Funny car wreck in Tn.
 

Just caught part of a news clip of a parade where a F/C, possibly an alcohol car killed four people. Driver had it fired and it got away from him. Didn't get the name of the car. What a sad day.

It wasn't a "funny car" but a "PRO MOD" and apparently driven by Troy Critchley. A burnout that shouldn't have been attempted...
I dislike "pro mods" anyway.........SAD that FOUR people are dead and many more injured and the LAWYERS are lining up ........

It was hard to see from the overhead night shot they showed. All I could see was a blower sticking out of a one piece body. Very sad.





The best substitue for brains is silence.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070617/...ar_show_deaths

what was a promod car doing in a parade with the engine running? And then a burnout?

jclegg

http://wmctv.com/global/video/popup/...5&rnd=39918235


CUT AND PASTE FOR VIDEO>

VERY TRAGIC

That was such a STUPID thing to do.
At a loss for words, just can't belive someone would do something like that .

After seeing the video report that Realracer posted above, one of the statements said was that they do an exhibition race there every year, but that this one had gone wrong. Looks like he should have gotten out of it earlier.

Ron Ortiz
U/SA

SEVEN PEOPLE NOW DEAD..........
Pathetic display of Horsepower and Ignorance.........The driver had about 20 years of experience drag racing .......he'd better have really DEEP POCKETS....as the lawyers are foaming at the moth !!

I echo the feelings of others - it looked like a full 330 pass with the tires smoking - maybe 120mph .

I hate that they use the words "drag" car - not many of us would have tried that. An exhibition of uncontrolled speed and no safety barriers.

Just confirms what I say to my 17 year old, all of the time. A few seconds of stupidity, can be repaid by a lifetime of grief or in some case end your life all together.

Too bad - no one wanted this but there was the opportunity for something unbelievable and unforeseen to happen.

Good judgment does not always prevail.



You can always make more money but you can never make more time - spend your time wisely

www.troycritchley.com was up this morning but has since been taken off line.

Doing this parade was great for the reason it is held but don't do a power launch. Driving the car down the street while rapping the throttle a few times to get the crowds' attention would have been the better option.

THIS...will really give drag racing attention we don't need.
I don't like the word stupid. Ignorant means he SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER.

My thoughts and prayers to the families.

Todd

First, I add my condolences for the families of the dead and injured in this terrible accident. What a horrible night ! I can't imagine how awful to lose family members, especially kids, on what was suppose to be a fun Saturday night.

But I'm a little dissapointed on how fast we'll throw one of our own under the bus after this. It's very, VERY easy in hinesight to say how stupid etc. this was to do. Yet had the caption read DRAGRACER THRILLS CROWD WITH BURNOUT FOR CHARITY we all would have beamed with pride.
I've seen and heard of hundreds of these types of burnouts thru the years at events like this. I've done it myself here in Savannah once at a public event. Yes, a pro-mod has tons more horsepower than my stocker, but Critchley had 20 years experience with these cars. Never in his wildest dreams would he think this would happen. I believe this was a one in a million, tragic event.
Remember first, this was for charity. He was there for all good intentions, and to be an ambassador for our sport. Second, the number I've heard is that Critchleys was about the 20th car to do a burnout on this night. This has been done for years at this event. Plus, we haven't even heard anything official yet. Is it possible that a throttle hung open ?

Anyone can say in hinesight that this was stupid to do. But had things gone as planned, the crowd would have cheered. And we would think it was cool.
It didn't go as planned. How terribly tragic !!! But other than the families of the dead, who do you think feels worse about this ? How would you feel if you had tried to do something good for the community, for a great charity, and killed 6 people ?

I hope we would come together as racers at a time like this. This racer is going to live the rest of his life knowing he killed 6 people. The sport got a black eye. So, do we abandon him as a total outcast dumbass ? Or try to absorb this, educate the public that this is not the norm, and was truly a one in a million type if thing ? ( I'm trying to remember the last time I saw a racecar of any class hit the wall on a burnout at the track, I don't remember one ).

I'm sure there will be changes if they have this event next year, as there should be. I don't know Critchley, but he's a dragracer. So I feel bad for him. I feel worse for the families of the dead. But I'm just not ready to throw him under the bus.

