Read where a drag racer at Firebird Raceway was killed when his trailer door malfunctioned & crashed to the ground striking him, he died on the way to the hospital.
Hate to hear this,didn't something similar happen at I-30 Speedway last year to one of Paul McMahan's crew guys from the Cooper 01 car?? I think the guy passed away a few days later.
At a high level, what kind of failure are we talking about? I am clueless on how this could happen or what hazard to look for. Is this for a stacker trailer and the lift collapsed to the ground?
Originally Posted by Jonr:
At a high level, what kind of failure are we talking about? I am clueless on how this could happen or what hazard to look for. Is this for a stacker trailer and the lift collapsed to the ground?
This is what I'm wondering too... Prayers to the family.
Just speculating, I've had it happen to me once, it was probably a trailer that has a cable winch to open and close the back door. I was operating one of these, on practically a brand new trailer, and while opening it the cable snapped, and those doors are much heavier than they look. Luckily I was off to the side using the controller. Anything under it would have been completely crushed.
Yes @watchmegofirst that was Chase Gibson. He was an absolute beauty. I remember when I ran CBN a few years back I was in the K main on Saturday and no one else was up early enough to push me to the line but ol Chase was there to help, even after prob staying up all night. A true racer through and through.
Originally Posted by T-Mez4life:
Yes @watchmegofirst that was Chase Gibson. He was an absolute beauty. I remember when I ran CBN a few years back I was in the K main on Saturday and no one else was up early enough to push me to the line but ol Chase was there to help, even after prob staying up all night. A true racer through and through.
Originally Posted by dustbowl:
Just speculating, I've had it happen to me once, it was probably a trailer that has a cable winch to open and close the back door. I was operating one of these, on practically a brand new trailer, and while opening it the cable snapped, and those doors are much heavier than they look. Luckily I was off to the side using the controller. Anything under it would have been completely crushed.
That makes more sense than a stacker lift dropping to the ground.
A 360 sprint gasser from the plains states was in the micro sprint stage of his career many years ago when a trailer door fell on his dad. Pretty sure it was a winch lifted ramp door on a 2 foot extra height trailer that had a cable snap or detach. Suffered from lots of internal trauma along with broken pelvis, ribs, femur etc etc.
If any of you guys have ever tried to close the ramp door on a standard trailer with a broken cable/spring assist you understand how heavy those doors really are...One thats heavy enough to require a winch to lift instead of a roller spring falls hard. And to my knowledge there really is no way to have any sort of backup system that can stop it but still let it function correctly. I have always been paranoid about opening ramp doors... I prefer to do it with someone else on the other side to unlatch and tug the handle so we can both stand arms reach away from where it could fall. I am sure people have looked at me like I'm an idiot when they see me unlatch one side then walk a 12 foot circle to the other side but trailer doors scare me worse than buckling in the car ever has.
I hate hearing about it happening again and again every couple years to circle trackers, drag racers, guys with harley trailers or anybody else.
