Scary Moments in Your Racing Career?
 

I thought this would be a good topic for the off season. Anyone here care to share a hair raising moment or two when you were behind the wheel, or even when checking the car and finding something wrong that could have been disasterous?

I have two to share. Several years ago I had a 67 Chevelle street car that I raced at a local track. I did the burnout, charging hard outta the waterbox and the throttle hung wide open. I'm sure everyone was wondering why I was doing a John Force style burnout across the starting line :)....fortunately I kept my head and killed the ignition before I blasted all the way down the track with the *** end up in smoke . As soon as I killed the ignition the pedal came back-had a broken motor mount which kinked up the factory linkage.


Episode number two wasn't at the track, but was so scary I think I can write about it here anyway. My brother has a '70 Cuda street/strip car, he took the car to a local guy to get the ring gear changed and the posi unit rebuilt. I went with him to pick up the car. We left the shop that did the work, I was riding passenger side and heard a distinct 'ting'-the sound of metal hitting metal for a split instant as we were traveling 45 mph a mile or two from the shop. A few more seconds and I heard it again.

It dawned on me that what I was hearing was the lug nuts coming off and glancing off the wheel! I just started yelling for him to pull over-he musta thought I was nuts. As he was getting stopped asap I told him what was going on. We got stopped on the side of the road and only 2 of the lug nuts were on the right rear wheel. There was a bridge about 1000 feet ahead. To this day I check my lug nuts on everything I drive like clockwork.

If ya had something freaky happen on or off the track, feel free to chat it up!

Re: Scary Moments in Your Racing Career?
 

at the Memphis divisional last qualifying pass this year. Felt the motor stumble about 1100', was about to jump off the throttle when it let go, and let go BAD. I grabbed the wheel with both hands and was preaparing for having schrapnel/oil under the tires at well over 120mph. Thankfully it contained itself in the oil pan, only hole went right into the side of the starter, no oil ran out.

My biggest fear was wrecking dad's original 427/435 68 corvette that he has owned since 1970. I wasn't concerned about hurting myself, because if I had lived dad would have finished the job, lol. I am pretty sure there will be a diaper on the car from now on

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When I bought my car(2006) it was race ready as the guy put it. He said the engine was good to go(lesson number 1) All I did was took the auto out and installed a Jerico. My son and I went down to San Antonio on a friday night. There was probably 10 people total on the property. I made a few easy passes and then I went up and my son said time to turn it loose. I dropped the hammer and the car was on a good run until I put it into third gear and instantly I was facing the right lane wall(I was in the left lane) then it was like slow motion I was thinking did I get out of the groove or what. The car was sliding sideways and I tried to keep it out of the right hand wall but I hit it very hard. Everything from the windshield forward was trashed. It was still running when I came to a stop and I shut it off. I was very surprised when the emt guy or whoever it was said you were in the oil when you blew it up. Number 7 rod decided to exit the engine and knock off the oil filter boss coating the track with mobil 1. So that left me with a boatanchor for a motor and trashed racecar. Three passes and my new super stocker was trashed. I also felt like someone beat my *** with a baseball bat the next day also. It's all back together now(engine being freshened now) so maybe this year will be better.

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This summer I traded my stocker for a SG/SR car. The first weekend out we won SR at Clay City. The next weekend on the 2nd pass at Pittsburgh the steering arm came loose from the rack crossing the finish line at 140+. The Good Lord was with me on that pass kept car in my lane and got it stopped with no steering.
Chip

Re: Scary Moments in Your Racing Career?
 

Ok It was 1967 when i had just put a brand new cam in My 3 speed 55 chevy stocker . I rented the track and was testing .the first run was awesome so i came back to check over all , then the next run i left the line and was just getting ready to shift when all heck broke lose the clutch exploded and parts came up through the whole car and literally smashed the crap out of my right foot . i moved to the finished line and the owner showed up and i was really hurt . so he called my College room mate to come and pick me up , ok so i missed the next season of basket ball withthis problem , any way i had a cast on my foot for 3 months . Darn I would do the same thing again it was a really quick race car then . Lol at me for remembering 41 years ago at Bee line drag way.

