Everyone had a lot of fun telling me how far my head is up my butt on the thread where I was pushing common rails as the future of diesel drag racing and how I'm not a fan of smoke down the drag strip. Here are a few questions I would like everyone to seriously consider. To date, I'm not aware of any problems associated with smoke down the strip during the run, but this was discussed a bit on another forum and I'd like some of you guys comments on them. Would appreciate your honest opinions, no cute remarks that will derail the thread into name calling just what you honestly think. Thanks. These thought are my own as well as a compilation of others.
I for one and I'm not alone in this thinking don't believe that heavy smoke down the drag strip will alway be allowed. Sometime in the future there will be an accident happen and smoke will be blamed, right or wrong.
Heavy smoke that drifts into the other lane into the patch of a slightly slower vehicle causing it lose vision and crash.
Heavy smoke covering the fact that some fuild of some sort is spilled and the track people don't see it due to the smoke, say in the 1/8 mile or 1000' area. Next racer down that lane looses control and hits the wall.
Don't track officals take special note when a vehicle smokes at some point during a pass that there might be a problem and go and investigate? That is my experience when watching the races. That would be difficult to see if the track is covered in black smoke.
While it's very popular to say, the smoke is part of the show and that's what people come to see, I haven't seen enough specators at any diesel drag race event I've attended that would cause the owner to over look the potential for an accident especially if one had already been documented somewhere. Be it right or wrong.
How about insurance rates for the track owners? What will the insurance companies say or do if they think the track is allowing what the insurance company considers risk outside the normal operations due to smoke from diesel racers.
Other than the potential safety issues other things track owners have to consider are slowing down the event waiting for smoke to clear for the next racers, potenital for smoking out the down track lights for the next racers, etc.
Smoke free events are not going to happen, I know that, it's not realistic to think that will ever happen. But I would hate to see any track ban diesel vehicles due to down track smoke. There are tracks now in the west at least that do not like diesel racers do to the street tires tearing up the groove and yes all the smoke. I don't have any easy solutions but I think we need to start considering what we as racers can do to get in front of this. Waiting till something happens will be too late IMHO.
How many real full out diesel racers are there in the country, not that many, and at any one time probably half of them are down for one reason or another. But these are the vehicles many of the slower daily driver diesel owners try to emulate. Just like the kids smoking out people on the street think it cool, if they think heavy smoke is where it's at in drag racing due to the fast trucks doing it, that what they will want in their daily drivers they race on Friday night. Since there are literally thousands of these type of racers I'd bet that is where the problem will happen. As a lot of others, (some of you who don't speak up on forums but who PM my in agreement), we need to be proactive and see what might be accomplished to help the situation.
Waiting to read what you guys an gals have to say.
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