Daddy Dave Wreck Amarillo Dragway

http://www.dragzine.com/news/video-daddy-dave-comstock-injured-in-crash-at-amarillo-dragway/ I hope he makes a full recovery.

did you see the nos bottle go flying out in the grass that did not look safe.

I saw that. They claim more than one NOS bottle came out. The harness mount breaking and seat bracket also was bad. It could have gone a lot worse though.

Bad deal

Word is he's pretty shook up. Bad concussion and can't remember what happened or where he is.

He wrecked right about where we normally pit, but there were so many.people there we didn't make it in before it was sold out. Never seen that many people out there.

I'm always in favor of a proper/correctly designed concrete guardwall vs a steel guardrail at the track. But I'm not a fan of the "highway/interstate" style concrete gardwalls that have the kick-out at the bottom. The kick-out at the bottom of these types of walls IMO always seems to help lift the nose of low slung cars when they hit them & help get them up & rolling over.

A proper track concrete guardwall that is flat top to bottom (without the kick-out at the bottom) IMO seems to "suck the car in" more & does a better job of containing the car.

First of all gods speed to daddy daves recovery!
That was a bad wreck no doubt. That was a lot of breakage in chassis seat belts,seat, nos bottles flying around. All that I've ever head and read about says a roll like that take a lot of energy out of a crash slowly vs a single hard hit. Was that car certified ? Are those components part of cert. seems seat and belt mounts should be. I'm just saying I've seen many crashes much worse and the structure of the didn't come apart.

Seems to me a number of the people that do the no prep stuff are a little light on safety....... Or can't truly afford to go that fast?

IIRC.......

(A) the SFI books don't mention anything about harness weld tab size (surface area square inches) or thickness. I like the wrap-around style belt mounting to the frame/cage anywhere there isn't a chance this style mounting point wont be exposed to abrasion during a crash.

(B) but SFI does mention a generic minimum tab/bracket bolt/bolt hole size ratio for chassis brackets in relation to the material/radius that's around said hole.  

(C) The NHRA/IHRA books do mention that un supported single wall seats (like aluminum or composite) need some form of a mounting/supporting framework made of at least 1/2 OD tubing anywhere the cage/frame tubing it's self isn't able to do the job.

DILLIGASDAVE wrote:I'm always in favor of a proper/correctly designed concrete guardwall vs a steel guardrail at the track. But I'm not a fan of the "highway/interstate" style concrete gardwalls that have the kick-out at the bottom. The kick-out at the bottom of these types of walls IMO always seems to help lift the nose of low slung cars when they hit them & help get them up & rolling over.

A proper track concrete guardwall that is flat top to bottom (without the kick-out at the bottom) IMO seems to "suck the car in" more & does a better job of containing the car.

Agreed.

OK my take.


This high horsepower on small tires and no wheelie bars is just asking for trouble imo, of course Im old school. Give me the biggest shoes I can fit under the backend!

HANS device is next on the safety list.

Moodyblues wrote:OK my take.


This high horsepower on small tires and no wheelie bars is just asking for trouble imo, of course Im old school.  Give me the biggest shoes I can fit under the backend!

+1
No prep race; that means no track prep, right? NO THANKS!

street car

I thought I read online that he had both his shoulder belts bolted to the same tab behind the seat? My shoulder belt tabs on the cage are 1/4" thick with 1/2" bolts. I hope I never have to test them......

DILLIGASDAVE wrote:I'm always in favor of a proper/correctly designed concrete guardwall vs a steel guardrail at the track. But I'm not a fan of the "highway/interstate" style concrete gardwalls that have the kick-out at the bottom. The kick-out at the bottom of these types of walls IMO always seems to help lift the nose of low slung cars when they hit them & help get them up & rolling over.

A proper track concrete guardwall that is flat top to bottom (without the kick-out at the bottom) IMO seems to "suck the car in" more & does a better job of containing the car.

First part of problem, Jersy barriers as the highway dividers are called, are designed to lift and toss the vehicle that contacts them back into the lane from which they came.  They were designed as temporary lane dividers during construction.    NO TRACKS nor any non temporary highway barrier system should be allowed to use them.

Second.........  lots of stuff on that car was a little less than SFI 25e1 certified.

Third...........   Prep or no prep, and especially with his seat time.......... 4 feet right of any grove, WTF are you doing in the gas?

God damn lucky to be alive.

Look up U tube videos of Steve Grebeck's crash... several factors in that one, but a 25e1 certified car, wind blown out of the groove. Steve was found broken and stuffed in the X brace of the door. The Seat didn't fail, nor did the harness, the pink stuff it holds couldn't take the G load. Seems pretty simple, 1/4 mile in a straight line, till something doesn't go right.... then shit gets tricky fast, and sometimes fatal. The SFI rules aren't there for tax revenue, they are safety improvements figured out at the cost of lives. Cant afford the SFI certificate, save yourself, and run a slower car.

