Words are important, and sometimes hard. I say this because the verbiage being used on the thumbnail in this video isn’t correct. This matters, and I’ll explain why. In this video, Alan Reinhart effectively explains the reason why the chutes didn’t come out when John Force had his giant explosion and subsequent crash recently at the Virginia Nationals, and you should watch it to understand what happened. But you should also think about the words on the thumbnail while you do. In the thumbnail they claim that the parachutes failed, but this is not true.
If the lever had been pushed, and the chute cables had been pulled out of the loops that retain them, these chutes would have done exactly what they are supposed to do. There was nothing wrong with the chutes themselves. They were just never deployed. Why they didn’t deploy is pretty straight forward, but why John wasn’t able to deploy them manually is a bit more of a mystery. And we may never have an answer to that one, as we don’t know when his head injury occurred. But what we do know is that the actual chutes and all the components used to deploy them normally, were in place and operational. The emergency system is what failed because of damage to the car as explained below.
I know I’m being picky, but these things matter as racers around the world are already hesitant when it comes to chutes. They are afraid of packing them, don’t understand when to use them, and just don’t do what they should with them a lot of the time. Don’t be those guys.
Video Description:
NHRA’s Alan Reinhart explains why John Force’s parachutes failed to deploy in his recent crash in Richmond, VA. Reinhart, goes into detail on information he received directly from the NHRA Tech Department.
The line racers” afraid to pack them” has some truth
My first chute on an FED was an experience–I learned how to pack it–had it mounted correctly and it never failed –it worked perfectly every single time.
I was being careful packing it one time and another racer came by and said just stuff it in there it will work–he mentioned one well know 60’s racer that did not even dump the gravel out of his –balled it up stuffed it in the sack and that it always worked –so what was I worried about?
Experience proved over time that even a hastily packed chute worked on mine–always-every time but many of my pals would try hard Not to use the chute so they would not have to re-pack it–something they were never comfortable with.
I always Loved that feeling when the chute opened—they work!! And I ate a Lot less brake dust after I stared using mine
Not to mention the fans just LOVE it!
I don’t know how all this works, but I am not sure that I accept this simple explanation on its face. If the engine failure triggers the chutes “in milliseconds” as described, it would seem to me that that event should have triggered the chutes immediately and before any of the crashing and bending of the chassis that is being described here. Then again, the devices may be in such a place in the chassis/cockpit that his explanation could occur, but then the engineering of the chassis is suspect. It should not have been in a vulnerable place.
How come I don’t receive coments anymore. Or can I post them?
Would they have deployed if the body came off?
Beautifully explained just that simple
Thank you for sharing the information and still wishing him all the best .