RIP Scott Kalitta

[FordNut]

Scott Kalitta died today in a drag racing crash at Englishtown in his funny car.

[CRUZTAKER]

Very sad indeed. :depress:

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/06/driver_killed_in_crash_at_old. html

[jgc61sr2002]

May he Rest in Peace.

[shodude]

very sad to hear.. atleast he went out doing what i'm sure he loved.

but i do think i found the problem. ""...300 mph ......Toyota Solara..... ""

[Blk Mamba]

Our prayers to his family, and friends.

[ImpalaSlayer]

i just saw this on another fourm. thats sad

[Vortex]

Truly sucks. I thought Cruz Pedregon made a good point when he said the speeds have gone way up but the runout areas are still the same length as a long time ago. I guess at Englishtown there is some sort of net system but it look like if that doesnt work you smash into concrete barriers. Hopefully some good can come out of this and a review of this throughout the NHRA will happen quick.

[Glenn]

Can not believe what a poor run out area Englishtown has. Concrete barriers at the end of the 1/4 mile. You can see them in the video and how his car hits them and explodes. How could NHRA approve such a poor setup. All the tracks I have seen have a sand and dirt emergency run out at the end of the track. Poor design.

Glenn :burnout:

[FordNut]

It's a shame, but will probably lead to some tracks shutting down due to the lack of adequate real estate availability for a long runout area. It's very unusual for a car to hit the sand traps at the speed he was running, but he was going so fast he went straight through the nets and sand traps, then hit the concrete barrier where the car exploded. It appeared to me that the 'chute burned when the car went through the traps and went up in flames.

[FastMerc]

Sad to hear another great one lost before his time...

[MarauderTJA]

A tragic loss without question. In two years, Eric Medlin at Gainesville and now Scott Kallita. Nitro funny cars are probably the most dangerous cars in drag racing. May they both rest in peace.

[n00bkiller944]

Sad day, RIP.

[mrjones]

I just saw the video of the crash, and I can't believe they run those cars on tracks like that with such a small runout area. With the fire in the car, it may have not mattered, but with another 3/4 or mile of runout area, he would certainly have not had a crash like that.

[Egon Spengler]

At that track there is a road on the other side of the concrete barriers and they have the beach at the end and if that doesn't stop you the net should... He was going way too fast for either of them to stop him... there was no sign of him braking... he went like a rocket right out to the end where the concrete barriers are... I hear they were talking about making it a 1000 ft instead of the 1/4 mile 1320 ft for safety