"Rainout Theatre at Richmond"This is Danica Patrick's Dallara Honda getting ready to go back in the transporter after a strong shower cut back the practice before tonight's qualifying. USAC has sprint cars and Silver Crown cars on the property as well.
The qualifying session for Saturday night's SunTrust Indy Challenge is slated to begin at 7:30 local time.
Now that I have some time to digest what NHRA announced on their investigation into Scott Kalitta's fatal crash...
~What they found seems consistent with what happened on the video. Of course, there may have been other video that was recorded but not used by ESPN, and that video was likely reviewed.
~The top end at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park has a gradual concrete curve which was designed to funnel out of control cars that may have shot through the "kitty litter/sand/etc". back into the "kitty litter" to slow the cars down. But when a car gets airborne, that curve would seem to serve like the pocket of a baseball glove once all of the crashing against the television camera boom was complete. This can be illustrated by looking at an aerial photo of the facility.
~The Ford/Delphi "Blue Box' evidently survived the explosion and crash, and is yielding some valuable information. You can thank Dan Davis...the soon-to-retire boss of Ford Racing...for greenlighting this project, which put the data recorder in each Funny Car this season.
~Engine failure with 7,000+ horsepower is a fact of life. It can be mitigated with stronger engine parts...but stronger parts trade power for reliability. Power in a nitro funny car or Top Fuel car translates to speed.
~Parachute mounting: The inflation of the parachutes didn't happen. Does one suppose that an auxiliary chute could be mounted to the chassis of the Funny Car, set to deploy if the body blows off?
Just some thoughts as the straight line guys get ready for racing at Norwalk Ohio. We'll keep our eyes on the sky...and rejoin you with some qualifying highlights.
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