the air and at this point visibility made much of anything else speculative. There was a camera w/or w/o an operator ar the rear of the sand trap that was apparently hit and shook violently. At this point the television leaves the scene.

While I left drag racing many years ago and Scott wasn't involved, I did meet his father Connie who is more than a character on his own.

If that helps those of you that saw the wreck to understand what happened good.

A note. I can't speak for today but in years past both the drivers and crews did not want to be inundated by questions and discussions about any crash.They have got to go out right away and race. To harp endlessly is hurting the drivers and without taking away the respect for Scott, give these men a break. Their minds have got to be clear because within a very short time, they will be traveling over three hundred miles per hour. They can ill afford any distraction. The racers will demonstrate their feelings later and at the funeral. The drag racing world is a family and will cope as always.

I have just reviewed the race and can add just a little. Scotts motor lost fire on several cylinders and that was what led to the very violent motor explosion. Just one correction, the blow up happened around the 800 foot mark and the car is going at least 280 or more.

Is it really an "accident" when you strap yourself into a vehicle that goes 300 mph for essentially no reason?
Racing is a waste of fuel, in my opinion.

Now THAT'S what I call an elimination round!

Borg,
You are an idiot. Having YOUR computer on is a waste of energy.

The blower blew off from a lean detonation when the fuel shut down.
The bodys always blow off,they are nothing but a fiberglass skin,no structual support whatsoever.
He might have been killed when the engine blew,more then likely he died when he hit the wall.
Also i'm willing to bet the safty runoff at the end of the track has been shortened over the years due to development.
Then fuel is nitromethane ,highly explosive.

rwd

rwd is right-there is usually a bigger sand trap, some loose fencing or netting to slow the cars down and certainly no buildings. These blow ups ain't uncommon and they often make it back to the next round.

Anymore, fatalities in auto racing are rare.

I always wanted his job....

....until now.

RIP Scott.

I guess that would qualify as a "not-so-funny" car.

Keith

Thanks for the detailed explanation you gave. Terrible accident.

you wrote:

The race was a normal drag race with Scott ahead untile between the 900 ft to 1100ft when Scott lost a motor in a violent explosion.....

Explain to an "under the hood" duMmY like me -- what caused his motor to explode?
Any idea? And when you said "a" motor -- are there more than one used in race cars? And by "motor" do you mean the actual engine itself?

The blower blew off from a lean detonation when the fuel shut down.
The bodys always blow off,they are nothing but a fiberglass skin,no structual support whatsoever.
He might have been killed when the engine blew,more then likely he died when he hit the wall.
Also i'm willing to bet the safty runoff at the end of the track has been shortened over the years due to development.
Then fuel is nitromethane ,highly explosive.

rwd

Posted by rightwingdon

Sorry but as far as I can see you are wrong on every point.

There was no lean out. 3 cylinders lost fire, this create a severe high presure in the remaining cylinders. The rods break or hydrilic and this will most of the time affect the valve train lifting the blower. there is no longer any fiberglass in the body of a funny car. These p"plastic" replica's are $30,000.00 carbon fiber units with a paint job frequently in the $10,000.00 range. There is a surprising amount of fine tubing structure giving considerable strength. The shut off area is indeed something the drivers seem unhappy with. No however because it was shortened but because the tracks were built for 230 mph not 330. There is just barely sufficient room to stop with out increasing the size of the parachute. This increase is painful and can injure a driver.

CC-The engine is an imatation of a Dodge/Chrysler hemi 426ci. v8. The size is limited to 500 cubic inches. Most of the components do not in any way resemble the original product. They are an aluminum casting completely finished in most cases by the crews. The cylinders are a steel alloy sleeve that can be replaced in minutes. Consider an part of a normal motor and you will find something that does that task only over built 1000 times stronger. add 7000 or more horse power and even this strength is not enough. Imagine getting you car to burn around 8 gallons of gas in one quarter of a mile. These do it normally. Between the warm/up , burn out and run, 12.5 gallons of furl are used. This highly potent fuel is only in the range now of $30.00 per gallon.

Thats enough for now though I will be happy to give any information that I can.

Saw one "point" that I failed to address. The explosion will ring you chimes but due to ballistic covers on the blower and bottom and a titanium clutch can, it very rarely does more than make your ears ring. Sorry point 2. He never hit any wall until he may have at the rear of the sand pit-doubtful because of a ser of capture nets. I believe that the car hit faster than any I have ever seen b several times faster. This almost certainly launched him and caused unknown damage to the car. To protect the driver the front and rear of the car are built to "break away" or shear off to save the capsule of the cage with the driver. Nitro is not easy to burn at all. It would take some explanation but all parts in the motor are designed to make this happen. Nitro in an open container is hard to light at all unless contaminated. Hence the fuel check after each run.

Although fatalities are rare, they still happen. Drag racing, or racing in general, is a dangerous sport. Having been a passenger once in a quarter-mile car, I can understand the thrill and rush of adrenaline that these drivers get when racing. It's unbelievable how much force on your body that these cars can generate.

Keith-thanks for the tech report.
I saw Connie racing his Bounty Hunter F/C way back in the day at Motor City, against Jungle Jim. He was pretty intense, for a 2 out of 3 match race. The fact it was snowing in the lights and it was so cold they had trouble keeping the car lit might have had something to do with that.
This was back when F/Cs still had starters but external batteries. And weed sweeper headers. He lost fire staging and a crewman laydown to replug in the battery pack. He was laying along the headers when Connie fired up the car-blew him across the lane. He was the only warm guy at the track, at least briefly.

This is about as un-entertaining a sport as there could be unless you are fascinated by loud noises and shiny things, that is....

Kuma like race.
Celisary like RACE!!!!!!! Too.

Sully-If you like motorsports, drag racing has the advantage of open access pits throughout the event. You can watch the guys rebuild or adjust the cars and often get a chance to talk to them.

Otherwise, yeah, if you're not into it, drag racing can be as boring to watch as baseball.