DRIVER WAS KNOCKED OUT AND TAKEN TO HOSPITAL AND ENDED UP WITH BROKEN RIBS AND IS OK...THANK GOD! ALSO IT HAS BEEN DETERMINED THE DRIVER PASSED OUT FROM HEAT EXHAUSTION WHILE BACKING UP AND PASSED OUT. #crash #meltdowndrags #nitro #byron
@@rocsti5402 Its something similar that luckily didn't end up like this crash. Same lane, same event close to the same spot. Have you ever seen anything like it?
I wonder, could it have been mixture and/or the over rev solenoid getting stuck to the throttle action while returning to it's off position? Because that would be enough to pull the throttle 1/4 to almost 1/2 open
Heat exhaustion would be my guess. Once you leave the paddock you're pretty much stuck out in the sun until it's your turn to race. Full racing suit, helmet, neck brace, and no breeze just the hot sun beaming down on you.
As terrifying as this incident was it pales in comparison to what happened to Top Alcohol racer Shelly Howard at Tulsa Raceway Park in 2005. Her dragster stood the front end up resulting in a blowover at half track and slammed down hard, knocking Shelly unconscious - 180 degrees out, pointed straight back toward the starting line with the 3500hp engine at full power. The car rocketed forward, crossing the starting line and slamming into her support vehicle at an estimated 250mph killing her and her son instantly as her husband watched from the stands. The car shot through a retaining wall, through a field and into a creek before stopping. As far as I know, the incident was so horrific it has never been publicly shown anywhere.
Dragrace 101: a nitro powered racecar shuts down when the fuel is turned of..there is no ignition key you turn on/off.. therefore as long as the fuel reach the engine it will run..
Exactly. Had he been knocked out and heading anywhere but into the wall the whole time, he'd have been going full speed straight to hell....wherever that may have been...however far away. That car would cover a lot of ground in a huge hurry while the drivers foot remained wedged against the pedal. I would venture to say had that car not been against the wall the driver would have never survived.
I've run a Christmas tree for 12 years and am an SFI certified tech inspector, and an incident response specialist. I also drive a front engine dragster. This was scary and could have been a LOT worse! Thank God he's okay and nobody else got hurt.
Give that guy a medal who ran to the back of the car looking for the kill switch. He risked his life to try. Should one or both of the tires blew with him that close he would not have survived.
@@sunstruckfarms4489 I understand what you’re saying, but that man was doing his job. All the first responders to these crashes nowhere the cutoff switch is.
I don't know why he didn't turn it off. He could have been a hero. The guy was part of their team so I would assume he is familiar with the location of the safety switch.
@@lobmin exactly, only an idiot would cross paths close with those shredding tires!! Best action was to hit air intake with fire extinguisher, after tire shredding danger subsided a bit, which appears to be what the crew did ... handled well, despite appearances. Safest place for driver was right where he was.
At least nobody was killed when he shot backwards like my brother was at I-22 motorsports in Eldridge,Alabama in August when the pro mod had a malfunction backing up and ran my brother over and killed hom. Rest in Peace Brother. Clayton Zuber...
That's a rough one man, hate to hear that. Also a very, very good reason why all these spectators crowding around starting lines and burnout boxes is a terrible idea. Track personnel and crew only! Even then, everyone assmes everything works out all the time. Seen too many nitrous fires and scattered drivetrain to believe that. Especially taking for granted a car can't suddenly reverse or something like this front engine. Sorry for your loss brother!
This one was in my feed again, still glad nobody got seriously hurt. Heat exhaustion is no joke, especially when you are belted into a race car, full fire suit in the middle of summer. Been there, done that, same with my dad. I don't know if this was an older guy or not but really got to be extra vigilant. Karamisenes is almost old as time and still racing but not everyone is super human!
Wow, now that was one hell of a burnout, intentional or not that was awesome. I'm a little shocked at how long it took the safety crew to get to him, or do anything, and when they did spring into action finally, the guy had no fire suit or, or any kind of protection for that matter. I'm just glad the driver ended up ok, and that nobody got seriously injured because of that incident. Thanks for filming that, decent angle, sound is ok, and it was pretty clear from what I could see!
Your welcome thanks and i had just setup and it caught me by surprise and i took my eye off the camera more looking in fear for the driver or crowd for that matter. The saftey crew could not get close due to molten rubber being spewed from the tires and rims denigrating. It actually put a very deep rut in the track. This could have been way worse say if he didnt hit the wall but went backwards into people or worse. Thank God he survived with only broken ribs
We're in our mid 50's and going to the Meltdown Drags was a trip back to a simpler better time in drag racing for us. We were stunned by the crash and were grateful he was spared from serious injury or death. We saw the car while it was being loaded into the trailer, we never seen a rim torn and twisted like his. The frame was severely bent so the wreckage really let us see the force and power these cars have.
I had a dragster about 20 years ago. It was pretty rough in hot weather with the fire suit on. Strapped in and waiting in staging lanes was a real cooker.
@@victoryredcolorado man i just discovered your channel fron this video in a random suggestions but dand it man you have some really awesome content man.
Listen, I had just got up in the stands and was setting up and was adjusting settings and didnt even noticed what had even happen...if you had a clue about using a digital camera with a huge 70-200mm lens to videotape your looking into a live view finder not peering thru a hole on a hand camcorder...Cant you tell the difference in the quality of the video? I drifted becuz I was watching the accident not worried about getting it on video...just be glad i even got it and your lucky to see it!
