10:46:56am, Tuesday, May 07, 2024
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spectator injury
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sled,driver,tractor, wreck
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Diagonal Iowa,is their any news about the spectator injury after a series of malfunction's Sunday ? |
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Re: spectator injury
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Registered: 05/24/2013 Posts: 380 |
Fortunately there were no injuries to speak of |
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Re: spectator injury
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Registered: 05/29/2008 Posts: 161 |
Ok here is what I know but was getting ready to go across the scales so I did not see it first hand.One of the chains broke that pull the weight box up and bound up at about third track, sled operator then locked the tires up on the sled,pulled the killed cable,flagger was waving for shut down,puller was off the throttle at 300ft but momentum pushed them up the embackment and into a group of spectators at the end of the track.Noboby was injured that I am aware of,BUT it is something that can and will happen! we all need to realize the importance of safety in this sport for the competitors and for the spectators,this should be an eye opener for all of us.I know all of us there are extremely thankful that nobody was was hurt.No body was at fault it was a scary incident.If you are a puller you understand how fast we are going anymore,limited rpm tractors are running close to 30mph here and a lot can happen in that short amount of time.I just want my point to get across that we all want to put on a good show,so be careful and lets have fun and be safe at the same time,no different than nascar anymore. |
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Re: spectator injury
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lucky
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Than the one they took to the hospital wasn't any injury to speak of ! really lucky, the sled with a box running wild,kill switch that didn't work,brakes on sled had no effect thus pushing the tractor uphill into a sunshade full of people when the box went free wheeling to the front of the sled than back again set up at the end of the track.First time driver on a 4.1,how many rules have been written to try to avoid problems like this? |
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Re: spectator injury
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Registered: 05/29/2008 Posts: 161 |
Not any rules that I am aware of for momentum.Law of relativity,what is in motion stays in motion. Kill cable worked fine.Tractor was dead. |
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Re: spectator injury
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In NY/ PA sanctioned pulls I have never seen fans seated in the shutdown zone and they should never be there. If you have a broken sled with no weight moving up the rails and the tractor builds momentum to 30+ MPH; you can kill the tractor, apply sled brakes, hope the tractor driver catches on something is wrong and brakes the tractor-- but with momentum built if you have a hill at the end of the track with fans on it you are about to have a big problem! (Watch online and see what usually happens to a non moving weight box when the brakes are applied- it free rides forward and hits the front stops adding to the momentum.) The tractor driver, the track crew, the sled operator, and even the laser crew accept risk to be putting on the show. Even the educated motorsport fan realizes there is a very small chance of the 'freak 1 in a million accident' occurring when the Indy car hits the wall or the tractor plows into a concrete barrier. However by placing fans right in the area the tractor needs to stop you have an accident waiting to happen at a tractor power and speed level like this one in Iowa. |
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Re: spectator injury
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Registered: 03/27/2008 Posts: 480 |
I've seen this some this year and it needs to stop. You don't see people sitting in the sand trap at the drag races so why are people allowed to sit at the end of a pulling track. Sometimes even the laser is to close to the end of the track in my opinion. Look at some of the almost accidents like L.D. Nation at Mt. Sterling or Bill Miller at Tomah. This is something that everybody needs to be aware of. Keith Ford Photography [www.facebook.com] keithfordphotography.zenfolio.com Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/02/2013 04:09PM by Fuelish Fan. |
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Re: spectator injury
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so right
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i agree with you,i have seen a personal friend loose his life pulling in the 70's,from that point on i feel we have to operate on the side of saftey and never let our guard down after reading this post,they say the kill was pulled at 100 feet and the sled pushed the tractor out the end into the people at the end of the track up a hill knowing this track we are talking about momentum traveling 300 feet after shut down,something is wrong with this picture. |
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Re: spectator injury
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Registered: 06/08/2011 Posts: 34 |
I don't think the kill switch was pulled until the tractor was closer to the 300' mark, that's when it seemed like the tractor lost power. Don't know for sure. I was sitting close to the people who got hurt and the momentum from the sled caused it to hit the back of the tractor and pushed it about 25 to 30' into the people. Fortunately no one was seriously hurt, but it sure shows no one can be cautious enough at any motorsports event. At no one's fault, things like this can and do happen and happen very quickly! |
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Re: spectator injury
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Ohio puller
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Why were people sitting at the end of the track? Same thing goes for people sitting against concrete barriers along the side of track. Yes the barrier will stop a runaway but it needs time and space to do so. There needs to be 5 foot minium along side of the track and 30 -50 feet at the end of the track. It amazing what a peice of caution tap will do and a piece of paper to keep people back off of the barriers.. This should be oncern for the pullers too if you run over someone at the end of the track guess who's going to be involved with the lawsuit. |
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Re: spectator injury
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Questions?