Re: Scary Moments in Your Racing Career?
 

trying to argue with Don & Katie Kennedy at Vegas a long time ago, that was scary, like talking to the wall, i knew i was not going to win that one!
lol

Re: Scary Moments in Your Racing Career?
 

1) 1989 or 1990, I was at the Moroso 5-Day bracket race. Made a pass, went through the lights, lifted, and nothing happened. Car kept accellerating. First impulse was to jam the brakes on but I also went for the ignition switch. As soon as I killed the ignition, the was a "kaboom" and the car swerved around, but was starting to slow down. I coasted around the last turn-off and stopped, trying to regain my composure and figure out what happened. I thought I blew the engine but also noticed the car seemed to be sitting crooked. When I got out, I realized I had blown one front tire and severely flat-spotted the other. The engine wasn't blown but the throttle had stuck on an air pan I had installed.

I remember frantically searching for replacement tires or tire/wheel combo. I did find a shorter combo to borrow for the rest of the race. I think I ended up getting a little money that day.

2) Gainesville Raceway. I was in the thick of the points chase in in Pro or Super Pro ET but my Challenger was broke. A friend let me borrow his '68 or '69 big block Cuda that was capable of at least low 10's with a Dominator carb. Not wanting to run that fast, I disconnected the back barrels and figured I could short shift to run high 10's or low 11's. Shifter was an OEM type with no ratchet action. I think he had an air shifter but I always shifted manually. Anyway, I launched, went from first to third, realized what I did after a second or two, tried to go back into second and went to first instead. The valve body did not have a freewheeling first gear, so it locked up the rear wheels. People at the starting line said they got a good view of both sides of the car.

When I got back to the pits, I loaded the car up willing to take just the one tech-in point and passing on the second point earned for at least staging the car in the first round.

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shaking down a friends car at carlsbad raceway, car was a fresh frame-off resto race/street car, ripped off
a 11.06..pushed the brake pedal, rock hard, didn't move one i-otta, pushed again then wham brake's locked up and got it slowed down....when the resto was down they converted from power brakes to
manual brakes and the plunger rod was to short, on accel it came out of the master cylinder cup and fell
onto the little lip on the master cylinder on the second brake pump it popped back into the cup...coulda
fell all the way out than i would'nt be typing this.

Re: Scary Moments in Your Racing Career?
 

I wasn't in a car...

It was 1958 or '59... can't recall the year,exactly, but at the Carlisle (Arkansas) drag strip (a WW II bomber emergency landing strip), we had no win/lose photocell system...

What we had was a guy standing on a wooden, folding chair, in the middle of the drag strip at the finish line, with a flag.... He would raise it and tip the flag toward the winning lane as the cars went by.

Yours truly thought that would be a great place to watch the race from, so, one day I volunteered to be the "JUDGE."

The stockers weren't bad.... running 75-90mph.... not too bad at all.... then came...

Raymond Godman's Memphis-based "Boll Weevil" AA/MR; nothing but a blown Hemi dragster with a T-bucket roadster body mounted to the back half... and ran something like 150+ at that time...

One trip through the traps with his Boll Weevil on one side of me and a different 150mph car on the other, and I was ready to watch the races from a different perspective. I think I told them I was sick... not too far from the truth.

To this day, sometimes I still hear that 6:71/Hilborn 4-port coming at me at warp speed.... and me with nowhere to go...

Nobody ever accused me of being smart. :(


Bill

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1991 2nd round of elim. @ the local bracket track I had to run a "dune buggy" I was running 8.0s he was dialed in the 8.7s he left & broke an axle just as I left & he crossed into my lane & hit the gard rail! I hit the brakes & got stopped in time (thank god!)

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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.

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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!!!!

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What an awesome story!!!!

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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.

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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 !

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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

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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.

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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.

