As you all probably know, Scott Kalitta died at Englishtown yesterday.

It is a shame that someone that talented had to die, but he did die doing something he loved. It is also a sobering reminder that when things go far enough wrong, nothing will save your bacon.

I have included a link to the ESPN coverage, it's a replay. Remember, as they say it too, a man died in this clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DziJdGwFQjU

I have no idea what injuries he sustained. The impact was ugly, so if you are sensitive to these things, I would skip it. I suspect he is better off... surviving that wreck would have left him in very bad shape.

A sad weekend for the racing world. We can only hope (as always) that any conditions that contributed to the horrendous series of events that led to this tragedy will lead to safety improvements. I've already heard much speculation as to the cause or causes but I think it's premature to cast blame. This will all be addressed in due time. For now I wish only peace and comfort to all those personally touched by the accident.

What a horrific accident - so sad, and such a loss for racing and one of its families.

My neighbor Mike was at the race that day. He's not a "car guy" but somebody who's making an attempt to enter and understand the hobby. Mike is a pretty hard *SS guy when it comes to this sort of thing... but when he came home after seeing this he looked all F'ed up. Turns my stomach just watching it.

My sympathy for the family.
DG

I know... it is heart breaking.

As for causes, I haven't read anything regarding that yet.

It was quite obvious to me that the shoots burned or failed. I wonder why they are not fire proof?

I was supposed to be there, but I couldn't make it. On other forums I can't believe what people are saying.

The track was not at fault in any way.

It's a shame to lose somone so young, but at least he did it doing something he loved rather than some other way.

There have been many wrecks at many tracks. This wasn't the first and surely won't be the last, though maybe the next one won't be as bad once they figured out why it happened.

I did read somewhere that the chutes burned right off.
A similar accident happened there years ago. The drivers name escapes me, but he was driving Roland Leong's Hawaiian Punch car. He was knocked out halfway down the track and bouncing off the wall and went through the sand trap and hit the wall at the end.

Another time I was at the motocross track which is adjacent to the shutdown area and a jet car wrecked and landed on the fence(over the wall) next to the moto X. The riders were pretty freaked because where the car wrecked was right at a very important and dangerous turn to the stairstep hill.

From what I heard on the radio this morning, the NJSP are investigating the scene.

If people go throwing blame around unwaranted and without proper investigation, it won't be long and we won't be able to race any more at all anywhere.
I have heard about many people that have tried shutting down Capitol Raceway in Crofton, MD becasue of a number of different reasons. We should not give anyone fuel to continue that kind of thinking. So it is important for the car enthusiasts that enjoy racing, to not provide false ammunition to the anti-racing crowd.

My prayers to his family and hope the track gets everything straightened out.

This looks like a worst-case scenario to me, maybe not preventable.

These fireballs happen all the time in NHRA, I guess they just usually happen earlier in the run or don't damage the chutes as much. If you watch the vid, the chute, or at least part of it was still there, just not enough to slow him down.

I guess they need auto-ejection seats? I feel for the family, but the driver knows any time he gets in the seat could very well be his last. If it wasn't dangerous, it wouldn't be racing.