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Scott crashed at the top end up at Englishtown Raceway today in the 4th qualifying session of Nitro Funny Car. There is very minimal information out there, but what little I have heard it sounds like the throttle hung open and then he hit the rataining wall after the sand pit. I really hope it wasn't a tire failure, too many people have lost their lives because of Good Year not being able to build a tire to handle the speeds. Regardless it is tragic.


There was supposed to be qualifying coverage on ESPN2 from 7-8p EST, but there was nothing on. I saw an article saying that NJ State police would be reviewing the tape to determine the cause of the accident, so I guess that is why.

wow i should have went

damn im seeing it on espn right now

If you can tell me what happened, I am very curious.

I've been talking with a friend and it appears there was a massive explostion about half track and it knocked him unconsious and then he went down past the sand traps and hit the retaining wall where he burned to death, but he very well could have died from the second impact

Holy shit thats horrible. I haven't heard/read anything on this yet, I'll have to look. Poor guy may he RIP. At least he died doing what he loved.

it says he died due to injuries of the accdient. like racer12306 said.

This is a video of the crash. No matter how much you prepare yourself for the end result you will be shocked. You have been warned.

http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en- ... &GT1=39002

Yeah I found the full ESPN report on YouTube. Kinda brings you to tears. He retired TWICE but returned because he had such a passion for the sport. Father of two boys.

I'm interested to see what the NJ State police and the NHRA find to be the fault of the initial explosion that the announcers say started during staging. They also say (though I'm not sure yet how they know exactly since they aren't medical professionals) that the initial explosion is what killed him. The hospital stated multiple injuries killed him which I'm assuming is from the crash at 300mph or near 300mph into the retaining wall.

We will just have to sit and wait to see what caused that horrifying crash.

The best to all his crew, friends and family. That is truly tragic.

On second note, the inital explosion could not have POSSIBLY killed him. My reasoning behind this is because drivers need to activate their parachutes. His parachute clearly opened before the explosive crash. This leads me to believe the burns and crash into the wall are what killed him. Just speculation thats all....

My take on the situation:

1. I think they worded that wrong (started during staging), it was on a clean run up until the explosion. That run was perfect, no cylinders out, straight, just a textbook run.

2. I think the initial explosion knocked him unconscious.

3. The parachutes deployed because the body lifted off the car. The parachutes are held in a pack on the body and attached to the rear end housing.

4. He was unconscious so his foot was stuck on the pedal.

5. The impact with the retaining wall is what actually killed him.

Questions I have:
1. Just how big was that first explosion? I have seen what looked like worse.

2. Why the hell is the NJ State Police involved? I don't know of any other state police system that has got involved in a deadly racing crash. NJ just seems to be super special, they have always found a way to regulate drag racing and that just pisses me off.

RIP Scott Kalitta

One thing I forgot to add: I believe the first explosion was caused by either a supercharger going boom, or it dropped a rod.

RIP Scott...

It's just amazing any of these cars can make it down the track at those speeds.

Whether your racing or just going for a walk, enjoy life as much as you can... You never know when it'll be your last day on this rock!

What a shame. I have a quick question though it looks as their is almost no run-off I assume that the finish is about where the timing boards are and their is pavement after that to slow the car but it looks as just after he hit the sand he hit the wall even at road courses there is 10' or so even in slow areas of the track you would think that when speeds are 300+mph they would expect cars to go out of control.

And you all thought I was going to make fun of drag racing

are you referring to the shut down area or the sand pit?

racer12306 wrote:
3. The parachutes deployed because the body lifted off the car. The parachutes are held in a pack on the body and attached to the rear end housing.

This I did not know. Granted even if he had deployed them they were incinerated very quickly after they opened. I didn't understand why the police were involved either. ESPN made it seem like they were involved to be sure there was no foul play, but shouldn't that be the NHRA's position?

NJ has been regulating drag racing for as long as I know. They have their own set of mph cutoffs depending on the drivers age for Jr Drag racing. They are the only state to do this.

I can tell you right now, there was no foul play. These engines are ticking time bombs. It blew up, plain and simple.

Frank showed me the video last night, holy crap. My thoughts are with his family.

Odd how he sadly died at the same race track he started his career in some 26 years ago...

wow... thats horrible. that video made me cringe. may he RIP and may God watch over his family.

They just showed a clip of the sand pit at Englishtown and it has to be a couple hundred feet long.

NeonBluSXT wrote:Odd how he sadly died at the same race track he started his career in some 26 years ago...

We all watched at least 1 of the 999,999 pre-race shows today(at least that is where I heard that). It just seems to me that at 300mph you should have more than a couple hundred feet to save it/slow you down hell at 50mph a couple hundred feet goes by pretty quickly(thinking back to blowing past a brakeing point in my karting days)

but remember prior to that sand you have a long shut down area.

englishtown is by no means short, granted its not the longest, but it isn't short.

i think in this case, the shutdown area could have been over a half a mile long and it would have ended the same way.

Do these things have remote cut-offs or any thing to try to prepare for something like this to happen. They way people talk it is like a microplasm of this happens all the time and you would think that they would be more prepared for it

They don't have remote cutoffs yet, but I don't think one would have helped in this case. He was easily doing 280-290mph when the engine blew.

I've been thinking of some way to automatically activate the brakes in the event of a big explosion or massive tire shake.

omg, i just watched the video and my jaw literally dropped. i feel for his family and friends.

rip Scott.

racer12306 wrote:but remember prior to that sand you have a long shut down area.

englishtown is by no means short, granted its not the longest, but it isn't short.

i think in this case, the shutdown area could have been over a half a mile long and it would have ended the same way.

hell the one at mir has a long ass sand part then it gets to those sand filled barrells and then its the concrete wall, it didnt look like there was much sand to slow them. should be a huge hole of water at the end of the track big enuff for a car to fall into or some sorta of a huge net,this accident shows that anything can happen on the way down the track.

at 300+ mph who has time to do anything to stop a runaway car? By the time you realize there's a problem it's too late.
Why the police are involved IDK either, would be interested to know. I don't think it takes much investigating to figure out he died from injuries caused by failure of a monstrous engine capable of propelling a car 300+mph into a wall on a private track during a sanctioned event.

Heart goes out to his family that is so sad and the video made me cringe. R.I.P

The video is deceiving in the lengths of the shutdown area and the length of the sand trap. Also, it appears he didn't his a wall. He hit a post. The reason for the second explosion being so big is that when nitro compresses it explodes.

Anyone that was conscious would have been able to stop that car or atleast slow it down to the point of minimal impact, maybe 50mph or so.