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I think I could write a book. Here are some good ones.---Memphis class final,pinion nut backs off pinion falls out but does not lock up rear. As a luck would have it I reused the ring and pinion only having to replace the pinion bearing.------Elim final York Us 30 at night. Racing Al Corda I saw headlights comming right at us at a 1000 ft. An airplane came out onto the track(which was an airstrip) and took off right over top of us.----Sportsnationals No Problem,LA. Got on the brakes to hard and blew out both front tires. With no brakes thank goodness for long shut down. Just grazed wall.-------US RT 70 Columbia.Mo. stopped @ construction site 18 wheeler does'nt. Pushes Motorhome 3 ft into my trailer and my truck into flat bed in front of me. Truck&trailer junk, car lots of damage.-------Riding in my truck around loop Dallas Tx. @ night a 3ft 30lb. boom extendtion from a wrecker comes through my windshield with enough force to break off bucket seat. Needless to say it was on the pass. side or I'm not writing this.-----Two bad experiences on RT 40 comming home from Pomona near Needles,Ca. One time truck motor went south and I had to spend Thanksgiving on the road. And another time going thru @ night I felt a vibration (rolling along about 80) pulled off next exit to find I only had 2 lugs out of 8 holding dual wheels on. I had to rob 3 off of the other side to get by.----But with out a doubt the worst was Gary,IN. comming home from the Joliet race. I stopped @ the Flying J was gone from my rig no more than 15min. to come out and find everything gone,stolen just that quick. I can tell you it was a sick feeling . I was very lucky getting the rig and car back minus all my tools, spare parts, and some other stuff in the trailer.-----Other than these few occurances I have had alot of fun and good times. Oh by the way I have yet to fall off the roof of anything while "On The Road" like a buddy of mine.

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.....oh really ?? :-)

Re: Scary Moments in Your Racing Career?
 

Whoever stayed for the 1st attempt at the S/St finals at LVD Open in 2007 saw Larry Peotter & I get a liitle out of shape in the dirt at about 900 ft. My opponent in the semis had the left lane closet to the dirt track, which had been running for about 1/2 hr already, he was next to me off the line, looked again at 330 he wasnt there,saw him at ticket booth. He was screaming about the track,went to the tower, they said he was out of the grove. So I got ready for the final, got put in the left lane, at 8-900 feet they said at the starting line you could see both doors, I was lucky enough to save it & they made us rerun the final at Etown where I got my 1st Wally.

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A guy asked me to drive his little tube chassis vega in box for a while.. Like 3rd round I ran a faster car and went to kill a bunch at the stripe cause I was get'n there a ton.. That little car had really good brakes because I proceeded to lock all 4 tires up and get dirt track sideways.. I didnt wreck it but man I thought I had.. It didnt scare me that I about wrecked, it scared me that I almost wrecked a car that wasnt mine.. I just kept thinking how was I gonna look him in the face if I had wrecked his car... My ole nova you could get on the brakes as hard as you wanted and it "might" attempt to slide the front wheels occaisionally, but this little car just locked em up.. I won that round, but was a lot more gracious with the brake pedal at the stripe..

I dont drive other peoples cars very much, just dont like it much, I drove another guys super gas car and I came down the hill from tech at clay city and didnt have a sign of a brake pedal.. (the master cylinder rod had fallen out).. Why people build cars and dont fix them where this cant happen I dont know.. The same guy didnt fix it where it couldnt happen again and hit a car in the lanes at bristol when it did it again.. Needless to say I never drove that car again..

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Lost race car & trailer while driving down the road....
It was back in '80-'81, it was the last race of the year and we were nearly home, all we had to do was get over this last climb and we were good to go.

My partner was driving our truck at the time, and as he manually down shifted (4 speed) the truck near the bottom of this upcoming climb (to maintain some speed) the ball snaped and the safety chains let go, (YES it was the big 10,000 lbs. machined ball & large shaft).

