nhra safety safari equipment

Nitro Shots: The History of the Safety Safari

You probably take some of what they do for granted — that is if you even know the extent of what they do. The NHRA Safety Safari is known as one of the best trackside safety teams in all of motorsports.

You know about their rescue work, coming to the aid of crashed drivers, putting out fires, stabilizing injuries if needed and helping to get trapped or hurt drivers out of cars if they cannot get out on their own.

But did you know that the Safety Safari also shows up early in the week to get the track ready to race? And did you know that this team, serving this dual function, dates all the way back to the early 1950s?

The Safety Safari, originally called the Drag Safari, originated as four-man crew, traveling the country in a station wagon and visiting small dragstrips to educate competitors in how to put on an event. They pulled a single trailer with them that contained all the equipment they needed to have a drag race.

They’d arrive a few days before the event and connect with racers, car clubs and local officials to both promote the weekend’s race, as well as to set up the race course.

By the mid-1950s, with the sport firmly established, the Safety Safari no longer toured the country to stage local events, but they’ve continued traveling with an ever-bigger fleet of trucks and trailers to each and every national event, still arriving well in advance of the race and bringing all the equipment needed to prepare the track.

They’ve expanded from the four original crew members to about 15 full-time crew members now, and they spend the week sweeping, scraping and spraying the track surface to insure it’s perfect by the time the race starts. They are also supplemented at the track by part-time crew members, who help to re-prep the track each day, as well as local fire and emergency personnel to help them carry out their on-track rescue operations.

Both full-time and part-time members receive constant training in order to stay proactive on rescue and firefighting methods. The crew also understands the intricacies of the race vehicles they are dealing with and the best ways to get the driver out of the car as quickly and safely as possible. Because of this, drivers are always confident that they are in the best hands should disaster happen.

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A Lasting Legacy – 1940 Lincoln Zephyr Convertible

1960 chevy kingswood 9 passenger wagon named “helen”, very rare: 1957 chevrolet bel air convertible “fuelie”, killer custom 1951 ford f1 pickup “glass pearl”, 60 years of 426 hemi. where it all began.

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2018 Chevrolet Silverado 3500HD NHRA Safety Safari Truck

A diesel-powered support vehicle that acts as first responder and safety hero.

The USA-based National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Safety Safari first formed in the 1950s to educate amateur racers on how to set up a safe drag race, but it’s morphed into a first-line safety team for the NHRA Mello Yellow series. Its duties include inspecting and prepping the track before an event and assisting with firefighting and other safety-related tasks during the race.

It’s equipped with a fire suppression system and other conceivable tool a safety crew would need to rescue a racing driver after a crash – including a “jaws of life” device. The concept safety vehicle is powered by the Silverado’s Duramax 6.6L turbo-diesel engine, which offers 445 horsepower and 910 lb-ft of torque.

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SIMPSON TO SERVE AS PRESENTING SPONSOR FOR NHRA'S SAFETY SAFARI

Known as NHRA’s first responders, the NHRA Safety Safari presented by Simpson, the first full-time team devoted to safety in North American motorsports, has been a staple at events for more than 60 years, performing some of the toughest and most important jobs at each NHRA national event. They are quick to respond to any on-track emergency and also help provide a competition-ready track at every stop on the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series circuit.

Simpson Performance Products are also a trusted name when it comes to safety in motorsports. For more than six decades, Simpson has provided helmets, head and neck restraints, harnesses, racing suits, gloves, shoes, and more to provide an impressive level of protection to racers.

“We are proud to be supporting the members of the NHRA Safety Safari,” said Holley Performance Products Vice President of Business Development Jason Bruce. “Simpson has been keeping racers safe for decades, and we want to make sure this message extends to the NHRA first responders as well. Members of the Safety Safari are the first ones to jump in and help a racer. These men and women will be fully protected with Simpson equipment so that everyone can continue to race safely.”

As part of the multiyear partnership, Simpson branding will be featured across the NHRA Safety Safari presented by Simpson fleet, including three dually trucks and three 53-foot big rig tractors. The staff of 40 dedicated onsite Safety Safari staff at each NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series race will also be outfitted in Simpson safety gear, including fire jackets, fire pants, helmets, gloves, and boots.

As part of each national event weekend, the NHRA Safety Safari presented by Simpson will also be honored before eliminations on Sunday during NHRA’s Salute to First Responders. The NHRA Safety Safari presented by Simpson is part of the team of first responders to incidents, along with other emergency and medical responders.

“It’s exciting to see a company rooted in safety like Simpson Performance Products recognize the importance of our Safety Safari team, and we’re thrilled to have them as a partner and presenting sponsor of the NHRA Safety Safari,” said NHRA Vice President and Chief Development Officer Brad Gerber. “We can’t say enough about the incredible work the NHRA Safety Safari does at each race and the vital role they play as first responders to our drivers and race teams.” 

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Safety Safari

For this month’s column, I am changing things up a bit. Instead of showcasing a manufacturer and a delivered apparatus, I am highlighting a safety team that travels the country with some neat apparatus.

Several years ago, in one of my Web columns, I highlighted another safety team for racing that concerned the Indy Car Series. If you are a drag racing fan, you probably already know about and have seen this team in action either at one of the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) national events or on TV. The team I am referring to is the NHRA Safety Safari.

Team Background

To give you a little background about the team, I have to go back to the 1950s. Members of the NHRA Safety Safari perform some of the toughest and most important jobs at every NHRA national event. They are there to respond to on-track emergencies and help provide a track ready for competition at each of the 24 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series events.

The Safety Safari, the first full-time team devoted to safety in North American motorsports, is known as the finest in racing. The Safety Safari is part of the team of first responders to incidents, along with other emergency and medical responders.

