"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links."
Shawn Reed hopes to be back in action in about six weeks, hopefully in time for the NHRA Countdown to the Championship playoffs
Reed when he says he can't wait to get back out on the track with a set of Goodyears underneath him.
It's a good bet that other teams are at least a little anxious to find out the cause of the crash.
Video reviews of Shawn Reed's crash in an NHRA Top Fuel dragster at nearly 290 mph this past weekend at Pacific Raceways near Seattle appeared to show that the crash was caused by some sort of tire failure.
Goodyear quickly had its on-site team gather the pieces of tire from the crash to begin its investigation.
On Thursday, Goodyear issued the following statement to Autoweek:
“The tire has been shipped to our research team in Akron so we can better understand the incident. We are working closely with NHRA and the team.”
Reed, who is home in Washington state recovering from the crash that resulted in a hand injury, damaged thumb, the loss of his left index finger and broken ribs.
There was also an injury to a spectator, who apparently was hit by debris, That spectator was reportedly treated and released the night of the race.
Reed says that Goodyear representatives have reached out to him. And trust Reed when he says he can't wait to get back out on the track—with a set of Goodyears underneath him.
"Goodyear's reached out and they've found about 99% of the tire," Reed said on Thursday. "They took some time and picked up every single piece—and that thing was bagged up and sent back to their home office in Akron where they're dissecting everything.
"I'm not going to speculate. We do the best we can with what we've got, and they're trying to put out the best tires. These cars are exceeding speeds today and forces that they probably never even thought about 10 years ago.
"Whether that tire came apart or whether something went through it, we' just have to work toward making them better. If we find that something went through it, we have to find what went through it and work on keeping it attached to the car.
"If it's a freak accident and something blew up and something broke, then we have to find a better way to attach that stuff. That's all I'm after and I think that's what most racers are after."
Reed hopes to be back in action in about six weeks, hopefully in time for the NHRA Countdown to the Championship playoffs that kick off at Reading, Pa., Sept. 12-14 weekend.
"I'm not going to put blame on anybody," Reed said. "Nobody tried to hurt me. Nobody tried to do anything. We're racers and I can't wait to go strap some Goodyears on the back of that car and whack that throttle once again."
It's a good bet that other drivers and teams are at least a little anxious to find out the cause of the crash and if it did have anything to do with a tire failure. As top-end speeds are now hitting 340-plus mph, everyone in the sport wants to know the hardware can take the stress.
"First, we have to understand what happened," said John Force Racing crew chief David Grubnic, who's driver Brittany Force set an NHRA speed record of 341.85 mph on the same race weekend that sidelined Reed. "If you're going to implement a solution, you better have a clear and concise understanding what the problem is.
"My concern is more so with the spectators. We all—whether we're drivers, crew chiefs or whatever—we take that risk. I was an ex-driver myself, and there was always a risk we undertook ourselves. Spectators are where we should shift our focus on.
"We really need to understand what happened to Shawn's tire and why it let go. Was it speed related? And purely hypothetical, did something come off the car that we're not aware of? Did he run over something on the racetrack? Was there a piece of concrete that cut the tire? That's what we have to understand, and we don't want to make a knee-jerk reaction. I'm always a believer that you must understand the problem before you implement a solution."
Click on the X link below to see the crash.
Grubnic points out that the sport has seen a number of runs over 340 mph this year without tire issues.
"Goodyear, I believe, are comfortable with that speed for the tire," Grubnic said. "I don't think Shawn was running that quick when the tire failed. We've made five or six runs over 340 and we've seen no issues with our tires. If, hypothetically, Shawn ran over some debris on the racetrack and the debris cut his tire, then the solution might be that we need to check the track better after each run.
"If he had some component in his engine fail and it cut the tire, then we need to look at that side of it. I don't think we need to change the model, per say, until we really understand what happened.
"We've had tire failures before, and they weren't related to the speed. We really need to get Goodyear's take on it and the analysis of the tire. From there, we'll go through the process and we can work for a solution. If it was speed related, then 100%, we agree we need to sit down and see what we might need to do to mitigate that risk."
Comments