poor dennis...

Rhoad Racing · Post by **Rhoad Racing** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 4:55 pm

Im going to drive the NOPI Series, but not until I pick up a casket sponsor.

turbofb · Post by **turbofb** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 5:02 pm

Nopi Demolition Derby Series

Rhoad Racing · Post by **Rhoad Racing** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 5:05 pm

NOPI Death Series - Drift Professionally or Die.

Rhoad Racing · Post by **Rhoad Racing** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 5:06 pm

Dennis just posted this on the NOPI forum:

Dennis George Mertzanis...red 1995 240sx RIP

FOERST of all, I would like to say thanks to everyone for coming by and checking up on me after the total destruction of my car. We are a tight knit community and we all care for one another and it sure showed in the support I received from many of the people involved in this series. The signatures were an awesome show of support. Mike and Glen both came and spoke with me about the accident in person.

Event: After you guys changed the k-rail from being placed directly perpendicular to the driverâ€™s car during drifting, I did not find any major issue with the location of the k-rail. I did feel however that it was too small and light to allow cars to bounce off during an impact. If we had the larger k-rail, like in phoenix, I would not have moved the FOERST k-rail and hit the second one head on. I hit the wall at a 15-20 degree angle. My incident was not from driver error, it was a freak occurrence of a cone getting lodged into the front wheel. I was dead on in each practice run Sunday morning. I am not sure what happened, other than during the quick transition, the car didnâ€™t respond to any steering input, and the front end was vibrating and shaking.

The point of this is, no matter how good the driver, accidents happen and the course should be safe. For example, F1 drivers are the best in the world and they still require a sand trap at the end of the straights. Why? SAFETY.

Dangerous? Why canâ€™t we have a "dangerous" looking course without the actual danger? I think we can have a safe track design and layout by being smart and responsible. See Tony Schulz.

I did not like the stacking of the cones. WHY? For one, we are all used to hitting cones. Stacked cones give the illusion that you can hit them and be fine, but when you do, it lifts the car or destroys the front end, or both. Mentally we know its fine to hit cones so we do, stacked or not. Itâ€™s in our subconscious, and when we hit stacked cones at speed, it can be disastrous. Caio Campos almost hit the wall because he had 4 cones under his car from the stack of cones at the entrance. I do not think stacking cones is the best way to go.

By the way, I am still waiting for my qualifying scores. I know I did not drive great, but how can people who did much worse then I qualify (much worse meaning spinning twice). Erin spun twice during the FOERST transition and Harry hit the wall and spun in front of the judges stand. Both out qualified Dado and me. Dado didnâ€™t do great, but he had 2 clean runs, and 2 guys that spun twice, out qualified him. Please explain.

To be honest, I feel itâ€™s very unprofessional not to work with drivers to understand their qualifying or tandem scores. This is the same issue that occurred in Phoenix. If you have the scores to determine top 16, then you can show those numbers to the drivers.

down_shift · Post by **down_shift** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 5:12 pm

what do you do when you only have parking lot events but want to keep fans on the edge of their seats? Create hazards! This seems to be the current nopi mindset. Im sorry but trying to make an event seem adrenaline packed to the average "casual" fan by putting drivers at unnessasary rick is rediculous.

Post by **andysapp** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 5:16 pm

ProjctGrlDrftr wrote:I guess they want drifters to become like NASCAR have to have back up cars and such just to be able to drive the series cause well it is a professional series so you gotta have professional wallets too...

I've got a Nascar wallet.

down_shift · Post by **down_shift** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 5:17 pm

wanna tandem?

Rhoad Racing · Post by **Rhoad Racing** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 5:18 pm

andysapp wrote:
ProjctGrlDrftr wrote:I guess they want drifters to become like NASCAR have to have back up cars and such just to be able to drive the series cause well it is a professional series so you gotta have professional wallets too...
I've got a Nascar wallet.

Subliminal messages FTW.

turbofb · Post by **turbofb** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 5:19 pm

Does your wallet make right turns?

Post by **andysapp** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 5:20 pm

Post by **andysapp** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 5:21 pm

down_shift wrote:
wanna tandem?

YOU'RE GOING DOWN!!1

Wait... maybe that's me.
NUMBER THREEEE W00000T!11

struka · Post by **struka** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 6:11 pm

wow....all i have to say is: i am glad dennis is ok. i want to give him a big hug when i see him!!!!

Generz · Post by **Generz** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 6:16 pm

I'm going to step out of context from the establishments that I am associated with.

Dennis is my best friend and I feel really bad that my best friend wrecked the shit out of his car..

I've been there since day one when he built this car and helped care of it for the past 6 years or so. In racing, there is always a chance of personal injury or damage to your vehicle. That's a fact of life. When Susan sent me the pic of Dennis' car immediately after it happened, I was extremely worried if he was okay.

Now to read the other posts that have been posted on Nopiforums and the comments of some that are involved in the event completely infuriates me. I share the view that many good drivers are able to drive a car that is not setup perfectly and still perform well. Under no circumstances should any driver be allowed to drive on a possibly dangerous course or vehicle because proper precautions are not taken.

Racing is a dangerous sport, margins of safety has always been built into modern motorsports to help protect the drivers and the spectators. These margins of safety keep increasing as well. K Rail weight and size has to be chosen to hold up to the amount of force that is possibly going to be exerted on it in an extreme condition. Choosing anything less is just compromising safety for lowering cost.

It seems as of recently, many events are completely overlooking these margins of safety in order to generate more crowd appeal. There is no rational reason to make an already dangerous sport more risky. That is just poor corporate social responsibility on the part of the event promoters. Does there have to be a fatality at an event before organizers start taking responsibility for their decisions? I hope not.

Do not allow the bottom line to affect the safety or integrity of any participant of the event.. spectator, organizer, or driver.

If the trade off for excitement means the increased possibility of ANY one of my friend's being hurt or possibly killed for no good reason at all.. I can not support that sanctioning body in any means or fashion.

Generz · Post by **Generz** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 6:30 pm

BTW if they want the element of danger to get the crowd hyped.. why not just go all the way and have time-bombs installed in the vehicles... if you don't achieve enough speed or angle... your car blows up.

DeathRace and MadMax were VERY exciting to watch.

An even better idea would be to make it so that all drivers have to drive through a barrage of gunfire before the initiation point.

That seems exciting too.

I know I know.. it's the 'slippery slope' taking effect.

Post by **andysapp** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 6:38 pm

quazar311 wrote:Do not allow the bottom line to affect the safety or integrity of any participant of the event.. spectator, organizer, or driver.

POST OF THE YEAR ^^^