Speed Demon crash at Bonneville

[Beck]

This news is 3 days old and most probably already know, but:
The Speed Demon crashed at Bonneville at the 3 mile. There are a few pictures online.
Below is a cut and paste from another site:
"George crashed Friday morning, 370 mph car turned sideways, and went airborne, It flew for almost 600 ft. landed and rolled and continued to crash for over a mile. George got out by himself, Ambulance carried him to SLC hospital for checks. Three compressed vertebra and all else is ok."

Glad George is ok.
Losing the car is a shame.

[WZ JUNK]

I have been following the activity on the salt along with drag week.  Not much got done in the shop last week, but not a lot gets done most weeks.  

There are some gaps in the information from the salt but generally you can figure out what is going on.  I have been unable to evaluate how bad the Speed Demon was damaged but it is hard to believe that it could be repaired.  The pictures I have seen indicate that most of the damage is cosmetic but I would have to believe that lots of structural stuff got bent or broke.  There have been statements that indicate that the car can be repaired.   We may or may not hear more about the condition of the car.  In the past they have been very tight lipped about other incidents.  

John

[Harry]

The good news is, Mr. Poteet is not hurt too bad. I don't imagine he will rebuild something that has been in an accident. He may use some of the parts that were not damaged.

[enjenjo]

From the pictures I saw, it mat be cheaper to build another frame.

[purplepickup]

A couple pics from the internet....



It's very good news that George pretty much walked away, at least according to his website.

This is a year old video from their website but it shows the view from the car during a 431mph run.

[WZ JUNK]

Amazing video at  https://www.facebook.com/CookLSS?ref=hl

You need to scroll down to find the article with the video.

John

[wayne petty]

wow...

i looked a bunch of times at the few seconds just before the crash.

the back of the car seems to go off angle just slightly just before it goes around..

i wonder if the salt was building up and either lifting the car on one side  or it had packed a wheel well causing a layer of salt to stay on the tire..  or heating the surface of the tire causing a shift in traction or the amount salt sticking to the surface..

these are just thoughts from an observer firmly planted and perhaps talking out of the same part he is sitting on..

and one question... if anybody is still up  on the salt or on the way there. just for kicks.. pick up a can of PAM  cooking spray.. and coat the bottom of one fender opening with pam prior to your driving on the salt..  see if that reduces the amount of salt build up...  perhaps that could be sprayed on to prevent build up  of salt .. its just a thought.... friends use it when they go mudding in their trucks..  the mud does not stick... and what does washes off really easily.. you should see the looks they get when they come up out of the mud and it falls off the wheels and fenders..

[34ford]

http://bangshift.com/general-news/car-video-speed-demon-streamliner-crash-370-mph-incredible-george-poteet-ok/

[WZ JUNK]

Wayne, some guys have used Pam and or WD-40 to coat their vehicles prior to driving on the salt.  My experience is that treating the vehicle with saltaway before and after driving on the salt works best.  I even did a little test on some of the lag screws I used to hold our easy up down to the salt.  Rinsing with a lot of water is good.  But pressure washers tend to blast the salt into areas that you can not get to later and the saltaway does not get to. So rising with lots of low pressure water and applying saltaway is best.  Saltaway is salt neutralizer.

I have watched video of George's past runs at high speeds.  He is usually very smooth.  As soon as the shift light would come on, he would shift.  There would be very little steering input during the run.  This run was not as smooth and he seemed to have a problem with at least one shift.  Anything that changes your pattern during a run will break your concentration and effect how well the run goes.  I have heard that he was accelerating much faster than normal.  It is possible that the rear wheels broke loose and the car went out of control.

I was not there.  I was not in the car. These are just my thoughts and observations.

John

[purplepickup]

In the Bangshift video it looks like his RPMs jumped just before the crash, and he steered a little harder to the left as the car started to drift to the right.  I'd guess wheelspin.  A video on the Speed Demon website said they can't put full power down without spinning the tires until 380mph.

Regardless of what went wrong, the fact that George is ok is a testament to all the empahsis on safety by both the car teams and the SCTA.  Track officials were on the scene within 15 seconds.

[unklian]

From the Mike Cook Shootout page, on Facebook:


"Speed Demon Update:

As of Saturday evening the Speed Demon Crash Videos are approaching 400,000 views in less than 24 hours and they have elicited an enormous tide of good wishes and thanks for George Poteet's amazing survival. There has also been a surprising amount Monday morning quarterbacking and the inevitable crew of midnight mouse racers analyzing every detail from their vast desktop data base. To clear the air, here are a few facts.

George Poteet and Ron Main explicitly granted Mike Cook's Bonneville Shootout exclusive rights to publish the crash videos. They believe that every driver should see them to gain a better perspective of what can happen in an instant.

George surveyed the track prior to running and was satisfied with it. George told Mike Cook directly that the crash was caused by overaggressive driving and nothing else. He takes full responsibility. That's the kind of man he is.

The salt was not soft. It was rock hard for eight solid miles and remained only slightly damp after that. It only became soft beyond the nine mile. Even the best track possible is edgy when you're smacking it with 2300+ horsepower and just two tires and George knows that.

You can't reach 370 mph at the 2-3/4 mile on soft salt. We have detailed pictures of George's tracks including the black skid marks it left before departing the surface. We will post some of them as we get time. Dan Warner and crew measured and documented every inch of the crash path and the debris field.

George Poteet has more 400+ mile per hour passes than almost everyone else combined. He chased the demon hard and it bit him, but that won't slow him down. That's the kind of man he is.

The racers all know that Mike Cook and Mike Cook Jr. know how to prepare a course.THEY WOULD NEVER send a car down a course that was unsafe or one that they wouldn't drive themselves.

Everyone is happy today that George is alright and the reason for that is top notch preparation and response by the team, the course workers and the fire and ambulance guys who never get enough thanks.

The Speed Demon will most likely get rebuilt and placed in George's museum. And George has got a plan, but he's just not revealing it yet.

Thanks everyone for the overwhelming response. We appreciate it and George appreciates it."

https://www.facebook.com/CookLSS?fref=nf

[Crosley.In.AZ]

Any one looked close at posted photos of the car on its side?  Left rear tire flat. Appears to be inner cords showing in worn areas of the rubber

[Flipper]

From facebook.....looks like it was spinning tires the whole way!

....maybe popped one?


10645118_1540620479484998_2617171933241159073_n by Flipper_1938, on Flickr


10614165_1540620572818322_5909763731686500731_n by Flipper_1938, on Flickr

[wayne petty]

will that be another record for george..

worlds longest burnout. .

worlds longest skid was set there also.. when the spirit of america lost its chutes..

how great would it be to have mounted a go pro camera on the front bumper of something and follow the skid marks ...

kinda a new opening for the Run for your life tv series..

whats worse... charmin might want to start a sponcership.. hearing about all these skid marks. .

[Beck]

IF I recall there was a photo in one of the major magazines last year showing a rear tire on the Speed Demon. The caption said they had a traction control issue. The tire had a shredded sidewall and the center was worn thin. That tire did not go flat. If I were driving it would have scared me to death after I got out and saw it.
With the technology used on the Speed Demon using traction control would not surprise me. If it were a more budget operation the traction control would be the drivers right foot.
If there was an electronic traction control in use, it needs recalibration....

Just my thoughts here.  Some of my thoughts are way off...