a sad day for drag racing
World champion drag racer Scott Kalitta died in a tragic fireball Saturday in Englishtown, New Jersey. 
Having shot drag racing for 5 years the news saddened me. An old friend and fellow track photographer Patrick Glenn sent me an e-mail to tell me the news. My best shots of Scott were in 2004 at the Mile High Nationals in Denver Colorado, before he switched to funny cars. He was driving the Jesse James car in those days. He was awarded the “Driver” trophy, for skill and sportsmanship. Everyone involved with the sport knows it is dangerous, yet the average fan does not know just how many precautions are taken. The cars have extensive safety equipment and design. The drivers check the track and conditions and make judgments as to the safety of any given day or track. Safety is such a major concern that in the 5 years I shot at Bandimere Speedway, there was
not even a major crash, let alone a fatality. So when a driver is killed it is a shock. I asked Patrick what happened, then I watched the tape myself. Patrick said “The right side retaining wall continues on down track and then curves around behind the sand trap. To me, that doesn’t seem real safe!!!” I would say that is an extreme understatement. While it is not a good thing to have an engine explode at 300 mph, and while nitro flames can be fatal in themselves, (one dangerous thing is they can be invisible when they are the hottest, and you can usually only be in them for a few seconds and live, even with a mask and fire suit) it looked to me as if the car was holding it’s own until it hit the wall after the sand pit. The chutes deployed, but they were useless with the flames. So Scott hit the sand at close to 300 mph. The sand uses the same idea you see on a run-away truck ramp. It is meant to stop the vehicle in a worst case scenario. Well in this case the sand didn’t slow the car down much at all, so there was a hard impact and a second huge explosion as Scott’s car hit the retaining wall at the end of the short sand trap. Would Scott be alive today if the sand had worked? Tough question. With the intense heat and the possibility of breathing nitro flames coupled with the g-force of stopping that quickly and the deterioration of the frame … maybe not. But crap, everyone hates the maybe’s. No mater what happened though, Drag racing has lost a great driver, and it was an honor to stand a few feet away from a true champion and capture that with a camera. R.I.P. Scott.
