Chute or no Chute............

[Ratliff]

I have not witnessed a chute on a bike rider deploy---but I have witnessed a 2 driver dismounts on drag boats---one with and one without a personal chute---he is the one that was able to walk around drinking beer and recounting the wild ride---the other left by ambulance with severe injuries and several broken bones from the tumble and digging in--vs. the prone linear "sudden stopping" more or less on top of the water.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vT5MSWi9GU

Early in this video (Waco, 1989) is good footage of deployment of an aerodynamic decelerator on a drag boat driver.

The chute keeps the driver stable after hitting the water, preventing tumbling.

Below is a link to a video of a Top Fuel bike rider getting blown off his bike at 200+ mph.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeRXI0XRNaI&feature=related

Below another video of another Top Fuel bike rider getting blown off his bike.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USwwuonAKpY

[Ratliff]

http://dragboatracing.com/Community/Forums/tabid/54/view/topics/forumid/6/Default.aspx
 
I've been looking at motorsports websites for over ten years and up until now have never ever seen a message board with a section devoted to safety, let alone an active ongoing public discussion by pro level racers about safety issues and innovations.
 
Perhaps this has something to do with these racers often observing or being in crashes on an epic level of violence not often seen in other forms of motorsports.