Every Friday, the Texas Motor Speedway hosts an event in coordination with Universal Technical Institute (UTI) called Friday Night Drags: an eighth-mile sprint where participants can earn awards and look to take home the divisional crown after six weeks of bracketing.
Anyone can partake, as long as they're not driving an electric car.
As it turns out, UTI Friday Night Drags has decided to ban electric vehicles from competing in the racing festivities.
Despite what many will say, event officials claim it isn't because of a perceived acceleration advantage, but because of the risk of somewhat uncontrollable battery fires.
Event organizers for the Texas Motor Speedway simply don't have the means to combat an electric vehicle fire should a catastrophic accident occur.
“The reason for the exclusion is, in the event of a crash and possible resulting fire, our emergency vehicles currently do not carry the specific equipment required to suppress EV fires," said Texas Motor Speedway VP of Public Relations David Hart.
"As I’m sure you’re aware, conventional extinguishers are of no use in fighting lithium-ion battery fires.”
As Hart mentions, a battery fire can be much more complex to extinguish than a traditional vehicle fire. Should a lithium-ion cell be punctured in an accident and go up in flames, emergency crews face the possibility of the vehicle re-igniting for up to 48 hours after the initial event occurred. Because of this, it has become an increasingly common procedure to submerge EVs in vats of water following a fire for 24 hours or more to prevent conditions such as thermal runaway.
Summit Point Motorsports Park
recently announced that both all-electric and hybrid vehicles are no longer permitted in motorsport activities, on its grounds:
Our commitment to the safety of participants, clients, spectators, and employees at Summit Point Motorsports Park is an ongoing process. Best practices are continually scrutinized and revised.
Upon review of SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) document J2990 and NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) document 70 and in consideration of the requirements specifically requested by event organizers, we have halted the use of Electric and Hybrid Electric Vehicles in all motorsports disciplines.
This decision was not taken lightly, and we endeavor to better understand, support, and develop policies to meet industry best practices for emergency support and response requirements related to Electric and Hybrid Electric Vehicles.
As of April 7, we now have a new statement from Edwin Pardue, Director of Motorsports Operations at Summit Point Motorsports Park:
Summit Point supports the growth of Electric and Hybrid vehicles in motorsports.
Summit Point Motorsports Park’s decision to take a “tactical pause” in halting the use of electric and hybrid electric vehicles in all motorsports disciplines at our location is purely based on ensuring we establish an EMS response policy and procedure based on technical knowledge provided by the electric and hybrid electric vehicle industry community to better support the motorsports' community.
To our knowledge, Industry best practices supporting emergency response procedures to electric and hybrid electric vehicles in motorsports are under development. We hope to be a front-runner in development of the industry standard to ensure that we can support a safer response to all stakeholders in the future.
