We all see warning devices on a daily bassis. Most of these devices warn us of safety situations (ie thermal, electrical, mechanical), or things that will cost us money (ie your car guages, overheating, no oil pressure). Racers competing at high speeds need advanced warnings of dangerous conditions on the race course. They have this in place at the motor-cross races with flag men on the corners. In NASCAR and other round (closed course) competition there are YELLOW lights that can be activated to advise of an oncourse incident. In drag racing there is NOTHING! WTH! There needs to be a down track warning device that will inform the drivers of a race problems/issues. It could be a track surface issue (ie fluid, parts, debris, animal, RAIN). Or it could be a problem with one of the competitors cars that was noticed as they left the starting line. I would have YELLOW warning devices at the 1/8th mile, 1/4 mile and last turn-off. In conjunction, I would have the very large score boards FLASH the data on and off. The starter should have a switch/device where he could flash the reds on the tree, and not depend on the tower for that. Not running around waving his hands, (thats cave man comunication). Early intervention is the name of the game, and the competitors are locked on the tree...ACTIVATE THE REDS! An official should be positioned down track who would also have a controller for the warning devices. He would be able to see top end issues that the starter may not. Last but not least, the extremely fast cars may need a radio controlled warning device in the car.
Wade Mahaffey
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A driver has tunnel vision when he or she leaves the line, they're watching where the car is pointed and that's all. No time to check the oil or fuel pressure, what's it revving in the lights, just keep it in the lane and not the other guys. Really good drivers can multi-task, the rest of us not so much.
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