NQ > just got back from Daytona >
We tore up some stuff and it was a thrash "Classic 24"
Address the Chastain thing later, yea I have some real issues with that
Anyway you might find below interesting > Fight Pilot territory
Firestone Firehawk 600 CART April 29, 2001 at the Texas Motor Speedway
Post-qualifying
After the CART series finished qualifying, the Dayton Indy Lights series held a 100-mile (160 km) race at the track. Dan Wheldon and Mario Dominguez had led the speed charts in practice and qualifying, with top laps over 188 mph (303 km/h). Damien Faulkner won the race at an average speed of 150.491 mph.[26]
By late Saturday afternoon, concerns were rising about driver safety on the track. Patrick Carpentier[23] went to the medical facility to have his wrist checked (a previous injury he had suffered in a crash at Long Beach).[27] As an aside, he mentioned that he could not walk in a straight line for at least four minutes after he got out of his car.[22] An impromptu survey was taken during the private drivers' meeting and 21 of the 25 drivers in the starting field reported suffering disorientation[22][28] and vertigo-like symptoms,[28] including inner ear, or vision problems, after running more than 10 laps[29] (or 20 laps[22]). They also claimed that they had had virtually no peripheral vision and limited reaction time.[5][13] This was due to sustained g-loads as high as 5.5, almost double what most persons can endure, and closer to what jet pilots usually experience in shorter time intervals.
Veteran racing reporter John Oreovicz later said that the Saturday practice session was one of the few times he could recall fearing for the safety of the drivers and fans in what at the time was a quarter-century of covering races. By then, at least one driver, Franchitti, doubted that the race would go on as scheduled. Later, Bräck recalled that when the drivers' meeting concluded, only he and Tracy were in favor of racing the following day.[1]
Postponement
Olvey contacted Dr. Richard Jennings, a former flight director at NASA and professor of aviation medicine at the University of Texas. They discussed the known levels of human tolerance of vertical g-loads. Jennings replied that the human body could not tolerate sustained loads of more than 4-4.5 g.[23] CART determined that the race could not be run at more than 225 mph (362 km/h) without raising safety concerns over g-force induced Loss Of Consciousness (g-LOC).[30]
The night before the race, CART officials attempted to make last-ditch efforts to curtail speeds by having the teams take downforce out of the car, and reduce horsepower.[5] According to Zizzo, they felt that they could not slow the cars down by more than three or four mph without risking engine failure. One proposal, seriously considered, would have called for a makeshift chicane of cones along the backstretch.[1]
However, by Sunday morning, time was running out to make changes necessary to hold the race safely. The morning warm-up session was canceled. Two hours before the scheduled start, the race was postponed. Over 60,000 fans were sent home. The move came after Kniefel and CART president Joe Heitzler had a series of meetings with drivers, owners and sponsors. All parties agreed that it didn't make sense to hold the race under the circumstances.[23]
At a press conference, Heitzler did not blame the track. Rather, he stressed that officials could not in good conscience allow a race with such serious concerns about the safety of the drivers. Olvey added that the drivers were experiencing g forces well beyond the limits of "human tolerance"[1]–a problem that would have likely been exacerbated since the temperature was an unseasonably warm 80 °F (27 °C). There was fear of the possibility that drivers could suffer "grey-outs" or lose consciousness from g-LOC. It is also likely that the high g-loads would have been outside the design limits for the HANS device, which was required for all CART races at oval tracks.
Gossage was harshly critical of CART's decision. He argued that CART assured him it could run the race even though it had not conducted more extensive tests at the track. Russell argued that there was no time due to scheduling conflicts. Michael Andretti added that there was no real way to simulate ˜26 or more cars in a race.[5] ESPN's Robin Miller later said that CART should have known there was a problem the minute the first driver clocked 230 mph (370 km/h) on Friday.[5]
CART officials held out the possibility of rescheduling the race, but there was no room in the schedule and it was ultimately canceled. The race marked the first and only time a CART race would be canceled outright due to driver safety issues.[29]
Disaster is Only a Keystroke Away!
