car into the stands at Can-Am last night-how safe is your fencing?

[mike32]

noticed on the www.dirttrackdigest.com forum that an IMCA modified went into the stands at Can-Am last night and had it not been for a smaller than normal crowd, there might have been serious injuries or worse. I noticed the fence had no top kick in and the tension cables were slack. Plus security seemed non existent after the incident. How good is the fencing at your local track?. I used to think some folks who stood in the ends at Flammy were great targets for a car with  a stuck throttle. I worry one major insurance claim could put a lot of tracks that appear to be just "hanging on" out of business. You can access www.steveweedproductions.com  for video.
 Can-Am is an American track but it has an number of Canadian fans as it's only 15 miles from the border (from the Ivy-Lea Bridge near Gananoque Ontario).

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=8448.msg54920#msg54920

[Thayne]

Well, at Barrie John Fitzpatrick tested it 3 years ago with his CASCAR and it passed with flying colours...haha...poor inflatable coke bottle....

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=8448.msg54922#msg54922

[CanadianRacingOnline]

Looked like know one was in the seats where it hit. It climbed the fence. Maybe they need higher fences. The track owner is going to be under investigation for sure.



Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=8448.msg54936#msg54936

[mike32]

you notice the guy in the blue shorts and blue top seems to get away without spilling his drink but I'm not sure how impressed the woman beside him was when he took off

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=8448.msg54942#msg54942

[B.A.R.]

Catch Fences are a critical item when it comes to race track safety, not just for the fans but the drivers as well.  Most Tracks in th USA that have races where the cars are travelling over a certain speed ( I believe 100 mph) are mandated by Insurance to have a height no lower then 22 feet, and in some cases even that does not cover the fact or fiction of safety.

I remember Stan Wattles in a IRL race at Charlotte getting air born (1999) and the car did stay inside the containments of the fence ( only 18ft high much to everyones surprise) but the parts that made it over the fence injured and killed race fans.
Another time we were racing Sprint Cars at Terra Haute Indiana and Jack Hewitt was caught up on the left rear spinning him upside down and over the Flag Stand only to get caught up in the fence at the very top.
Hanging upside down, Hewitt released his belts and fell some 16 feet to the race tracks front straightaway- unhurt.
The fans sitting on the front straight may have soiled there pants, but that was the extent of the bodily harm.

It amazes me to this day that tracks allow fans and racers to stand along a race track guard rail for the fun of it. It's stupid on both sides- fans and track owners.

If you want the same rush go and hang out on the side of the 401....you will be safer there and won't tarnish the sport of auto racing.

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=8448.msg54945#msg54945

[zero]

First Class post B.A.R. How true you words are, how true.

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=8448.msg54948#msg54948

[TommySalami]

Catch Fences are a critical item when it comes to race track safety, not just for the fans but the drivers as well.  Most Tracks in th USA that have races where the cars are travelling over a certain speed ( I believe 100 mph) are mandated by Insurance to have a height no lower then 22 feet, and in some cases even that does not cover the fact or fiction of safety.

Unfortunately, I've been to a lot of tracks in the US where the fence was nowhere near 22 feet high...

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=8448.msg54977#msg54977

[B.A.R.]

That's my point, they are supposed to be 22' from the race surface to the top of the highest point of fence is what I have always been told.


Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=8448.msg54981#msg54981

[Jackman2007]

I recall a year end race at Flamborough where the #18 of Bruce Gowland rode the top of the cement wall and took out a fence post . The racing was finished immediately for the season . I use to stand at the corner with all the billboards in the pit area , where all the cars came rushing in at full speed. We flew out of that viewing area very quickly one night as cars crashed into that corner.  Thank God the stands at that Can-Am race weren't packed .

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=8448.msg54983#msg54983

[CanadianRacingOnline]

The fence look like it did it's job but it wasn't high enough and the fence wire near the top seemed to me from looking at the video it was loose.

A true drinker can run and roll with a beer without spilling a drop. 

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=8448.msg54986#msg54986

[Jackman2007]

This is true .....lol  Save the beer !  I always say a race can change in a split second . This was one of those deals . Imagine sitting there and turning your head while your talking to your friends. You'd become an instant sprint runner.

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=8448.msg54987#msg54987

[racingwrench]

yeah and leave the girlfriend behind you can get another


Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=8448.msg54988#msg54988

[godsunclevic]

This happened at Peterborough many odd years ago when one of the can am midgets went over the wall and through the bottom of the fence when they let us stand right against it.  I think it ended up breaking a guys leg.  Now they have that second fence, allbeit only 4 or 5' back from the catch fence.  The bad thing about that fence is that they allow people to stand at it and block the view from the people sitting on the first couple rows of the stands with kids.

  Kawartha has a good catch fence, the 27 modified tested that out back in 2002 down in corner 2, on the video you can see a pole actually fall down, but the car went to the top of the fence and came back down still in the track.

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=8448.msg55011#msg55011

[ladybugprincess88]

A can am isn't the only one. 1998 - Thunder Car went over the fence at Peterborough

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=8448.msg55033#msg55033

[Statsman]

Barrie used to have two fences as well and that was lost along the way with all the renovations. Ben Lidstone punched a big hole in it last year at the beginning of the season in his Thunder car but didn't get through.

Don't get me started on my old rant about the lack of fencing of any kind between the Jersey-barrier walls and the big wooden billboards at Delaware but that is only a driver safety issue and not a fan safety thing.

I was at the truck race in Daytona in 2000 and sitting directly in front of where Geoff Bodine had his big crash. You don't want to feel the heat of the fire and see no fence at all after the incident. That could have been very bad. There was next to no time to react, of the three of us there, one guy dove and the other two of us kind of froze and one guy got tagged with a piece of something but it didn't do any damage.

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