Re: Scary Moments in Your Racing Career?
 

Having a gun pulled on me at the scales in Bristol Tenn. for Dq,ing a racer for being 15 lbs light in the first round back in 1973. Thank goodness for the Tenn. State Troopers close by at the time. Needless to say that guy dosent race in either association anymore.

Re: Scary Moments in Your Racing Career?
 

93or 94, osborn mo. brake rod fell off ss/cs 86 camaro, 106mph, flipped end for end twice and destroyed the east texas car but i was unhurt excwpt for a pulled rib. steve thompson pulled me from the car.

Re: Scary Moments in Your Racing Career?
 

About 8 years ago had a fairly mild 350 my 72 nova. Just a regular bracket race and I think it was the last time trial. Well, the engine came loose right at the traps and I can remember knowing exactly what took place so I eased into the brakes...at least I think I eased into the brakes. The next thing I know the car is sideways enough that my buddy coming down the return road later said he could see the back glass of the car running pretty much running parellel to the gaurd rail and the EMTs told me I did a good job of saving it.

Luckily I didn't hit anything, but when I got out of the car and looked back down the track I could see a pretty violant looking S pattern on the track where the rear tires were riding in the antifreeze and oil. Had to do alot of cleaning to get all the antifreeze and oil off the car...but I was glad I wasn't doing body work too.

at the risk of reviving some bad memories for my good friend dean riberio,i can remember the atco points race in 2003 in the spring when i ran dean first round in stock,me in my f/fia 85 camaro and dean in jim whiteheads 69 camaro, i dialed in about a 11.80 and dean dialed about a 11.97 to which i said i know old dean is holding back some so as we left and i caught him we were watching each other all the way down the track, my plan was to run him and drop him at the stripe ;at 1000 feet we were staring at each other and i said to myself get ready to drop him,well for some reason i did not hit the brakes, to this day i really dont know why,as we crossed the finish line i looked over as i let off the fuel and did not see deans car,i looked in the rear view miror and saw it UPSIDE DOWN literally on my back window,i mashed down on the gas and kept on driving almost to the trees!!i watched deans camaro rolling several times behind me,in that situation which seemed like a long time, and it almost seemed like i could not get away from the crashing stocker,when i stopped i saw deans car upside down against the wall, when i turned around and got back to him the division one safety guys and atco's crew were there,we literally lifted the car from the back and dean came crawling out the back window!!!i dont know who was more shaken up me or dean!!!by the way dean got the win lite on the roof, john force aint got nothing on dean!!!!

Re: Scary Moments in Your Racing Career?
 

What an awesome story!!!!

Re: Scary Moments in Your Racing Career?
 

Testing my street car at Cayuga. I knew the car was capable of dragging the bumber but theres something different about all 4 wheels coming off the track. When I landed my foot was still denting the firwall and the tach was in my lap. Car was fixed that night and back to the track the next day. Wish I could say the same for my back and neck.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhOfj3k1T1Q

and no i didn't lift...i don't know why it died at the top of the wheelie...upset the floats i guess.

Re: Scary Moments in Your Racing Career?
 

At my first PRO ET race in 87, I got woke up to scary spots. I had raced at SE Dragway in Dallas, GA, for a few yrs then, in warmed up street cars, and got my first "real race car", a 72 Vega,( former SG car, supposedly). I made my first time run, and was in line for run #2, and a cool little Pinto , complete with really cool paint, pulls up in line next to me. Driver and I had brief converstation and we got belted in.
We had left pretty close and were heading to the finish, both running 7.20's ( I had a stop rod in place still), when I realized he wasnt beside me any more. I looked over my shoulder after clearing the stripe, and see him coming at me, upside down. His welded spider gears had broken, and caused the rear to lock, spin and flip him. He was sliding right at me, and I hit the thottle again to get clear, and almost ran out of track to stop myself on.
I got it stopped , and ran to him with my little fire extinguisher, off the roll bar, and got to him before track crew could. helped him get out. He came over to me later and thanked me for being alert, for a newby, and helping him get out. His wife was less than plussed, that was for sure ! They said she fell down at the starting line when he went on his ride !

Re: Scary Moments in Your Racing Career?
 

I was running first round of Super Stock eliminator at the U.S. Nationals in 1996 and after we had crossed the finish line I saw a fairly large Dog in the middle of the track. I was running Louis Dejardins from Canada and he went around one side of this Irish Setter and I went around the other side of him. I don't think that it scared me as much as it was an Oh S*** moment. We tried to tell the Safety Safari Guys but I think they thought we were crazy. www.lifterboretools.com

Re: Scary Moments in Your Racing Career?
 

In the late 60's I was watching the top fuelers run from a spot past the finish line. One of the cars lifted the blower way up in the air and it came down flying bouncing and tumbling in my diredtion. My first thought was to "run" and my second thought was "which way" the blower was bouncing in an erratic pattern. Fortunatly it ran out of steam shortly before it got to me.

In the early 70's I was racing a Pinto in Stock and every time a 427 Fairlane passed me at the stripe it was a little scary. It really rocked my Pinto.

The most scary was in the early 80's when I was driving an old style altered (T roadster) in Comp eliminator. The car ran just below 150 mph in the quarter. I was at a points meet in Pueblo Colorado and was making my first pass of the day. The car hooked up really well lifting the front tires about 18" and carrying them a ways down the track. As I reached the finish line the motor decided to impress upon me that I had run those aluminum rods just a little too long. The whole right side of the block exploded dumping a lot of oil onto the very hot header. The result was a very good smoke screen with me sitting in the middle of the smoke. I was completely blind, all I could see was gray smoke, not what I wanted at 150 mph. All I could do was assume the car was still going straight and slow down as rapidly as possible. As it turned out the car did go straight so I came to a safe stop in the shutdown area.

The most interesting thing I saw at the track was at the old and long gone Continental Divide Raceway in Castle Rock, Colorado. I had my car in line to be weighed and had walked over to the scale to talk to the tech guys. while I was there a young lady walked over to ask the tech guys a question for her boyfriend who was waiting in his car. The young lady was wearing a top that was completly transparent and was without bra. She had to ask her question two or three times before anyone could regain their powers of speech. That also reminds me of the two young ladies in string bikinis that the Plum Crazy Cuda brought with them to the first Mile High Sportsnationals at Bandimere's. Woooho.

Re: Scary Moments in Your Racing Career?
 

Englishtown 1975 mid week test and tune. 67 Vette A/SA , one E-town guard dog. As I got to the traps I saw something brown out of the corner of my eye, it was windy so I thought it was cardboard. When I looked again sitting on the stripe was a big brown dog.......120mph + dog = a big mess. I planted my feet on the floor and went right over him, thank god the car did not roll but what a mess. Rich and Vinnie paid all damage to the car but could never get the dog hair out from under it. The dog got lose the week before and did the same thing during a funny car show but did not get hit, I guess he was practicing. The dog was dying with cancer and they just could not put him down so the dog took control himself.