The death of Top Alcohol Dragster Mark Niver last Sunday during eliminations at the NHRA Northwest Nationals has left more questions than answers at this point regarding the safety of the Top Alcohol Dragster and Funny Cars.

Niver died when his dragster crashed into the safety net at the end of the Pacific Raceways track buckling the chassis into the driver cockpit. Niver, a 30-year NHRA veteran, was 60.

Graham Light, the NHRA’s senior vice president-racing operations, says the sanctioning body is planning very soon to implement a rule mandating carbon fiber brakes on Top Alcohol Dragsters and Funny Cars. Presently, Top Alcohol Dragster and Alcohol Funny Car drivers have the option to use carbon fiber brakes or steel brakes.

Actually Light, says mandating carbon fiber brakes on Top Alcohol Dragster and Funny Cars was a hot topic of discussion by the NHRA just before the Northwest Nationals.
The death of Top Alcohol Dragster Mark Niver last Sunday during eliminations at the NHRA Northwest Nationals has left more questions than answers at this point regarding the safety of the Top Alcohol Dragster and Funny Cars.
Niver died when his dragster crashed into the safety net at the end of the Pacific Raceways track buckling the chassis into the driver cockpit. Niver, a 30-year NHRA veteran, was 60.

Graham Light, the NHRA’s senior vice president-racing operations, says the sanctioning body is planning very soon to implement a rule mandating carbon fiber brakes on Top Alcohol Dragsters and Funny Cars. Presently, Top Alcohol Dragster and Alcohol Funny Car drivers have the option to use carbon fiber brakes or steel brakes.

Actually Light, says mandating carbon fiber brakes on Top Alcohol Dragster and Funny Cars was a hot topic of discussion by the NHRA just before the Northwest Nationals.

“Ironically, that is something we were reviewing prior to last weekend,” Light said. “Our (NHRA) tech department actually did a survey on Friday (at Seattle) on how many cars are using carbon fiber (brakes) and how many aren’t, and that is certainly a direction we’re going. What we (NHRA) found out is a majority of them (Top Alcohol Dragster and Funny Car drivers) are using carbon fiber. On the Funny Cars, I will tell you there’s a combination of carbon fiber on the rear and steel rotors on the front, not in all cases, but some cases.”

Light also confirmed Niver was using steel brakes in his dragster during his fatal run.

Some Top Alcohol Dragster drivers expressed concern that the sand trap and safety net in place at the Pacific Raceways track was inadequate.

Light responded to those concerns saying, “That style of net has been successfully used for many, many years at race tracks. The net is the same construction, same manufacturer as all the nets at all the other tracks we run at. Some are taller than others, but the construction of it is the same. It is a net over the course of time that has saved many, many drivers.

“Obviously when you run into the net at a high rate of speed, you’re going to damage the race car. The problem that you have with our sport is no two vehicles are alike. You have motorcycles, you have heavy cars, you have light cars, long cars, and short cars. So to design a trap that accommodates all the different configurations (of cars) is a big challenge. What we have, we feel has adequately worked for many, many years.”

When Niver’s dragster hit the safety net Sunday, it crumbled up like a wad of paper, but Light felt he had enough information to address that issue.

“It’s premature and I would only be speculating (on why that happened to Niver’s dragster),” Graham said. “They are continuing to investigate and at this point, I can’t give you an honest answer.”

Light admit he is looking at why Niver’s parachutes tore away from his dragster right after he crossed the finish line.

“In Mark’s case, and is very clear on TV, the chutes separated from the car,” Light said. “Parachutes are extremely efficient at scrubbing off high speed in a very short period of time. When they separate from the vehicle, you lose the ability to scrub that speed off. In this case they (the parachutes) broke loose from the car, so this is a concern of the mounting methods and we looked at that after Alexis DeJoria’s crash last year and we actually made some changes to the way they were mounted. There are thoughts of a secondary tethering system for a lack of better term, where if the primary attachment point fails that there is a secondary attachment or tethering system that will keep them (the parachutes) attached to the car. That’s something certainly on our priority list to look at.”

Back in June of 2009 at Englishtown (N.J.), DeJoria deployed her safety parachutes. Instead of slowing her down, they ripped right off the back of the car, and set DeJoria speeding towards the safety nets at the end of the track. Fortunately, DeJoria was unhurt in the wreck.

As a result of Niver’s death, questions are also being raised whether all NHRA racers – not just Top Fuel and Funny Cars – should race to 1,000 feet, instead of the quarter-mile.

Since Scott Kalitta’s on-track death on June 21, 2008 in Englishtown, the NHRA has had both Top Fuel dragsters and Funny Cars race to 1000-feet, instead of the traditional quarter-mile (1,320 feet).

“I think if you’re specifically looking at alcohol dragster, we’re not seeing speeds increasing,” Light said. “In tech, Tuesday I did an exercise and 10 years ago, these cars the fastest speed of the year was 274 mph and that’s the same range they’re running today. We, over the course of time, have implemented moratoriums on engine development and parts and pieces, so it has really locked the cars into the current speeds they’re running and they’ve been maintaining those speeds for 10 years. So, we’re extremely comfortable with the quarter-mile racing and the speeds aren’t escalating in the alcohol cars, and I do not foresee any change. The Fuel cars are a totally different animal.”

For now, it appears the NHRA is going to address this incident by mandating the use of a better braking system and providing redundancy as it pertains to the attachment of the parachutes.