7 yr old Elienisse Zoe Diaz Jr Drag Racer Dies in Crash.

[FCT]

I dunno man , I think desert racing a motorcycle has just as much, if not more potential for death and carnage! "Theres alotta hole in those deserts"....and Barb wire fence lines from sketchy squatters, random remnants of cattle gates, washed out trails that were fine the last time you flew thru there a month ago....etc.

Plus when you eat shit on the track, an EMT is there. In the desert, you lie there trying to breath and hope somebody finds you!

Exactly. I have been in the industry, my whole life. It isn’t any safer.

 

[oldboatsrule]

That is shocking for me to hear.. I can’t even wrap my head around how someone gets killed in a cage on a drag strip at sub 50 mph?

It's not the sub 50mph that get ya. It's how quick you return to 0mph that does

 

[RiverDave]

It's not the sub 50mph that get ya. It's how quick you return to 0mph that does

Well it’s not like you are hitting the wall head on.

 

[rrrr]

The only kid I ever saw hurt was the fault of loose belts. I always belted my kids in personally and gave the "frog" in the center a tug before I started the engine. Even at 18, they would put the belts on but I ALWAYS checked. I am not saying that is what happened in this case but, I do recall seeing kids who loosened their own belts so that they could look over into the other lane to work the top end. I told my kids if I ever saw that, I would sell their car instantly. Given the age of the girl, I doubt she loosened her own belts. It is tragic but unfortunately almost always preventable. RIP little one.

Since sources claim that the accident occurred during her initial runs, it makes me wonder if the parents had any experience or assistance in securing the child properly in the harness, or even something as simple as correctly fastening and tightening the helmet chinstrap.

It seems highly improbable that the dragster would have enough speed and momentum to inflict fatal injuries if the safety systems were in place and functioning properly.

This is not criticism or an attempt to assign blame. I cannot imagine the grief the parents are experiencing. I'm questioning how much oversight the sanctioning body and track have over the critical procedure of belting in the child. Is there a staging lane check by race officials prior to a run? I don't know.

 

[4Waters]

Since sources claim that the accident occurred during her initial runs, it makes me wonder if the parents had any experience or assistance in securing the child properly in the harness, or even something as simple as correctly fastening and tightening the helmet chinstrap.

It seems highly improbable that the dragster would have enough speed and momentum to inflict fatal injuries if the safety systems were in place and functioning properly.

This is not criticism or an attempt to assign blame. I cannot imagine the grief the parents are experiencing. I'm questioning how much oversight the sanctioning body and track have over the critical procedure of belting in the child. Is there a staging lane check by race officials prior to a run? I don't know.

Interesting take, never thought of that, I know there was no staging lane checks for me but I was an adult

 

[JLG614]

R.I.P. little one…

I saw a post about her earlier and lots of people were flaming the parents in the comments, some of which were even car guys. The only thing the parents are guilty of is letting their daughter chase her dream. Unfortunately this will be something they regret for the rest of their lives.

As parents we walk a fine line of keeping our kids safe but letting them have the best childhood possible, as scary as action sports might be, a plane could fall out of the sky and hit the house while they’re on their tablet.

Life just isn’t fair…

I think about this daily. The line we have to walk as parents to keep our kids safe but have the best and coolest life is so hard. I raced competitively my entire life growing up, go karts, formula cars, circle track trucks, ect. I flew out of karts, hit walls doing 120mph, slammed into other racers on the track. Its all part of racing but we loved every minute of it. My son just turned 4 and I'm getting a go kart ready for him to start taking to the track. We currently do alot of track riding with his stacyc and he does the races at glen helen pretty often. I love motorcross but I don't think I can let him race a real bike. The injuries can happen so fast with the smallest mistakes. I even think of starting the go kart racing and the videos I see of the kids on instagram getting beat up in these cars and it freaks me out. But our family has a very competitive nature and my son absolutely loves to win trophies so we are going to give it a go.

Like you said an air plane can fall out of the sky and there would be nothing I can do. With all the boating and offroading we do really anything could happen at anytime. Its a risk we all take to do what we love and enjoy. Never take a minute of life for granted no matter how old or young you are

RIP to this little girl and prayers for this family. It is honestly unimaginable what they are going through

 

[HBCraig]

Since sources claim that the accident occurred during her initial runs, it makes me wonder if the parents had any experience or assistance in securing the child properly in the harness, or even something as simple as correctly fastening and tightening the helmet chinstrap.

It seems highly improbable that the dragster would have enough speed and momentum to inflict fatal injuries if the safety systems were in place and functioning properly.

This is not criticism or an attempt to assign blame. I cannot imagine the grief the parents are experiencing. I'm questioning how much oversight the sanctioning body and track have over the critical procedure of belting in the child. Is there a staging lane check by race officials prior to a run? I don't know.

A Delta V from going 50 to 0 can be fatal. I dealt with this type of stuff when testifying as an expert witness.

 

[92562]

Since sources claim that the accident occurred during her initial runs, it makes me wonder if the parents had any experience or assistance in securing the child properly in the harness, or even something as simple as correctly fastening and tightening the helmet chinstrap.

I had the same thoughts. My wife and I have drag raced since we were teenagers and knew what to do. Most parents when our kids were in the program were also racers themselves. There were some that had never raced and there were a few families that we took under wing to show them the ropes. I do not believe NHRA has any "training" for parents of juniors. Would be a decent idea for the racing schools. So tragic, I couldn't imagine.

 

[rrrr]

A Delta V from going 50 to 0 can be fatal. I dealt with this type of stuff when testifying as an expert witness.

But that type of incident is highly unlikely in the situation being discussed.

Kids in the 6-7 age bracket are limited to a 13.90 ET, and that's on a 1/8 mile track. I can't find any top speed numbers that correlate to that time, but it can't be more than 40 MPH.

 

[oldboatsrule]

Proper helmet size and weight along with neck collars are critical for these youngsters.

Does anyone make an youth sized Hans device?

 

[DarkHorseRacing]

Do they make these kids wear a HANS device? I'd think a heavy helmet on a small neck would do weird things in a crash.