I wounder how much money was on that race? Did that lighting strike catch his attention for a split second and blow his concentration? I doubt it, but no one mentioned the possibility, so I will throw it in with all the other speculation.

supervel45 wrote:I wounder how much money was on that race? Did that lighting strike catch his attention for a split second and blow his concentration? I doubt it, but no one mentioned the possibility, so I will throw it in with all the other speculation.

You couldn't bet enough money on a race to make me try to drive through a pass like that one. I learned long ago that major turning of the steering wheel while the throttle is WFO generally sucks all the fun out of the racing experience...even if the car is NOT on the gray part of the track. I'm older, a little wiser...and my bones are getting brittle. Call me a chicken.

I would not enter a no prep race myself.

kim wrote:Second.........  lots of stuff on that car was a little less than SFI 25e1 certified.......

I don't personally have any first hand knowledge about his car. But from what little I can see in the various videos it's indeed very possible the Nova/Chevy II probably could have been (or was in fact) legal for one of the various SFI doorcar certs (it did look to have a F/C cage & full door X-bars in the videos). Of course one would have to see what the floor bars layout/design looked like to have a better idea if it was close to being legal for one of the SFI certs.



Depending on how fast it was, and if it was all 'moly or mild steel......

If the Nova was a full chassis - all tube car I'm guessing/wild guess it might have maybe been a little too heavy for the 25.1G cert anyway since the max weight is 2800lbs. If it was in fact heavier than 2800lbs (and legal) then it could have used either a 25.2B cert (full chassis, all 'moly, 3200lb max) or a 25.4B cert (full chassis, choice of 'moly or mild steel, 3600lb max). If it was in fact any recognized form of a "back-half" car (and legal), then it could have used either a 25.3B cert (all 'moly, 3600lb max) or a 25.5C cert ('moly or mild steel, 3600lb max).

http://www.dragzine.com/news/street-outlaws-daddy-dave-making-the-switch-to-a-chevy-ii/

DILLIGASDAVE wrote:

kim wrote:Second.........  lots of stuff on that car was a little less than SFI 25e1 certified.......

I don't personally have any first hand knowledge about his car. But from what little I can see in the various videos it's indeed very possible the Nova/Chevy II probably could have been (or was in fact) legal for one of the various SFI doorcar certs (it did look to have a F/C cage & full door X-bars in the videos). Of course one would have to see what the floor bars layout/design looked like to have a better idea if it was close to being legal for one of the SFI certs.



Depending on how fast it was, and if it was all 'moly or mild steel......

If the Nova was a full chassis - all tube car I'm guessing/wild guess it might have maybe been a little too heavy for the 25.1G cert anyway since the max weight is 2800lbs. If it was in fact heavier than 2800lbs (and legal) then it could have used either a 25.2B cert (full chassis, all 'moly, 3200lb max) or a 25.4B cert (full chassis, choice of 'moly or mild steel, 3600lb max). If it was in fact any recognized form of a "back-half" car (and legal), then it could have used either a 25.3B cert (all 'moly, 3600lb max) or a 25.5C cert ('moly or mild steel, 3600lb max).

Your right, ran my mouth (fingers) with out really knowing. He has too much time to not have had it built within spec. Just strange that the seat and harness were able to break free. N2O bottle, lots of sfi rated brackets, but if not latched/fastened properly, if not bolted through braced material... again, I don't know where the bottles were, nor bracket system used.

Ive peddled out of the groove many times on a prepped track, the no prep stuff you cant be a cowboy.....I did once and the car still has the bent quarter panel to prove it.

supervel45 wrote:http://www.dragzine.com/news/street-outlaws-daddy-dave-making-the-switch-to-a-chevy-ii/

If that link is correct & it did have a cert sticker to 6.00, that pretty much rules out any of the mild steel SFI specs (like 25.4 & 25.5) leaving only the 25.1, 25.2, or 25.3 SFI specs.

**********************


On a side note about the SFI foundation, I can see their reasoning behind revising the specs (like 25.1E revised to 25.1F) not long ago to included the European Docol R8 material as an equal/equivalent/replacement for 'moly tubing because Docol can be easier to find over there vs 'moly.......It makes sense.

What I don't agree with is the later revision (like 25.1F to 25.1G) that outlaws cars/cages with "driver side offset cages" (where no major roll cage structure is on the passenger side of the car). I just don't see the problem with using an offset cage in a full chassis car to save a little more weight. It was tried in Pro Stock way back in the day (Larry Widmer - Endyn Energy Dynamics   http://www.theoldone.com/prostock-T-Bird/  ). Then later with the original Christine Plymouth P/M built by Suncoast, and the "lil evil" P/M vette later owned by the Clark Bros. (and many others tried it too). Then this old design idea was later revived again by Jim Geese years later (while at R2B2 race cars, and then at the reborn Vanishing Point race cars) only to have the idea kicked in the dirt by the SFI foundation. The offset cars seemed to hold up just fine, why bounce the idea? .........It doesn't make sense (to me anyway).