We were doing about 70-75 when we hit the bottom of the hill... there we're four lanes, 2 going up & 2 coming down. We were in the far right hand lane. When the trailer (with the car on it) broke loose,
it took off across the 3 lanes on our left, just missed hiting 2 cars and a semi truck that were coming down the hill...

this steep hill had 200' drop offs on both sides... the trailer (with the car still on it ) just barely caught the end of the left hand gaurd rail... this grabbed the whole trailer & car up onto the gaurd rail where it sat there teetering. It could have went over the 200' drop at anytime.

About 15 mins later a HP came by... he called a wrecker (no cell phones back then )... and the wrecker came and pulled the trailer off of the rail.... we backed the car off the trailer and drove it to a friends place near by.

You can never be too careful or alert. and you can't check your equipment often enough... **** happens fast.. and That was some scary ****!

Larry

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Was doing tech assignment for winners directing them to either the scales or fuel check at the Gatornationals back in the 70's. I was standing in the grass next to the ditch between the ET shack and the guardrail down past the finish line. Russell Mendez was driving a hydrogen peroxide dragster and just went over 312 mph when he pulled his chutes at the finish line. The front of the car came up slightly off the ground and when it set down the front wheels were turned to the right, resulting in the car turning to the right slightly. Now I am standing there and it is heading right at me and I am frozen with no place to go as it is approaching me at a blink of the eye rate. Unfortunately for Mendez the nose of the dragster went under the guardrail and clipped off three of the concrete supporting poles before it jammed under and came to an extremely sudden stop killing him immediately. It was a horrible sight to witness.

I guess that they do not want me upstairs/downstairs as this was one of six times that I should have died.

Ron Ortiz

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Hey Tim.....Remind me never to hook up with you at the races....I like my lug nuts....worst that ever happened to me was coming out of the bathroom with my fly down...LOL......Hey have a Merry Christmas...Joe

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Tim,

I would have to agree with Joe...that is some scary ***** you have been through. Glad I moved out of Division 1 and moved west to Division 6.

Had a scary on track incident this year myself. Track Medicine Hat, Alberta. NHRA National Open Double-header, Sunday race. Semi-finals of Super Gas. It had been raining off and on all day and in this part of the country, windy and a bit of a dust bowl. Dust blowing across top end of track much like what happens at Vegas. Sheer darkness. I'm racing Dennis White from Brandon, Manitoba for the upteenth time in the past 3 years. I'm out on Dennis in the right lane with a .019 light to his .100 something light. Past 330 car starts to fishtail and I end up following Dennis through the lights in his lane. I saw the wall for a lonnnnnnng time.

He goes on to win his first Wally and I nearly have a heart attack.

NHRA and track claim no responsibility as I asked if they found anything on track. Division Director and club president say they found nothing. Car is A-ok but I was not!

Kinda' reminded me of what happened to Alan Freese in Comp at LVM national this year. He went on his lid. I was lucky!

Be careful when you race at night after a rain delay and blustery winds!

Cheers!

Mike Ferstl
SG SR 6091

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First scary moment ,E-town in '80 on a Wed nite. Super Street final. Both cars prestaged ,when the starter flips the red lites on and runs out frantically waving his arms to back up! .......The wheelstander that had just run before us, the "Back Up Pickup" decided to turn around and come back to the starting line one more time than was planned. ....Somehow managed to keep my head, and got the win. .....................Second scary moment, Maple Grove 1981 Money Trail S/ST race. ....I was leading the overall points and I blew up my car in time trials. .... George Menser,from S&W's speed shop offers me the use of his beautiful '69 Camaro convertable ! .........Won the 1/4 final round and as I hit the brakes, the pedal went to the floor!!........There was no sand trap back then , only the wire mesh catch fence before the road........I scrubbed off all the speed I could and with no time or room to spare, I started bumping the shifter in and out of reverse, finally spinning the car out a few feet from the net,pointing back at the starting line, to both my amazement and that of the racers at the end of the track........Fortunatly as I've gone faster, I haven't had any real scary ones. .......Tom