I seen the video when it 1st came out back in 2013, & have watched it hundreds of times since. Considering what was happening you did a great job covering the situation. You never really lost focus on the situation, if you had of we wouldn't have been able to watch what happens to get the car safely shut off. Nobody was ever expecting something like this to happen, so you were as prepared more than anybody else at the time. You can see, nobody else was able to show a better video than you did. The situation was crystal clear, awesome video.
I was more worried about actually seeing what was happening at that point instead of video taping it plus it was shot with a dslr...why am i having to defend myself on how it was shot...you guys are ridiculous
I was shooting from halfway up in the stands and yes we arent worried about getting a pcture or video per say when something like this happens. I too withheld the videos till I found out from the owner and track the driver was ok. Everyone seems to be experts when the only ones that know what happened are the actual driver and crew. Thank God he's ok!
Thank God that he passed out reversing and hit the wall at a relatively slow speed. This just shows that even in the starting area this sport has inherent dangers and why the emergency response crews are indeed life savers. In the end, no serious injuries and the car can be replaced but lives, limbs, eyesight not. My respect to those who saved this man and kept themselves from harm too.
Nitro cars are turned off by shutting off the fuel pump. This is hand operated next to the driver. Obviously the driver couldn’t shut off the fuel as he had passed out. No one (wisely) took the risk of getting close enough to shut off the fuel. The car could have jarred loose and severely injured finding attempting this. They did the smartest snd safest thing by staying away and letting the car run itself out of fuel.
Dan Myers , that sounds really dangerous. Such as in this crash. I still think an automatic kill switch needs to be on these cars no matter if they are antiques or today’s if they are going to race
@@Retired88M I believe that's difficult to implement as Dan eluded too.. I believe they are mechanical fuel pumps and have to be shut off with a lever...?
Yes. Now NHRA has mandated that the Crew Chief will be in charge of a remote control to shut the car off. Also, there are now sensors that shut the car off, and will deploy the 'chute(s) in an emergency situation. Good call. #womenofdragracing #dragracinglife
Up in my feed six years later, really happy the driver, track personnel and spectators all okay after that wild ride! Avoid heat stroke, drink plenty of hydrating fluids (beer dehydrates), wear sun protection. A black helmet on a hot sunny day is not a good idea, gotta stay cool go for white or light reflective colours.
It's extremely hard to stay safe from the heat. Thank god for companies coming out with water cooled under garments we can wear in a class like Super Stock. Fans, umbrellas, cold and wet towel around the neck, and someone to fan the passenger side door are key. It's no joke.🏁❤
Actually I've seen it a few times but thankfully it didn't end up like this. Check this out ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--BzrnEpjLPQ.html
You can clearly hear it wouldn't idle down right away. Once it did he put it in reverse and then the rpms went up again. Smartly he put in forward to not run over everyone at the start line... and the rest is history.
What he should have done (hindsight being 20/20) is to have never put the car in reverse, but just kill it or put in 1st and idle down the track to the 1st turn off and try again later when the idle was down where it belonged.
Absolutely... these are exhibitions so it's not like he was gonna' get parked with DQ. Love what these guys do, love watching them rip down the track and very happy the guy's ok. You can always fix the car!
@@sidrojoe I'm thinking they were trying to put the fire extinguisher into the intake to kill the engine. Just trhrowing a shirt or jumper into it might have choked it. JD
Kudos to the two studs in front of the car on the other side of the 3’ high fence. They didn’t budge once, even with their friend doing the chicken dance around them!
Safety crew? I saw no one prepared for an incident like that. No fire hose and no fire suits. This guy is lucky it was not worse. I do commend the driver for putting the car back in forward gear once he knew there was an issue. Someone at this track find a sponsorship to help outfit the safety crew.
We were there when that happened but we left before they announced his condition. I am so glad & relieved that the driver is ok. He is all we were thinking about until my son found this video and it said he's ok. Someone was looking out from the heavens.
I was on the other side of what u see here. the engine came up when it started forward but didn't go wide open till it hit the wall. I was moving people in the stands in case it blew. they tried stuffing the injectors with shirts it did no good 2 fire extinguishers later it stopped. Thank the good lord he was ok. I agree the ambulance could have gotten there quicker but it was a team effort to get him out of it. he was out and just dead weight. my friend videoed the thing after he hit the wall.
Im so glad he is okay. Heat exhaustion can be very dangerous alone without being in the position he was in. When i raced i used to have an air conditioned helmet from FAST that helped me mostly because i was claustophobic (with no room in the cage) & from the heat (I have lupus). But track temps are extremely HOT, im glad he pulled thru and is doing okay. This could of been disasterous, God was on your side!!
ya same here i was rewatching this video to see if there was one but there was no kill switch which is weird to me cause majority of dragracing cars or rails have them for safety
Looks like the wheels were turned a bit then a correction and they flopped over the other way and caused the front end to swing around. Then put into forward gear and tried to get steering under control but hit the wall and probably knocked out and throttle was open.
It is sad to see folks making Crude & Rude Comments from a situation like this. It was heart stopping just to watch for the few moments of the video. I am glad to hear the guys is O.K. Hopefully folks can learn from things like these. By some of the comments reqarding kill switches it seems it could have been worse if one of these were installed and an explosion occurred. I have seen what happens when engine & car part go flying everywhere. Glad nobody got seriously hurt. Hats off to the crews.
So sorry this had to happen, I don't know who was driving, but it was very unfortunate. I see the shirts that are Beedy & somebody now, as I used to Know the beedy & lutz team some years ago when i worked at GLD. My heart goes out to you losing most of the rail, and hoping for a speedy recovery, and glad it wasn't WORSE...
