This could have been prevented

I live about 5 miles from the track and I was not there today, however for your reading here is the quote taken from the article in the local paper...www.mycentraljersey.com.

Don Prudhomme, a legendary figure in drag racing, witnessed the scene and said Kalitta's car ""went into a million pieces.''

"I haven't witnessed anything like that in a number of years,'' Prudhomme said. "These cars, for the most part, are pretty damn safe. As many runs as we make down a quarter-mile, as many runs as he's made, they're pretty damn safe.

"The car didn't slow up enough, (the car) got airborne, and he happened to hit a post that's virtually impossible to do. I mean, I would've never thought that that could happen. I would've never thought that you could get airborn and hit
that guardrail and hit that post.''

The concrete post, Prudhomme said, serves as support for the safety net that's designed to catch cars veering off the strip. Since Kalitta's parachute never deployed, Prudhomme said the car "never had a chance'' once it hit the post at such a rapid speed.

"I don't think it's the track's fault. I just don't,'' said Prudhomme, team owner for Top Fuel driver Larry Dixon. "If I thought it was a dangerous racetrack, if I thought it was the NHRA's fault, I wouldn't be here. It was unheard of to see that. I was just stunned.''

This could have been prevented is right it is not the tracks fault but the NHRA needs to make some new rules for the cars because its ok for them to go faster but then some changes need to be made to the rules of thet cars and the NHRA needs to set rules for the track because this could have been prevented i have been around racing for along time and being a female drag racer its hard to see this happen to someone you known doing the same thing it really gets you thinking but it is a job and we do get paid for it. and if you go back and watch the race look how fast he goes through the sand and the net of the sand trap there is a concrete wall that holds the safety net in place but there is only one and most tracks have two,three,even four nets to slow it down even more and the sand at the end of the track is hard sand and not soft like it should be and there has been trouble at that track before with how short of shut down distance there is. And if the NHRA would make new rules for tracks and have them have at least a mile of shut down space in chase of this happening again. And if you watched NHRA Cruz Pedregon says the same thing almost about the shut down and how its not long enough to shut down, and its not going 300 mph and more.it is a tragic loss for the Kalitta team and i will miss Scott very much and wish them the best. and this issue needs to be adressed to the NHRA and will be. 

Ltyir,

I agree with you. I have been to E-town EVERY year since the early 70's and have seen some nasty accidents, but I think that Scotts Might have been prevented. I have ran that track before and have the utmost respect for the people there, I consider that a very safe race track, but this accident may have been prevented.Ohmyprettyhalo, correct me if I'm wrong, but there is a state road that runs through the end of the track, that is why they put those barriers up. When I raced there, years ago, I never had the unfortunate instance of going that far, but when you are running over 300mph, there is no room for error and Scott had no chance. Not only did his car blow up in front of him and tore half the body off, but if you watched the video, which I did, over and over, he had the sense to pull the chutes, they weren't blown out he pulled them, (watch the video).  But where E-town had those concrete barriers just amazes me. Scott hit the catch fence and just blew to pieces a few feet later. E-town should have blocked that road for this event and and I believe Scott would be racing tomorrow. This may sound morbid, but I would like to see what caused Scotts death, I believe he would still be with us is those barriers weren't there. My heartfelt sympathy goes out to Kathy, Scotts children, Connie, Doug and the whole Drag Racing community. With a heavy heart, Santo