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think it was last year at orlando div 2 race thur night we went out to eat with a lot of racers while rigs were parked in the field.
had a good supper, the "driver" ( tim) figured we would stop at this little bar to shoot pool well a certian
BIG HANDed racer clears the door yells who is the badest MF here.
ya could hear a pin drop till bar maid said she was. the big handed driver said ok just wanted to know .

jim

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I ran my super-gas car in super-street for a few races because I let my license expire.
To make weight I put 300lbs of ballast in the back of the car. No problem running with a throttle stop because it was set to come on just off the line.
I took the car to Bakersfield to run a Good-Guys event and I had to take all of the electronics out of the car to be legal.
I wasn't thinking about the weight when I left the line with no throttle stop.
It seems that it carried the front wheels just off the ground for quite a ways, unfortunately I was headed toward the other lane. No problem, just steer it back into the groove, uh still going right maybe a little more steering input, just about in the other lane now, front wheels touch down, oh oh now it steers, heading straight for the wall, now the other lane, now wall again.
Used up both lanes but kept it off the wall.
Note for log book: move ballast weight to appropriate location.

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I have enjoyed reading your stories, but not one of you have this one. I was in my third season of junior drag racing, and was getting finishline driving advice from a veteran bracket racer. So I busted the tree, and while I was tightning up the stripe with a competitor, I locked the brakes up and spun the junior nose first into the wall. Only 15 years ago now.

A few years later, while qualifying for Jegs Quick 32 race at Windy Hollow in Owensboro, KY, I was paired with a blown 4.50 dragster. Luckily, he was a good piece out front when crossed the finishline, locked up the brakes, and spun around in front me, crashing into the wall. Its a short track, and he didn't pull the pins out of his parachutes. Idiot.

Then, in dads Chevy II, we got in a hurry fueling up the car, left the cap off the cell, (cell in front of the motor for alcohol) and then decided to ignite about 100ft out causing the hood to melt. Its a small track, bad safety equipment, no one was in sight while the car was on fire.

And then, according to Bruce Noland, my dad wrecked his stocker this year into Brian Rogers during rd 2 at Beech Bend LODRS. Ha ha, seriously,dad was hit past the finishline by an over braking racer. Rebuild in process.

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7 years ago my father in law leo belanger passed away.he had a high nine second monza and a low 11 second vega his daughter drove.we sold the vega
and put her in the monza.that was his plan anyway!first time in the car,she gets down to 4 cars at orlando and they split the money.the next time out the car gets
sideways at the 1000 ft and hits the wall head on and barrel rolls across the finish line and lands on its side over the guard rail she climbed out through the
windshield opening unhurt,crying because she ruined her dads car.it was unsavable.she doesnt want another car but races mine sometimes,been to late rounds and a final. Scott

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In 1979 I put a LT-1 in my 76 monte carlo. so my brother and i wanted to see how this car would run, so we took it on this road doing about a 100 mph when all of a sudden this lady ( in a vega ) pull out her driveway into my lane...I hit the brakes and my car went sideways past the vega ( which was doing about 25 mph )... we did 2 360's and came to a stop in opposite lane about 40 feet away from a loaded gasoline tanker who saw us out of control and locked em up,,,lucky is an understatement...Luke Awdish

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right after my divorce, I had won first round of the first race at my local bracket race (that was a first after 5 years of trying), I had just picked up my time slip and was headed back to the trailer when some dumb ***** kid in a Ford Escort plowed into the front of my car. I had just put a new subframe in there over the winter, all i could hope for is that he didn't damage it. The next day while I was putting the roof on the trailer I was building, I had stepped off the ladder on to a 2x4 that wasn't there before I climbed up it and broke my leg. So now I have a wrecked racecar and a broke leg, all after the first race of the year.

In 08 at the divisional at HRP Iwas working turnaround at the last one when a Top Dragster came around the corner with no parachute and no brakes. I didn't know where he was going and he didn't know where I was running. He ended up in the field at the end of the track and NHRA d/q'ed him. Fortunately he didn't hit anything but the grass and fuel shutoff.

