MORRISON — The question is no longer what the NHRA does now. It has already set a 1,000-foot track limit for every race from now until the end of the year. However, where does the normally quarter-mile sport go from here?
It’s an issue that is expected to stringently test the sport’s top engineers, experts, drivers, crew chiefs, racing teams and administrators who must come up with another solution to keep drivers safe, and most importantly, alive. The NHRA announced the formation of a task force Friday to address a myriad of issues ranging from improving brake efficiency to what can be done to help slow runaway vehicles.
At this weekend’s Mopar Mile High Nationals, Bandimere Speedway had the unenviable fortune of being the first racetrack on the schedule after the NHRA chopped 320 feet in an effort to lengthen the shutdown area. Track officials revisited current safety measures to make sure everything was in place, which, according to Bandimere Speedway general manager John Bandimere III, is nothing new.
“We’re always looking at making our facility safe, whether it’s the racetrack surface, the retaining walls, the nets, everything,” Bandimere said. “We’ve kind of gone down and reassessed what we have, make sure it’s working correctly, make sure that the barrier and the padding and the net, everything is really the way it should be. But it’s not like we came out and said we need to do this, this, this and this. That was never really the issue.”
Scott Kalitta’s death after a fire-engulfed crash June 21 at Englishtown, N.J., has forced the NHRA to take another look at its safety measures.
“They’re looking into ways to stop us if we have a runaway car like Scott Kalitta at Englishtown,” funny car driver Ron Capps said. “That was the problem. He couldn’t stop the car.”
While the choice to shorten the track was met by shock and skepticism at first, most, if not all, drivers are now backing the change.
“When I look at my 16-month-old son, that really underscored the point,” funny car driver Jack Beckman said. “What the NHRA has to do is figure out what can we do to make it safer short-term and long-term. Shortterm is shortening it to 1,000 feet. Long-term is going to be how do we slow the cars down and still keep the show exciting.”
During the first two days of racing at Bandimere, excitement wasn’t much of a problem. On Friday night in the cooler temperatures, breaking 300 mph wasn’t much of an issue, with four drivers going over the mark. Saturday’s hotter daytime temperatures slowed things a bit, but both days featured good side-by-side action.
Still, there is pressure on the NHRA to come up with a set of solutions acceptable to all involved while keeping driver costs in mind.
Almost no one sees 1,000-foot tracks becoming permanent, but some would accept it if such a ruling came down.
“If that’s what the experts come up with and say that’s what we need to do to make things safer, then I’m all for it,” funny car driver Gary Scelzi said. “Would I like to go back to the quarter-mile? Absolutely. But I know that NHRA needs to slow these cars down, and I don’t think it’s as easily done as the IRL and NASCAR, which both of those cars have been slowed down. It’s a lot more volatile with the nitro-methane, it’s a lot harder to do, and there’s a lot of big expenses if it’s the wrong move. So we’ve got to be careful on what we do.”
Meanwhile, Bandimere is taking a wait-and-see approach.
“The NHRA may find that there’s other things that would be helpful,” Bandimere said. “Maybe it’s a different type of net. Maybe it’s different parachutes for the cars. Whatever that is, as those things come out in their research, then if we need to make a change obviously we’ll make a change. But right now there’s no indication that what we have is not safe. And that’s a good thing to know.”
Chris Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com
