Daddy Dave rolls his Goliath Nova

[Craig_Maiorana]

By chance was anyone in attendance at Amarillo raceway when Dave rolled his Nova? Looks like the poor car is a complete loss. Supposedly Dave is ok he has a bruised lung and a serious concussion.

[earntaz]

Here is the video from Dragzine -- looks like the seat harness attachpoints broke ... TAZ

http://www.dragzine.com/news/video-daddy...marillo-dragway (http://www.dragzine.com/news/video-daddy-dave-comstock-injured-in-crash-at-amarillo-dragway/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=video-daddy-dave-comstock-injured-in-crash-at-amarillo-dragway)

[Craig_Maiorana]

I heard quite a few of the mounting tabs broke for stuff like the nitrous bottles, his seat tabs. The man is lucky to be alive. That was a seriously violent crash. You can see the nitrous bottles take off in the video

[markinnaples]

I've watched the video of it quite a few times, and it was a horrible crash. It sure looks like the items like the seat belt attachments and nitrous bottle attachments were not done as well as they should have been. He's doing better now, thankfully, and said that the Nova will be coming back.

[68l30]

As a Weld Inspector, I'm speechless. Could have been much much worse.

BIG

[markinnaples]

He posted on FB today that the Nova is a total (of course) and that he's going to rest up, get well again, and start building something else.

[RichSchmidt]

That's why I would never run a moly car. I would just eat the weight difference and go with DOM mild steel. Any kid with a TIG torch can be an artist and make flawless looking welds. It is far too easy to overheat moly,and there is no good way to tell.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

I was talking with a buddy last night about this, is it true that he did most/all of his own welding on that car? With the stuff that came flying out of that car it is amazing he wasn't killed! <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/eek.gif

[68l30]

Again, I find it disturbing. I will say I did see some things that unsettle me and would love to be able to see more of the work before I'd pass any judgment on the weldor. There are people that can weld and then there are Weldors. They comply with a certified welding process. Two entirely different skill levels and processes involved. I have failed many many flawless looking welds just because of what you see from the car in question. With proper qualifications, certifications and inspection it helps prevent and reduce failures. A good bit of what I look at is radiographed and or destructive tested prior to release. An ARTIST is one thing, a pressure holding, structural, load bearing joint is another. Pretty can be poor and ugly is &quot;sometimes&quot; pretty dang good...

I gotta go stare at more welds. <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/hmmm.gif

BIG

[EZ Nova]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: markinnaples</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I've watched the video of it quite a few times, and it was a horrible crash. It sure looks like the items like the seat belt attachments and nitrous bottle attachments were not done as well as they should have been. He's doing better now, thankfully, and said that the Nova will be coming back. </div></div>

Seems there are some misconceptions in this thread. The Nitrous bottles came OUT of the front of the holders, not welds breaking off! I believe it was Doc who corrected that misconception.

[EZ Nova]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 68l30</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Again, I find it disturbing. I will say I did see some things that unsettle me and would love to be able to see more of the work before I'd pass any judgment on the weldor. There are people that can weld and then there are Weldors. They comply with a certified welding process. Two entirely different skill levels and processes involved. I have failed many many flawless looking welds just because of what you see from the car in question. With proper qualifications, certifications and inspection it helps prevent and reduce failures. A good bit of what I look at is radiographed and or destructive tested prior to release. An ARTIST is one thing, a pressure holding, structural, load bearing joint is another. Pretty can be poor and ugly is &quot;sometimes&quot; pretty dang good...

I gotta go stare at more welds. <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/hmmm.gif

BIG </div></div>

Yes you are quite right. PRETTY don't ALWAYS mean good!

This was the issue I discussed with the builder of the chassis in my '67. Some people might know him, Fred (Fj) Smith. Seeing as the car has ran 8.0's and is a 2X4 mild steel car, we talked about the certs and faster, as HE is on the NHRA &quot;DOOR CAR&quot; committee that makes the rules. Funny that he did mostly 2X4 frames and told the rest of the committee that in his &quot;experience&quot; the M/S is just as strong and suited better for these cars then the C/M! He pointed to Nascar for an example that there M/S, heavier and run the chance of getting hit multiple times during a crash as well.

I asked Fred what he thought about running my car FASTER then 7.50? He reply was

&quot;Without a doubt, I wouldn't think twice about being in your car running low 7's! How strong do you think a 2X4 .250&quot; wall chassis is with all the reinforcing do is compared to the little round tube C/M? YES it weighs more, but doesn't your class (NMVA Nostalgia Pro Street at the time) call for cars to 3200lbs anyway, so why not run the stronger tube????&quot;

As far as Dave's car, well the metal fatigue of constant bouncing on the street is NOT GOOD in C/M! Could have had 100's of cracks in the chassis/cage? I know with the Top Dragster, we support the CHASSIS with air pillows while towing........

[markinnaples]

Just FYI, Daddy Dave's Nova was a brand new race car.

[Craig_Maiorana]

Probably less than 5 runs including test hits I'd say.

[68l30]

No doubt it was new, just a heads up to anyone getting Fab work done. Important fab work. Do your homework and be sure it is stamped. I like to quote &quot;Jack&quot; at work... &quot;We follow rules or people die, it's that simple.&quot; Hangs on my office wall, if anythings in question...I point to the wall.


BIG

[Craig_Maiorana]

For sure ... your safety is nothing to jerk around with when you're moving that fast.

[EZ Nova]

Um no it was not. I was bought of another OK guy and he did redo a lot of it, but not a whole new car, no:

&quot;This car came from my buddy,Dave bought it and stripped it to a shell and rebuilt it front to back&quot;

Here's Dave post:

&quot;Blake and Terry at TMRC are finishing up the chassis and redoing things to make it cert 6.0. Square tubing is out and it's all round tube moly.&quot;

So looks like maybe the guys at McAmis might have put them in also. But like I said, the bottle mount didn't break! The bottles came out the front of the dual bottle holder. The might have also hit the seat belt tab and broke it of. That I do not know.

Not sticking up, defending or trying to spin anything here guys. Just correcting some statements that don't seem to be true.

As for the metal fatigue, We have SEEN it first hand in a BRAND NEW Top Dragster!!! Bounced of the pillow and needed some bars replaced.

[markinnaples]

Thanks for the info.