Re: Scary Moments in Your Racing Career?
 

I think it was 1980. I was in a Stk/SS Combo Elim at New England Dragway. Just when I went through the lights at the top end, I heard a "pop!" and the car veered to the left. I fought it and kept it in the lane. I pulled over on the return road to check it out. I had blown my left front tire. Luckily, I had filled both my front tires with that "slime" sealant. I had sealant all over the left side of the car and the wheel well but it eventually held although the pressure dropped to about 10 lbs. I refilled the tire in the pits and I was able to complete the Eliminator.

On another occasion, also running Stk/SS Combo at New England Dragway, I was in the staging lanes. Our lane got called and we all started moving. I was distracted by something and the next thing I know, I rear-ended the car in front of me. A beautiful yellow and white '55 Chevy SS/PA. That scared the hell out of me. I thought there was going to be a fight in the staging lanes. Luckily, there was no damage to either car (although I'm sure the other driver -no names- thought I was an a@@hole!).

Re: Scary Moments in Your Racing Career?
 

cool thread...

had my own fuel cell experience... left it off during a "let's have dinner during the oildown" experience, proceeded to launch into a pretty steep wheelstand in a 243" wb Top Dragtser... just about ready to whimp out and pull out of the throttle when the open fuel cell sloshed fuel out, it's drawn through the radiator and vaporizes on the engine in a huge, John-Force style fireball... car slammed down to the ground and burned for awhile 'til the boys hit it with the extinguishers... my S/SS buddies at Grand Bend helped us rewire things overnight, and we ran the next day...

luck ran out two months ago at the Dutch with the same Top Dragster... 197 mph and no brakes -- the caliper mount broke, spun around and ripped the brake line in half... the jury is still out as to whether or not the gates were open to the sand pit (my competitor said no...), but it didn't matter much as I thought I could make it around the big sweeping turn at Maple Grove onto the return road... car flipped over onto its side halfway around the corner and I did a hard slide into the chain link fence... thankfully, it ran right in on the wing and rear slick/wheel, which slowed it down enough that I walked away untouched. Of course, I did a reverse swan dive coming down the motorhome steps the next day and about killed myself...

s

Re: Scary Moments in Your Racing Career?
 

About 15 years ago I was bracket racing at US-131 dragway in Martin, Mich. I was making a time run against a car that was roughly 1-2 seconds quicker than mine. As we approach the finish line, I see what appears to be a long piece of chrome fly off of his car. It hits the track and bounces about 20' into the air, right in front of my car as I'm going about 115 MPH. Luckily, it bounces toward the guard rail. I later found out that he had just changed his Pitman arm and had left the wrench, a very large combination end wrench, laying on the radiator support!

Re: Scary Moments in Your Racing Career?
 

Well if anybody ever seen me in my roadster, EVERY run was scary, lol
The worst was one weekend at National Trails Raceway when they use to run the Fall Classic in late October. It was qualifying for the Quick 32, and it was misting a little bit, well Clark Rader (yes that’s how long ago this was) told us all either race or go home, he was running a race. Well being young and still brave at that time i was going to race, the car was set up to go fast (9 teens) when i left the line the car started skating from the get go, right pass the tree it got up on 2 wheels and headed for the right guard rail. In the mean time while crossing lanes the racer (yes i was in left lane, lol) in the right lane just got past me as I was coming over. At that time and I know who ever that has crashed or spun out, ect. Knows this, you have so much time it seems like before things happen. I looked over the guard rail and there was both of my parents standing in the hot car lanes (those are the lanes in front of bleachers at trails still today) they was looking at me and at the last second I grabbed the wheel and yanked it hard left and somehow I didn’t touch a thing on the car. Clark called me to the tower and wanted me to park the car but I did prove to him on next run it was still drivable.
That’s just one of my scary moments, lol

Here is a shot from other one:
http://thumb5.webshots.net/t/50/650/...5VqJITG_th.jpg

Re: Scary Moments in Your Racing Career?
 

Joe why was the hood scoop plug still in?