Mark Niver Crash

[afuelkid777]

@dragracer3 - that is definitely NOT TRUE.

[fairlanejay]

If they dont lengthen the tracks they might as well quit racing the fast cars. Its just ignorant.

idiots.

[bigtimcny]

Stupid sport and stupid death, netting is bullshit

[MrObviousMan01]

IIRC he was doing 271mph... so while it looks like he made no attempt to slow down, brakes don't work so good when your chute breaks away.... the sad thing is most tracks have the same kind of nets at the end...

[rael1999]

My heart goes out to Mark's family and friends because this accident looks so needless and should have been easily avoided.

Being honest I'm no expert and as 'littlefordman78' has already pointed out it's difficult slowing down from these speeds when your shute fails.

Which begs the question what was the breaking strain on that net ??

Surely they shouldn't be looking to stop a car 'head on' at those speeds in that short distance from sand to net ?? Tragic ! RIP fella !

[CoZmicCowboYs]

Sandboxes and safety nets???

WTF...is this freakin kindergarten?

There is NO reason this type of crash should EVER happen... and it's SO damn simple folks....your damn dragstrip is either long enough for a safe shutdown area when there's a mechanical issue ie. the parachutes fail to open or a blower explodes or your dragstrip gets gets shutdown until it's lengthened...end of story......how many more of these are we going to have to see??? Its freakin sad folks...the NHRA is a joke.

[TMPAUL]

I would have to say do AWAY with the so called safety net, notice the car how it just impacted the net then sprung back. I would think bigger sand pits with a little bit of an upgrade to slow the car. The NHRA are losing to many drivers, for what seems a simple solution. R.I.P MARK.

[Deeked]

The net is what killed him. They need to lay down a very large sandy slope so the car can gradually slow down. Like a runaway truck ramp......

[DRTWOBALL]

THE STUPID ASS THAT DECIDED TO PLACE A NON-ARRESTING NET AT THE END OF A RACE TRACK WHERE THE CARS DO AN AVERAGE OF 250 MPH SHOULD BE FUCKING DRAWN AND QUARTERED LIVE ON TV. NHRA ARE FUCKING IDIOTS. THATS A DAMN SHAME.

[Konformation07]

really that killed him that? I've seen way worse crashes and people get just fine

[masonjarfullofbud]

that was bullshit!!!!! they should have never put that net there and just let the sand trap do its job i've seen plenty of sand traps work fine with no nets

[RoadKen53]

It's better to die doing what you love than anything else. RIP Mark.

[larrybud]

He would have been better off hitting the wall and scrubbing off a bunch of speed.

[TJMSoccer1]

@larrybud it would be better off but nobody thinks of that when your going 300mph in 4 seconds

[easyroyal]

is it just me or would he of been alot safer just skipping through the sand and not hitting that dumb net.

[littlefordman78]

I raced at Pacific Raceways before and like 2 min away from the track were I stay and it's not that bad of a drag strip but there making another drag strip at the race track and they need to spend the money on making a longer sand box and a better net it's more dangerous with out the net what they gunna do go into some trees or tires and plus it's not easy to slow down from going around 290 without no suit in a quarter mile

[KatieCallawayHall]

@littlefordman78 Dont they test the net with a test car and non human driver to see if it can withstand an impact and survive?

[Uberwagon]

My GOD, that safety net is a death trap! Without a hint of energy absorption, it might as well be a concrete wall! It's amazing that with all the money and people in this sport, no one said "wait a second..."

Honestly, this is 1950's era thinking at work. It's not bravery, it's pure stupidity.

[KatieCallawayHall]

@Uberwagon How is that net supposed to work? I've never seen video of a car hitting a net before. It looks like a car would slide right under it and keep going. 

[Sax764]

The NHRA thought that it had solved the end of track risks by limiting the Top Fuel and Funny Car categories to racing 1,000 feet as opposed to 1/4 mile. This accident clearly requires the NHRA to either lengthen their drag strips, or create "sand boxes" that actually work with netting that is much more elastic.

[canoetaco]

Sad

[SethH94]

2nd Net Death this year, maybe the net isn't doing such a good job, maybe they should just take them down and use the sand. 

[ghood666]

@SethH94 First one it is generally believed that the guy had a medical incident before hitting the net because he made no effort to slow the car before the sandtrap

[SethH94]

@ghood666 yeah I noticed he didn't attempt to slow down, but either way may he RIP.

[ghood666]

Read a report that said he died of injuries to his head, neck, and torso. Also heard that the frame of the car was folded back into the drivers compartment.

[Sax764]

@ghood666 Maybe if the net stretched more there would have been a chance to survive.

[ghood666]

@Sax764 I'm not saying anything negative about the guy but he built that chassis himself and building a chassis is no easy feat it could have been a faulty chassis. Bottom line is the brackets on the housing that mount the chutes is the cause of this wreck. Chassis builders across the country need to work on building a more durable bracket or we need to replace them more often. Every time the chutes deploy it puts tremendous strain on those welds holding the brackets on eventually they'll break

[johnsZ281]

@Sax764 if the net wasnt there he would have survived

[vipleather]

He clearly made a course correction to aim for the middle of the net. 

[ghood666]

This makes me scratch my head as to how he died. He was definitely slowing the car down as he approached the sand maybe a piece of the nose of the car got into the cockpit and killed him. Hopefully the NHRA will pull their heads out of the asses and do something about this not just release a statement saying that it was a tragic incident

[Sax764]

@ghood666 The NHRA has been removing the video footage of the crash dozens of times already. Their safety net is lethal joke.

[ghood666]

@Sax764 I don't know how familiar you are with the NHRA but I've been around this sport my whole life. As I've gotten older and gotten to know more racers the more I realized the NHRA really seems to not care about the racers. Despite this economy they continue to pay themselves bonuses instead of investing in their tracks. Just this past weekend they basically told the Pro Stock racers to shut up and deal with the track conditions being less then optimal despite the drivers saying it was unsafe

[SethH94]

@ghood666 yeah that was crazy telling them to just shut up about it. thank god for warren johnson for standing up to them.

[ghood666]

@SethH94 The NHRA doesn't care what drivers say and that is one of the biggest problems w/ the sport. I feel that most of the tracks are safe when prepared properly which this one apparently for Pro Stocks was not. This sport has gotten out of hand from Stock all the way up to Top Fuel. It's dangerous people are going to get hurt and possibly die. I feel that this accident can't be used in the lengthening of racetracks argument because this was a hardware malfunciton on the chute brackets

[bkwilsey]

If he died, it sure wasn't accident related.