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If this was a NASOA certified sled there should have been safety features to keep something like this from happening. Think a box break to slow down the box from slamming to front of sled is one feature, maybe couple of others. Who's sled was it? |
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Re: spectator injury
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mgc
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how about 2 or 3 rippers 2 ft long at back of sled that would drop and gouge when kill switch was activated from sled they go in 8 inches things come to a halt. |
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Re: spectator injury
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If you google it theres a news story with reporters video on it and shows a truck and sled going down a track sled says diagonal lions club. . It shows a single axle pull back sled, not sure if this was video taken there or what?? I was not there so idk. Just pointing out what i came across Its on whotv.com i believe. |
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Re: spectator injury
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That was on Monday, a local Pull. Accident happened on Sunday, same track, but different sled and Pullers. WHO was there on Monday. |
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Re: spectator injury
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Noticed
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Noticed on YouTube vids of Sundays events @ Diagonal, there were NO spectators in the run out area.
Ma and Pa Kettle musta decided they can't move as fast as they thought. It was Red Rock sled, the box brakes worked fine. Just not enough room for shut down area. Emergency grousers could have worked in this case. |
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Re: spectator injury
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Your YouTube must work better than mine. I can't find a 2013 video of Diagonal. Also I have pulled there for several years and I don't remember one year that Fans weren't sitting at the top of the hill. Sunday 2 times I saw Fans told to get behind the caution tape on the south side of the track. It happens at every Pull, always someone wanting to get closer to the action. There is really not much of a shutdown area there, the Hill is right there and a good Hook will put you on it. A little common sense from spectaters watching tractors coming straight at them with no barriers between them would help. Blame no one but also blame everyone, unfortunetly it always takes an accident to improve safety features, I'm sure there will be improvements next Pull, thankfully no one was injured other than scrapes and bruises. |
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Re: spectator injury
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Common sense
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Maybe it's time that NASOA sleds have a computer to monitor drive axle speed to box speed to eliminate the human factor and delay in reacting? Do the euro guys not have this or did I make that up? |
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Re: spectator injury
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yep
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they do or did but its caused a lot of problems with tripping when nothing was wrong. pullers were throwing a fit. a lot of newer sleds have a kill switch that triggers pan drop and pushdown too at the same time. even if the box is at the back the pushdown will mash the bars in and stop whatever they're hooked to pretty good. that's why most need IMO. |
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Re: spectator injury
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common sense
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Coming from someone that has taken a truck up the hill at diagonal. I asked people politely to move before my hook incase something would happen and they refused. Honestly people should have some common sense not to sit at the end of the track anyways. |
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Re: spectator injury
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CLOd
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A lotta times we don't set the best example, seams theres ALWAYS someone that must run up the track,stand on the edge, then approach the puller as its still hooked when stopped |
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Re: spectator injury
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noryced
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CLOd is spot on with his observation of these clowns wanting to be noticed & running onto the track & approaching a running vehicle still hooked to the sled. No one but the flag man & unhook guy should be out on that track & this should result in immediate disqualification like it used to be. |
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Re: spectator injury
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Registered: 06/30/2008 Posts: 186 |
I perfectly realize this very well may be a thought from outer space and I apologize if it seems so. With modern technology, would it be feasible and/or possible to have the brakes on the pulling vehicle activated any time a properly hooked up kill switch is activated, thus at the very minimum slowing the wheel speed of the pulling vehicle? I am just thinking about the scenario of when an vehicle equipped with air brakes has the trailer brakes activated for one reason or another while in motion. Like I said, its just a thought, and maybe from outer space. But if the driver gets jolted around in the cage and unexpectedly realizes his ground speed is getting real close to wheel speed, there isn't a long enough run-off area that is safe, no matter what the class. |
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Re: spectator injury
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Posts: 52 |
In most classes, application of the pulling vehicles brakes could make the situation worse. Say, on our 4x4 trucks, we only have front brakes and nearly no weight on the rear axle when not under a pull from the chain. Automatic emergency application of our brakes could cause the vehicle to turn sharply when the pan strikes the rear of the vehicle, likely causing a rollover. I imagine the scenario would be the same for most classes with the possible exception of the Semi/big rig classes.
