Jason Johnson

[Illtsate32]

Pittman came up on Jason and made contact RR to LF and it folded Jason's suspension under, causing him to flip wildly, and shed the wing. Everything else you said I agree with.

That makes sense cause I was wondering why or how it pitched over on the left side so rapidly, now I know why...

[chupp n bloomer fan]

Back in 2001 I think, at the Sharon Nationals. It used to be a top sprint race, drawing 50-60 sprints. Some guys outta the Plains area, most of the mid west, and even Pa Posse guys. Well Jason was there that year. This was right after they implemented the weight rule. Pretty sure first was ok, but second wasn’t, and JJ was third. Well, to try and be on the safe side, they attempted to put weights or something in the car before they crossed the scales. They got caught and dqued. Ain’t much, but it’s a story I have of Jason, and looking back, glad I do. I think I’ve seen him more than once, but that one sticks out.

[racincowboy02]

I would like to see the car and the helmet just to see what they looked like and maybe that could help with the making things better. I mean from what ive read they had to cut him out of the car to get him out and i would like to see pics of the car before and after the extrication that way you get a feel for 1 the way the car was and 2 the way the fire dept cut him out. No Im not sick and twisted I am a firefighter and that could be useful information for fire departments that are at race tracks and could be a useful tool to teach firefighters ways to do extrication different

[chupp n bloomer fan]

I think the majority of the issue is stronger halos for the drivers, and a good steel plate over their head, more than likely taller cages. Do a test with steel at an impact of fill in the blank and mandate a specific thickness and length and width.

[heinen81]

They cut from about 1/2 up on both down tubes, all the way up to the rear of the halo. Basically the whole cage from half way up was removed. Lets be real, you can add all the rigidness and material thickness you want, but when you slam down that hard on a concrete edge, which is essentially a shear at that point, to the front of the cage, your helmet doesn't have to physically make contact with the wall to produce life threatening brain injuries. You can keep the head and neck from whipping forward now, but nothing will stop your brain from crashing forward. At some point if you make that cage area too rigid, that force in normal rollovers gets transferred to the driver and not through the deformation of the tubing. Then you will see more injuries on common rollovers than before the cage did give some. In this specific case, and having been at that track countless times, including when Semmelmann was killed... it was 100% having an exposed concrete wall in which a car could easily land on. You put a catch fence flush with that wall edge, a cage never gets close enough to that shear point. Yes, it throws you back on to the track, but I would rather take my chances there.

[Zonks32x]

They cut from about 1/2 up on both down tubes, all the way up to the rear of the halo. Basically the whole cage from half way up was removed.

Are you speculating, or were you in the pits and saw exactly what the rescue crew did to get Jason out?

Not trying to start a fight or a squabble, I would just like confirmation of exactly what you saw.

The car was completely hidden behind the turn 3 wall until they lifted it up and over back onto the track. They tried to do it from behind the wall first...., but the wrecker couldn't get between the wall, the billboards, and the ambulance.

[TUTY]

There should never be a Sprint Car race where a 4 or 5 foot wall is the only thing holding u back. Any and all Cars rolling in that spot are going to hit those billboards which 1 foot metal beams 30 foot tall are holding these signs up. Plain and simply they should never race on this track. A 12 To 15 foot catch fence would almost completely eliminate this.

[Zonks32x]

There should never be a Sprint Car race where a 4 or 5 foot wall is the only thing holding u back. Any and all Cars rolling in that spot are going to hit those billboards which 1 foot metal beams 30 foot tall are holding these signs up. Plain and simply they should never race on this track. A 12 To 15 foot catch fence would almost completely eliminate this.

I couldn't tell you precisely how high the wall extends above the dirt at BD, but having been there many times, I can tell you that you're being overly generous at 5 foot. I don't even believe it extends 4 foot above the dirt.

I'm not sure if a catch-fence is the solve all answer either, but I do agree it's 1000 times better than billboards anchored to steel beems, which are set in concrete.

As someone pointed out earlier, BD is not unique in the dirt track world by not having a catch-fence around the corners. There are 100's of tracks that do not. Not saying that's right or wrong, just saying that's how many tracks are currently configured.

[chupp n bloomer fan]

I couldn't tell you precisely how high the wall extends above the dirt at BD, but having been there many times, I can tell you that you're being overly generous at 5 foot. I don't even believe it extends 4 foot above the dirt.

I'm not sure if a catch-fence is the solve all answer either, but I do agree it's 1000 times better than billboards anchored to steel beems, which are set in concrete.

As someone pointed out earlier, BD is not unique in the dirt track world by not having a catch-fence around the corners. There are 100's of tracks that do not. Not saying that's right or wrong, just saying that's how many tracks are currently configured.

Especially 3 and 4 at Lernerville. Or Atomics 3n4, which is better than it used to be, but still not great.

[heinen81]

Are you speculating, or were you in the pits and saw exactly what the rescue crew did to get Jason out?

Not trying to start a fight or a squabble, I would just like confirmation of exactly what you saw.

The car was completely hidden behind the turn 3 wall until they lifted it up and over back onto the track. They tried to do it from behind the wall first...., but the wrecker couldn't get between the wall, the billboards, and the ambulance.

No speculating, I have a picture of it on the wrecker from the pits. I wont post it on here, but that's exactly the condition it was in after the extrication. I am sure the portions removed by safety, as well as the car that was put in the trailer, will be gone over by Maxim I am sure.

[heinen81]

I couldn't tell you precisely how high the wall extends above the dirt at BD, but having been there many times, I can tell you that you're being overly generous at 5 foot. I don't even believe it extends 4 foot above the dirt.

I'm not sure if a catch-fence is the solve all answer either, but I do agree it's 1000 times better than billboards anchored to steel beems, which are set in concrete.

As someone pointed out earlier, BD is not unique in the dirt track world by not having a catch-fence around the corners. There are 100's of tracks that do not. Not saying that's right or wrong, just saying that's how many tracks are currently configured.

In this case, with a catch fence, the front of the car would have contacted the fence first and never let the front of the halo/cage area get close enough to the concrete edge. Down side is it probably would have shot him back in front of traffic and who knows what happens... but I like those odds better. Not to mention a fence would have kept a car with a damaged cage, from sailing into rows of billboards and steel I beams. I have heard people worry about this for the years I was with the IRA, especially after Semmelmann died, yet they still wouldn't act. Def wasn't a shock this happened again, especially after years of watching sprint cars car fly past from the pit opening. You couldn't help but to recognize how dangerous that section of track is. Some of those guys running wide open on the cushion, are a foot off that wall entering at 110-120mph.

[TUTY]

If there was know Billboards the car could have just continued rolling. But I'm sure a lot of money is made on those billboards. They either need to roll into a open area or have a tall enough catch fence to stop them from getting to the billboards. Pretty simple but no action !!

[brsteg]

Not to mention a fence would have kept a car with a damaged cage, from sailing into rows of billboards and steel I beams.

What do you think catch fences are made out of?

[Zonks32x]

No speculating, I have a picture of it on the wrecker from the pits. I wont post it on here, but that's exactly the condition it was in after the extrication. I am sure the portions removed by safety, as well as the car that was put in the trailer, will be gone over by Maxim I am sure.

Thank you for the response. From the frontstretch, it was hard to see, but looked like halo was still attached (bately) to rear of the cage when they lifted the car back over the fence.

Thank you for not posting/sharing the pic. No need imho.

[chupp n bloomer fan]

What do you think catch fences are made out of?

Catch fences are specifically designed for cars. Billboard structural supports are not. That catch fence Eldora has is amazing.