I like the longer shut down, and Mr.Pickens idea about color coding the walls.
Don't like the part about narrowing the track. Seems to me a car in trouble needs more room - not less. jmo

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1K IS A-OK

If I read it right the track isnt narrowed its the shutdown and sand trap thats narrowed so that if they have a run away car like what happened with scott kalitta it will have enough room to just slow down on its own without hitting anything which is why he extended the shutdown a really long way

The wall will guide them into the sand trap, meaning less margin of error of the car hitting something other than the sand trap - i.e. - what happened with Scott.

Gregg, that's a great idea!

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StockersRock

You can still have 1/4 mile racing if you don't go get a hot dog after the fuel classes.

Referencing Gregg's idea, another potential benefit of the color coding would be that a driver who's having a difficult time bleeding off speed (brake failure / malfunction) would be able to tell they were running out of real estate and have the decision available to use the wall to slow themselves down prior to entering the trap... I would think a side impact of the cement retaining wall, especially a controlled side impact of sorts, would be a lot nicer than going full-tilt boogie into the sand. Sure, it means damage to the car, but hitting the sand at that speed isn't exactly going to save the car - just ask Del. That option is obviously available to them today, even without the color coding, but I would think seeing green, turn to yellow then to red out the side windows would be a visual reminder of sorts, under already extreme conditions, that a decision needs to happen.

Obviously, I've never driven one myself so I could be way off track, but from my outsider's point of view, my thought is that it certainly couldn't hurt.

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Gordon 'Flaps' Carlon
Work the solution, not the problem.

I bet Tony P. would like safety orange painted on all wall openings too!

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StockersRock

You can still have 1/4 mile racing if you don't go get a hot dog after the fuel classes.

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Evil Squirrels Are After My Nuts
Avatar courtesy of T-Nebraski
The reason I talk to myself is that I'm the only one whose answers I accept.

Maybe it's the track owners to whom the suggestion should be made???

Bruton Smith could be a start.

In any case, it's a great idea.

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Jackee Allen-ProStockJunkie
"The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress." -- Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French Philosopher

It depends entirely on the situation and there's almost no solution that I've seen, heard, or thought of that covers them all, other than stopping the drag racing completely.

In this situation, I think Gregg is assuming that it's a four wheels on the ground slow down. Which, is a good idea, if the only problem we encountered could be a wall scrubber. Unfortunately, we are dealing with speed, momentium and a lot of moving parts.

If you narrow the track, you reduce the real estate that the car has to gain momentum (almost like shortening the track, less room to accelerate, slower the cars go at the 'finish').

If the car is doing a barrell roll, it can essentually reduce the amount of 'rolls' but that's not necessarily the best option since the rolls disperse the energy. Rather than slamming into the concrete wall with full energy, the energy is allowed to disperse through the rolls. Rollings not always a bad thing. There's slow rolls which are the best and then there are the sort of bouncing rolls that cause it to pick up or switch directions. If you reduce the room that it has to disperse the energy, you could be causing more harm because the wall is going to get hit with more energy.

So many factors, so many 'could happens' and 'has happens'...

I might be way off base [wouldn't be the first time] but I think the narrowing of the walls would only used in the lengthened trap. In other words the "funnelling" effect would occur in the trap and not on the track.

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Greg
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Say it ain't so Joe!

I think in a few hundred feet before the trap so that the car is guaranteed to go into the sand, not off to the side of it or into something else.

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StockersRock

You can still have 1/4 mile racing if you don't go get a hot dog after the fuel classes.