I do like the idea of a set of hydraulically operated rippers that would drop anytime the kill switch is pulled by the sled operator. Chris Watson Watson Motorsports Batavia, OH |
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Re: spectator injury
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another puller
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Talked to a sled operator about this a few years ago about the rippers and they said they will not work. The reason they gave me were time it would to deploy them, if they would even be able to dig in, the weight it would add to a sled would then require all sleds to have a support truck, plus most of the bad are is is when the sled operator freeze's. So if the operator doesn't do anything anyways all of the manually operator stuff in the world won't do any good. Now I would love see some drive line speed sensors on the sled that would set off a alarm or trip warning lights when some does break. Over in Europe the require automatics kill switches when a sensor see somethings wrong but from what I heard most of the sleds have did away with them because they were pulling kill switches when nothing was wrong. The only thing that will truly help is a good sled operator and room for the sled operator to do it in. The ends of tracks need to be clear and have enough room to do that in. The room at the end of a track gives them time get every thing stopped.
Yea the automatic deployment of the breaks of the tractor would only cause a jack knife and get it ran over by the sled. Now I would not mind a automatic pan drop that would help getting everything slowed down. |
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Re: spectator injury
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4x???
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yea love the guys that gotta turn off that front hub to drive straight off the track!!!!!!!!!!! |
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Re: spectator injury
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Registered: 06/30/2008 Posts: 186 |
I undertsand completely abotu the brakes. Not knowing how it would affect the pulling vehicle or sled, that is why I mentioned it may be from outer space. But I do appreciate the education and certainly understand why that would not be a good idea. Unfortunately, there is never only one cause or scenario why you would have to have an emergency reaction. Thanks again. |
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Re: spectator injury
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ohio puller
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The biggest thing out of all of this is keeping people back away from the pulling area. Room gives you the biggest safety factor of all which is time. Plus keeping people back from the barriers and hive them the room they need to do there job. You can have all the safety stuff in the world but something will always happen so give the space for it to happen in. |
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Re: spectator injury
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Why not give the tractor driver the ability to drop the pan and/or put on the brakes on the sled if he feels he's out of control? Of course, a lot of drivers wouldn't realize they had a problem until it was too late, or they would figure they could drive their way out of it. If the driver could control it, he could back out of the throttle and bring things to a more controlled stop. Of course, keeping the track area clear of spectators is the obvious first step.
Just another thought, how much room is enough? You see winning distances out to 375' and beyond on occasion now. Does that mean you need a track and shutdown area 500'? 600'? Would possibly be a problem in lots of venues to get that much area. |
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Re: spectator injury
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Registered: 02/21/2012 Posts: 797 |
This is why we need to reel pullers in instead of having all of these outrageous distances. 330-340 needs to be the MAX. John Murray Two-time Pedal Pull World Champion Let's Go Pulling, covering the sport of pulling in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama. Watch LGP on YouTube Like LGP on Facebook 
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Re: spectator injury
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Registered: 08/14/2013 Posts: 203 |
Here is video of sled operator blowing setting. Bob did great job of stopping with getting rear-end. Need to make sure sled know how long the track is.
[www.youtube.com] |
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Re: spectator injury
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Ohio puller
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Like the guy said above if the full pull would have been 300 as a driver you know when to shut it down. Looks like they where running a floating finish. As a driver you do what it takes to win. With a full pull a set point and marked it gives you a point of knowing when your done. Now it doesent need to be 300 but 320 or in that area that's marked will help the driver out. |
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