Safety concerns in Drag Racing were raised after John Force suffered injuries in a crash earlier this year. (Photo: John Ferry, Allsport)
Scott Kalitta’s tragic death in an NHRA Funny Car at Englishtown, NJ last weekend should be a wakeup call for everyone who loves the sport of drag racing as much as Scott did…drivers, crew, officials, safety workers and fans. If the loss of Scott launches a widespread safety initiative that will make the sport safer for participants and fans…on the order of the quantum leaps NASCAR made in the wake of Dale Earnhardt’s death in the 2001 Daytona 500…Kalitta’s legacy will be secured and his untimely passing may trigger the ultimate celestial “Win” light.
My modest proposal? Reduce all drag races to ONE EIGHTH MILE! Heresy? Hold on for a second and a half. That would be the difference in a Top Fuel or Funny Car pass from Christmas Tree to Finish Line in a 660 foot race versus the “standard” 1320. The top speed through the 1/8 mile would be around 270 MPH in the nitro classes and the elapsed time around 3 seconds. (Compared to about 4 ½ seconds at 330 MPH in the ¼ mile.) I defy even the most seasoned drag racing fan to visually tell the difference between these speeds from a starting line grandstand seat. (That’s why we have “Win” lights with ET and MPH displays.) The visceral SHOW at an NHRA or IHRA event is at the starting line. The burnout, the staging battle and the 8,000 HP launch is the sensory overload that millions of fans crave. After launching, the cars quickly become microscopic as they nearly disappear at the top end of the drag strip.
Why the EIGHTH MILE? The most important benefits of the shorter distance are DECREASING speeds while INCREASING the length of the shut down area by 660 feet on what is already existing racetrack. The additional shut down area could contain sand traps (almost a high speed “Runaway Truck Ramp” that we see on mountain highways) and a series of “catch nets” with anchors outside the boundaries of the race track. (similar to “arresting hooks” on aircraft carriers). Most drag strips in use today were built years ago when speeds were not even half of what the cars run today. Shut down areas may have been adequate “back in the day” when speeds were significantly less...but launching and stopping a nitro car today is akin to launching and landing a jet on an aircraft carrier…with similarly slight margins for error. Housing developments, businesses and industries have encroached ever closer to existing dragstrip boundaries….making extending shut down areas an expensive and in some cases impossible option. Decreasing the racing area to an eighth of a mile will cost virtually nothing, require no expensive modifications to the facility and should save money in the long run with less track surface to prep and maintain. It should save the racers money with a shorter racing distance causing less wear and tear on equipment…and reduced chance for time consuming oil downs.
Will reducing the length of the racetrack diminish the experience for the fans? Ask any NASCAR fanatic which racetrack they prefer and the vast majority will name the half-mile bullring at Bristol.160,000 seats are filled for each event and a long waiting list insures that a Bristol seat is “the toughest ticket in motorsports.” Chances are good that Bristol fans do not feel that since their racetrack is only HALF the length of Phoenix and Dover that they are only getting 50% of the experience. Many claim that the thrill is MULTIPLIED rather than diminished as the short track concentrates the action. The IHRA has run TWO successful National Events at San Antonio using an eighth mile dragstrip. Did the fans feel cheated?