In the 1950s, the NHRA formed the Safety Safari to educate competitors at small dragstrips across the United States. A four-person crew made up the original Drag Safari, as it was then known. That crew used a station wagon to pull one small camper-style trailer containing all the gear needed to stage a drag race: timing equipment, a public announcement system, field telephones, a one-cylinder generator, and miles of stainless-steel wire to bring all the electronic equipment to life.

Today, a fleet of trucks pulls a variety of trailers to all NHRA Mello Yello events, bringing customized track maintenance equipment, electronic equipment, firefighting and other safety apparatus, and a track dryer built from a jet engine.

The full-time Safety Safari crew arrives at the track Monday of race week to prepare the track. Workers use hand scrapers, blowtorches, a tractor-mounted sweeper, and a large vacuum sweeper to remove excess rubber and groom the surface. The final step is spraying a traction-enhancing compound on the racetrack.

Once the event begins, the full-time crew is joined by additional staff members to prepare the track early each morning and provide the stage for the world’s fastest motorsport and keep it ready for competition during each race session.

According to Bob Lang, the current Safety Safari director, the team is currently comprised of 15 fulltime members and 80 part-timers. Some may work one race, some 16 or more races. On the circuit, the team is made up of volunteer firefighters, paramedics, and emergency medical technicians with various certifications and training. The Safety Safari members will also train track workers at each event throughout the year. Each track will also have two contract advanced life support ambulances and a backup as well as an emergency medical services helicopter on standby and a medical center with a nurse, a doctor, and paramedics.

Some tracks also have additional apparatus stationed around the area to combat car fires and respond to other emergencies as well, but the Safety Safari is only concerned with the racing part of the equation.

“Our current safety vehicles are two 2017 Chevrolet Silverado duallys that are used for track safety,” Lang says. “We also travel with several Volvo tractor-trailer 18-wheelers pulling trailers stocked with communication equipment, tools and supplies, safety equipment, and marketing and technical gear.”

Also traveling with the team are sweeper trucks and jet dryers as well as vehicles that spray the track to prepare it with special glue to aid in traction and tire rotating tractor machines. You will see these tractors guiding the racecars at the end of the track after they shut down their engines.

The two Chevy Silverado duallys have two complete sets of Amkus rescue tools; 80-gallon booster tanks that are pressurized with nitrogen, with water and FireAde product that is added to the water; a booster line; and several pressurized fire extinguishers with FireAde, CO2, halotron, halon, and Purple K as well.

Continuous Training

The vehicles are placed strategically at various areas of the track that will provide the quickest access should an accident occur. The main objective is to get the driver out of the car as quickly as possible, then quickly extinguish the fire involved. In some instances, if you have watched this highly-orchestrated ballet on TV, it is sometimes performed simultaneously and flawlessly, I might add.

Considering Top Fuel dragsters and the Funny Car classes with 10,000 horsepower will travel the quarter mile in 3.5 seconds and at 300+ miles per hour, this is no easy feat.

The NHRA Safety Safari has evolved through the years with new equipment and is constantly training its full-time and part-time members. It has been truly proactive to stay on top of what’s new in extrication methods as well as firefighting.

If you ever get a chance to attend one of the NHRA national events or just witness a race on TV, you will most surely see the Safety Safari in action, doing what it does best.

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The Unique Burial of a Child of Early Scythian Time at the Cemetery of Saryg-Bulun (Tuva)

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Pages:  379-406

In 1988, the Tuvan Archaeological Expedition (led by M. E. Kilunovskaya and V. A. Semenov) discovered a unique burial of the early Iron Age at Saryg-Bulun in Central Tuva. There are two burial mounds of the Aldy-Bel culture dated by 7th century BC. Within the barrows, which adjoined one another, forming a figure-of-eight, there were discovered 7 burials, from which a representative collection of artifacts was recovered. Burial 5 was the most unique, it was found in a coffin made of a larch trunk, with a tightly closed lid. Due to the preservative properties of larch and lack of air access, the coffin contained a well-preserved mummy of a child with an accompanying set of grave goods. The interred individual retained the skin on his face and had a leather headdress painted with red pigment and a coat, sewn from jerboa fur. The coat was belted with a leather belt with bronze ornaments and buckles. Besides that, a leather quiver with arrows with the shafts decorated with painted ornaments, fully preserved battle pick and a bow were buried in the coffin. Unexpectedly, the full-genomic analysis, showed that the individual was female. This fact opens a new aspect in the study of the social history of the Scythian society and perhaps brings us back to the myth of the Amazons, discussed by Herodotus. Of course, this discovery is unique in its preservation for the Scythian culture of Tuva and requires careful study and conservation.

Keywords: Tuva, Early Iron Age, early Scythian period, Aldy-Bel culture, barrow, burial in the coffin, mummy, full genome sequencing, aDNA

Information about authors: Marina Kilunovskaya (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation E-mail: [email protected] Vladimir Semenov (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation E-mail: [email protected] Varvara Busova  (Moscow, Russian Federation).  (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences.  Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation E-mail:  [email protected] Kharis Mustafin  (Moscow, Russian Federation). Candidate of Technical Sciences. Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.  Institutsky Lane, 9, Dolgoprudny, 141701, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation E-mail:  [email protected] Irina Alborova  (Moscow, Russian Federation). Candidate of Biological Sciences. Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.  Institutsky Lane, 9, Dolgoprudny, 141701, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation E-mail:  [email protected] Alina Matzvai  (Moscow, Russian Federation). Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.  Institutsky Lane, 9, Dolgoprudny, 141701, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation E-mail:  [email protected]

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