Whirlaway or NO Whirlaway

[Sked]

Rexone:
In our litigeous (sp?) society it's unfortunate but it seems many times people can't claim responsibility for their own decisions and actions. To some, it would be thier normal thought track to blame the racing assn that didn't take every step possible to guarantee their safety in the event they locked up a motor and went on their head and got hurt (in this case not requiring a whirlaway). Remember, anyone can (and many times will) sue anyone else for anything regardless of actual fault, liability releases, etc. Therefore, if I was running a racing assn. I'd have to insist on every safty implementation known to man. It's unfortunate in my opinion that it has to be this way and people can't make their own choice to some degree whether they run a safety item like a whirlaway or not. Bottom line is though, in our society the legal implications of not requiring safety stuff if it's known it "might" have prevented a problem, are pretty substantial. And I personally would want all the legal protection I could get in this situation.
All that really boils down to very little to do with whether it's actually safe or not, and more whether you have an unacceptable level of legal liabilty or not. I don't agree with it but it's the rules we have to deal with when something goes wrong and someone is hurt or killed. Our freedoms are somewhat limited by lawyers I guess which is kind of sad.
Now having said all that, 70's and above should have releases for safety. Just my opinion.Rexone,
Way to go. I'll have to agree. That's the best case for a shaft release I've heard yet. You're right, some gutless sob would get hurt and sue everybody and his brother thus possibly bringing the organization to it's demise. Even though I don't think the're really a necessity and don't like the idea of having to use one myself, your reasoning would have to make me reconsider my opinion. My hats off to you.

[CircleJerk]

CircleJerk:
I would appreciate your views as to their safety value to our slow circle boats {average speed is under 60 mph}. I am aware that APBA requires them as well as drag boats under a certain E.T. but are they really worth the moola and requiring them?? We are in the difficult process of adding and deleting rules to our Nostalgic racing classes and I value everyones opinion here in the forum. I run one in the faster hull {averages 65 mph for three laps}, but at what speed should they be required? I will take your input to the rules meeting. Thanks in advance! Jerkster..Hates to discourage any nostalgic racer new or old !Thank you all for the input! I will study all of your opinions before the rules committee meeting to help in the decision making process. I think some of you didnt understand my question or understand just what I am working so hard for. I want to promote boat racing of all types and bring it back to its former glory. This may be the impossible dream and I may not succeed but at least some of us, with average incomes, are racing old classical flatbottoms, and we have grown from 5 to 20 in two years! The success I seek is not fame or profit, but simply the enjoyment of our loved v-drives and most importantly: familiy fun and new racing friends! On this level, I'm happy to say, WE'VE DONE IT! The one thing I will never stop doing is making it as safe as possible! With your continued help, I'M HAULIN GLASS! I will be calling some of you great guys for more technical questions if you dont mind. CIRCLE-JERK?

[Riptide01]

Safety, Safety, Safety,
Guess I better just install that SAFETY capsule on the 62 Rayson Craft.
This whirl-a-way thing sounds like the motorcycle or bicycle helmet debate.
Can any of the manufacturers explain the HIGH cost of any thing with the word safety attached??
C.J. - Make then manditory if you see fit.
But they sure aren't a cure all.
Gee, guys are still getting hurt in these safety capsule things.
Well , got to walk out the front door and go to work. Shit, Hope I am SAFE...

[126driver]

JSSK88:
How long have you been racing and how many times have you been in a situation where a prop shaft release would have saved your butt? There's a far greater chance that you would roll or loose control of your boat because you don't have as good a handle on it as there is of you locking up a motor, unless of course your running grenade motors.
I've been running SS since '91. Not that long, but long enough to form some opinions based on first-hand experience. I've had one motor lock up at the big end and a whirlaway definitely saved my ass. Grenade motors? Don't think so pal. And by the way - I have plenty of control over my boat.
[ October 11, 2002, 06:33 AM: Message edited by: 126driver ]

[Riptide01]

Yep, those nostalgia things are going to look good with capsules.
Safer just leaving it on the trailer.

[126driver]

Or maybe this

[superdave013]

Riptide01:
Safety, Safety, Safety,
Guess I better just install that SAFETY capsule on the 62 Rayson Craft.
This whirl-a-way thing sounds like the motorcycle or bicycle helmet debate.
Can any of the manufacturers explain the HIGH cost of any thing with the word safety attached??
C.J. - Make then manditory if you see fit.
But they sure aren't a cure all.
Gee, guys are still getting hurt in these safety capsule things.
Well , got to walk out the front door and go to work. Shit, Hope I am SAFE...Not talking lake racing here. Talking sanctioned racing.
BTW, in a sanctioned bike race of any kind you are required to wear a helmet in the US. This is me racing in the old fart class. Oh, don't have to but I wear a chest protector/spine protector with built in shoulder and elbow pads, shin guards and hip pads also. At that race I cracked that full face helmet in a crash. Sure glad they made me wear it.

[blondie#1]

superdave013:
blondebombshell:
Hey! Do any of you guys know if the GN boat that Lance Faulkner was in had a prop release. It's important for me to know. It will help me decide if I should really put one in my boat or not. How about the other guy Mike? Thanks for your imput.Well if you are thinking that the prop release had anything to do with those 2 crashes you are wrong. But yes they did have releases in them. The rest of what happened I'm staying out of.Thanks Super Dave. I know that is a bad subject, but I really needed to know. How fast where they going when things feel apart? My boat is going around 55mph around the corners, down the straight away I figure I'm traveling around 70mph. I have a great fear of coming out of my boat and hiting the water, let alone drowning. So I'm thinking it wouldn't be a bad idea. I've never had trouble with anything locking up. I have accidentally pulled the kill switch and so far all the boat has done has come to an easy stop. It's the wall of water behind me that comes with it that bothers me. Sinking my boat is another thing I don't want to do. I do have a bilge pump in the boat that I use when nessary. I'm planning on changing the motor size for next year. Even though I run in the Nostalgic Ski boat class. I hate to give up the motor I have now, but it is time to retire it back to the automobile it came out of.
Thanks for any info.

[126driver]

CJ - Just out of curiousity, how many classes do you guys run? What are the estimated straightaway speeds? Any possibility that you may run a larger course in the future that could increase those speeds?

[blondie#1]

126driver:
CJ - Just out of curiousity, how many classes do you guys run? What are the estimated straightaway speeds? Any possibility that you may run a larger course in the future that could increase those speeds?Right now we only run 2 classes. But as we grow we will have to add some more classes. We are only allowed up to 5 boats on the coarse at a time. Our last race we split the Circle boats into 2 classes because we had 8 boats running in this class. The Ski boat class had 6 boats in their class, we ran them all together. We run twice a day on all classes. All of our speeds are timed in just as you come around the fourth corner. The clock is about half way down the straight away. So, by the time we get back to the first pin, we are hauling. In the Circle boat class the average speed was 70.3mph on a 3/4 track and coming out of the 4th corner.
As far as running a larger course. That answer is a definate NO! Our insurance will not let us and that keeps our speed down to where the insurance company likes. Personally that is just fine with me. Speed is OK, but in my opinion there is a time to quite before it gets ridiculously dangerous and maybe a little stupid. I like my life and therefore I'm not going to push it over the limit.