That is to bad. They may start running the Top Alcohol cars only to the 1000 ft. mark now. I hate hearing that news.
Sad news out of NJ: Drag racer killed at New Jersey track
G
Not a Mustang, but drag racing none-the-less and a brother to you if you do drag...
OLD BRIDGE, N.J. — A drag racing driver died of head injuries Friday after crashing at a "high rate of speed" during qualifying at the NHRA SuperNationals at Raceway Park, state police said.
Neal Parker, 58, of Millville, N.J., was killed, state police Sgt. Stephen Jones said. Parker was pronounced dead at the scene.
Parker was entered in Top Alcohol Funny Car, one of several classes below the NHRA's four major divisions (Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle). NHRA officials and New Jersey state police are investigating the wreck.
Parker's car ran through a containment area with soft barriers, sand and a safety net and wound up in pieces in front of a wall at the edge of the raceway property. State police declined to comment on eyewitness accounts that a parachute designed to slow the car failed to deploy properly.
The accident came nearly two years after NHRA pro racer Scott Kalitta died when his Funny Car burst into flames and crashed at the end of the track in central New Jersey.
OLD BRIDGE, N.J. — A drag racing driver died of head injuries Friday after crashing at a "high rate of speed" during qualifying at the NHRA SuperNationals at Raceway Park, state police said.
Neal Parker, 58, of Millville, N.J., was killed, state police Sgt. Stephen Jones said. Parker was pronounced dead at the scene.
Parker was entered in Top Alcohol Funny Car, one of several classes below the NHRA's four major divisions (Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle). NHRA officials and New Jersey state police are investigating the wreck.
Parker's car ran through a containment area with soft barriers, sand and a safety net and wound up in pieces in front of a wall at the edge of the raceway property. State police declined to comment on eyewitness accounts that a parachute designed to slow the car failed to deploy properly.
The accident came nearly two years after NHRA pro racer Scott Kalitta died when his Funny Car burst into flames and crashed at the end of the track in central New Jersey.
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Our prayers go out to him and his family......
It is a tragedy for sure......
It is a tragedy for sure......
Wow. Sorry to hear that.
I wonder what happened?
I wonder what happened?
Tragic indeed.......I wish that to happen to no one. Thought goes out to family and friends.
Wow.......that sux!
Wow.......that sux!
That's a shame, prayers to the family.
It may come down to more than that.That is to bad. They may start running the Top Alcohol cars only to the 1000 ft. mark now. I hate hearing that news.
Drivers have mixed feelings as 'show goes on' following Neal Parker's fatal accident at Raceway Park | NJ.comDrivers have mixed feelings as 'show goes on' following Neal Parker's fatal accident at Raceway Park
Kalitta’s death prompted the NHRA to shorten the length of the race course for the nitromethane-fueled Top Fuel and Funny Car classes from the traditional quarter-mile (1,320 feet) to 1,000 feet. However, Parker’s death begged the question of whether sportsman drivers, too, should be limited to 1,000 feet.
“It wouldn’t upset me to run 1,000 feet,” Carter said.
“We should have those electronic units [Electromotion sensors] that deploy the parachutes and shut the car off at the end of the quarter-mile,” he said. “They are using them on the nitro cars, and I believe they are going to eventually put them on our cars. At the very minimum, we ought to have that.”
Funny Car driver Bob Tasca, who began in the Top Alcohol Funny Car class, said, “We need people to save us from ourselves. We get in these cars and feel like we’re Superman. And we’re not.”
I know that NHRA has been testing several options to slow the cars down. With this it may trickle down to some of the sportsman categories.
I hate to see anyone get hurt or killed,but any form of racing is dangerious. People have been getting killed racing cars for 100 years and before that racing horses. Nitro cars are what puts people in the stands, slow them down , lose the fans. I won't pay $56 to see the slow version. I can see that at the local track. I cancelled my NHRA last week,before this happened, because all they could talk about was slowing the cars down. NHRA sounds like NASCAR, which is about 1 step above the WWE.
I do agree with you. I do not want to see anyone killed in those cars. However Ed McCollugh believes that they need to leave the cars as they are. He said that even with the lower percentage of Nitro running on these cars they will still blow up. Just like they did when he was racing. I saw some other interviews that said these drivers know what can happen when they strap themselves into those cars. I do not mind them running 1000 foot but if they continue to try to slow them down it will hurt there attendance I believe. To many of the track are just to darn short.I hate to see anyone get hurt or killed,but any form of racing is dangerious. People have been getting killed racing cars for 100 years and before that racing horses. Nitro cars are what puts people in the stands, slow them down , lose the fans. I won't pay $56 to see the slow version. I can see that at the local track. I cancelled my NHRA last week,before this happened, because all they could talk about was slowing the cars down. NHRA sounds like NASCAR, which is about 1 step above the WWE.
My brother was there on a school field trip for votech that day... really tragic.
for those not familiar with it - Englishtown has a bit of an odd setup, where it's a relatively short slow-down area at the end of the track, because there's a road that crosses the path of where an extended slow-down area could have been, so they added all these other barriers and nets to keep cars from getting to that roadway.
Despite that - 99.9% of cars do slow down in time, but when there's a mechanical failure like brakes or 'chute on the fast cars, it's an issue.
It is a tragic loss.
Despite that - 99.9% of cars do slow down in time, but when there's a mechanical failure like brakes or 'chute on the fast cars, it's an issue.
It is a tragic loss.
Maybe the N.H.R.A.national event should stop running at the English town track until these track problems can be worked out. Run the event at a near by track( I don't know if there is a near by track or not).Build a new track. The whole sport should not be changed because of problems at one track. The last 2 deaths at a national event have happened at English town the same way. I don't know the answer, the I.H.R.A. isn't having any problems and they run a 1320 ft. instead of 1000 ft. Slow the nitro cars down and the pro side of the sport will decline. I think the sportsman and bracket classes are going to remain strong even in this bad economy. 90lx bracket car
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