Feld Motorsports gets its first black eye. (1 Viewer)

[James]

This is really sad, my heart goes out to the family.

Debris kills boy in stands at monster truck show - Motor Sports- nbcsports.msnbc.com

 

[fifty50]

That is so sad,surprising because they normally leave alot of rows empty to avoid this kind of thing.

 

[rocketman]

Very sad. apparently some debris the size of a frisby flew in the crowd and caused this freak accident. OK I'll stop complaining about NHRA's new blower restraint rule. I get it now. This is more than a black eye. I also feel bad for the driver of the truck. He had to have had no ideal.

 

[clwill]

That is so sad,surprising because they normally leave alot of rows empty to avoid this kind of thing.

News reports said they did -- at least a couple of rows empty. These folks were not down by the field, they were up a good 20-30'. Ouch...

Really tragic, a disaster all the way around. The biggest black eye was that it took Feld 24 hours for someone to reach out to them, and the shows went on -- they didn't stop that show and four more shows that weekend, all sold out, and they barely mentioned it.

 

[James]

I work for Feld Entertainments Monster Jam division as a Technical/Safety Official. I was not working this particular show. Yes,we usually mark off the first 6-9 rows depending on the said venue,they are called safety holds. This was a once in a bajillion accident. The driveshaft broke and got into the safety loops,thus shreading the safety loops and sending them airborn. This has NEVER happened before,and probaly won't again. Very tragic.

 

[willy]

I work for Feld Entertainments Monster Jam division as a Technical/Safety Official. I was not working this particular show. Yes,we usually mark off the first 6-9 rows depending on the said venue,they are called safety holds. This was a once in a bajillion accident. The driveshaft broke and got into the safety loops,thus shreading the safety loops and sending them airborn. This has NEVER happened before,and probaly won't again. Very tragic.

Thanks for the insight, James..a truly tragic event.

People have to realize that you can't guarantee anything.

Without looking it up..Knoxville Raceway..Nationals..82-83..(guessing)..I'm sitting corner 4..great racing..next thing I know..cars in the fence..major sh!t..shock comes off and goes through the stands..I won't say anymore but it was tragic. And we were 20 rows up!
The only way you can say nothing will ever happen is do it online..virtual racing.

 

[none]

They are having a rough time. Didn't I catch a blurb, an official walked in front of a truck and got hit?

Lee
Nitroclovers

 

[Paul]

They are having a rough time. Didn't I catch a blurb, an official walked in front of a truck and got hit?

Lee
Nitroclovers

Yeah, I saw it on channel 5 news last night. The truck got a little out of shape and ended up running over the official. I am not sure if it was a Monster Jam event.

 

[Joker]

Yeah, I saw it on channel 5 news last night. The truck got a little out of shape and ended up running over the official. I am not sure if it was a Monster Jam event.

Not what happened from what I saw. What I saw on the news last night was the announcer walked right in front of a truck like he never saw it coming and it ran over him with both tires. Tragic, but solely his fault. I went the first weekend on January here in Houston and plan on going again this weekend, they do put on a good show.

 

[Triple Nickel II]

Not what happened from what I saw. What I saw on the news last night was the announcer walked right in front of a truck like he never saw it coming and it ran over him with both tires. Tragic, but solely his fault. I went the first weekend on January here in Houston and plan on going again this weekend, they do put on a good show.

1) Feld was not the promoter of the event in Wisconsin where this most recent fatal accident occured.

2) The truck in question was not "out of control", in fact it was making its way back to the parking area after making a run.

3) If you watch the long form version of the video, it looks like Sampson's driver expected the other machine to cross the arena (criss-cross, like the old TF days with push starts) to return to the parking area. He actually stops, but the other machine makes a U-turn to return down the same side of the arena as he just ran. IMHO, Eisenhart expected one truck to return down each side of the arena floor and never expected Sampson to be following the other truck. We will never know, but it is my belief that if the first truck had returned down the other side of the arena, Eisenhart would not have walked out until Sampson drove by.

 

[Paul]

Not what happened from what I saw. What I saw on the news last night was the announcer walked right in front of a truck like he never saw it coming and it ran over him with both tires. Tragic, but solely his fault. I went the first weekend on January here in Houston and plan on going again this weekend, they do put on a good show.

You are correct Justin, the footage I saw on the news last night must have been stock footage of a Monster Truck racing. I saw the footage on CNN this afternoon and it is exactly what you describe.

 

[James]

1) Feld was not the promoter of the event in Wisconsin where this most recent fatal accident occured.

2) The truck in question was not "out of control", in fact it was making its way back to the parking area after making a run.

3) If you watch the long form version of the video, it looks like Sampson's driver expected the other machine to cross the arena (criss-cross, like the old TF days with push starts) to return to the parking area. He actually stops, but the other machine makes a U-turn to return down the same side of the arena as he just ran. IMHO, Eisenhart expected one truck to return down each side of the arena floor and never expected Sampson to be following the other truck. We will never know, but it is my belief that if the first truck had returned down the other side of the arena, Eisenhart would not have walked out until Sampson drove by.

Yes to everything you said. The promotor was George himself. He ran the "Monster Nationals" circuit pretty much by himself as a one man team. Promotor,announcer,official,etc. He was truely a nice guy and a shame to see this happen. Another thing that could of happened was he had a memory lapse or someone was talkin to him on the radio as he was walking out of the tunnel and he simply just was'nt paying attention. Which is a big no no working around these trucks.

 

[clwill]

Yes to everything you said. The promotor was George himself. He ran the "Monster Nationals" circuit pretty much by himself as a one man team. Promotor,announcer,official,etc. He was truely a nice guy and a shame to see this happen. Another thing that could of happened was he had a memory lapse or someone was talkin to him on the radio as he was walking out of the tunnel and he simply just was'nt paying attention. Which is a big no no working around these trucks.

And running these huge engines in such a small space, you can't expect to hear the truck coming... What a tragedy.

 

[James]

you'd be suprised how much headsets muffle the trucks,and add someone talkin in your ear,gotta be alert 24/7 around these trucks.

 

[dubldart340]

George Eisenhart's dad (George Sr.) was the longtime owner of Thompson Drag Raceway here in Ohio. In fact his mom still takes money at the gate. George got his start at the track and worked his way up to announcer back in the late 80's/early 90's.

A horrible tragedy indeed.