( sorry it got long )

Mike ( madness & ) Mayhem

i live in selmer.this kind of thing has been going on for severval years but has started getting a little out of hand in my opinion. i usually take my super stocker down just for the show but i was on vacation the week before. they are giving all kinds of excuses it seems, but it was a very bad situation. my ex-sister in law(27) got an injured ankle,her sister(19) got broken arm and cracked knee cap. my 2nd cousin(19) who had been married for 1 month got both legs broke and lost her husband..it is just so hard to describe seeing the video and listening to the screams for help.just keep the families and the whole town in prayer jason

Mike:
FINALLY a post that is NOT full of hatred and stupidity! Obviously this is an act which began w/ nice intentions, but turned bad. Our prayers and concerns should remain with the families and Troy. In a tragic situation like this, no one needs a "Monday morning quarterback".


Dean

dean ribeiro

Let's just say.....Very bad judgment on many levels. My prayers go out.
Sad time for our beloved sport.[:-question-:]

Mike Mayhew put it well. This is a situation of good intentions turning out bad. All the surviving parties and their families will have to relive the "what if's" of this accident every day. None of the people involved will be left untouched. I have no comment on what should or should not have taken place at the event, but I will state that this was not a drunk driver running down the highway at 70mph slamming into a van load of kids. I have worked as a Paramedic for 25+years and have saw more death than I wish to revisit. When there is a death in a crash it is either the driver, drivers friend ,f amily, or a complete strainger. The mental anguish and suffering is the same for all parties. Keep all involved in your prayers. Offer Troy a kind word and not a kick in the butt, he will be beating himself up enough without our help. Don Jackson

This was a "tragic" accident but an accident it was allowed by the locality. Not a pair of cars on a local road (street race).
It was an attempt to do something good. If a plane crashes at an air show. Do they condenm flying?
I feel for the injured and their families, my condolences for those that didn't make it. I also feel for the driver that will have to relive that day a million times or more.
I can remember back in my days of street racing. When there were so many people watching they actually overflowed onto the road , so as when the cars left the people would have to move back or get run over. Thank God nothing happened that night, the cars left the people moved..
When I think back now about the stupid things I've done I consider myself very lucky..

ART LEONG
SOON TO BE FRONT DRIVE SUPERSTOCKER

Artie;
Might that have been 1st Ave (Bush Terminal) in Bklyn?Or maybe Columbia St. in Red Hook?

Ed

When are you coming up?

Mike:
sorry, after reading my post, it sounds like I am referring to you finally posting something intelligent and nice!? my reference was NOT towards you, but this site in general.

Thanks again for having the courage and decency to support a fellow racer during a very difficult time.


Dean

dean ribeiro

I was talking about "the conduit, 150 street" It was the Smallwood Bros. Camaro against our our #3000 race hemi. We got 2 and the break. We won.
.
Hope to be up in the fall (map;le grove?). Waiting on the Cylinder head /intake setup, and a few incidentals
See you soon.

ART LEONG
SOON TO BE FRONT DRIVE SUPERSTOCKER

Hey Dean,
I knew what ya meant. http://www.classracer.com/html/happy.gif I think your point got across too.
Thinking about Art's post, my mind wondered to some of my street racing days as a teenager. We would launch and run on a deserted street late on a Sat. night, with dozens of people lining the road just as in this deal. Just a stroke of luck no one was killed. Half *** tires on the cars. The money went in to the motor. Nothing was really safe. Even raced a cop in his personal car one night.
So many things we do could go wrong, and ...some... we know better.
I tow 53' trailer behind a P/U and average about 75+ MPH most the time. I get passed frequently by other racers going 80+. A tire blows out at the wrong time, I crash into a carload of illegals, and the heading is.... Speeding Dragracer barreling to race kills hardworking migrant workers

On Fox news they had a several minute segment on this tragedy ( pro-mod..not the migrants ) and it was very fair. The >>experts, said drag racing is NOT an extreme sport when that was brought up. This guy said drag racing is very legitimate, and this was just an unfortunate accident. Talked about this was done for charity etc. This guy wasn't from any sanctioning body, but he did dragracing a service and I've noticed dragracing has for the most part NOT been bashed over this. I think the public is smarter than we give them credit for sometimes.

Guess I'll see ya up north in a month or so Dean.
Art.....get that bad boy ready and lets go to Mi.





http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/a...andtheflag.jpg

Well, it was 11pm, I shut my computer down, was just about to turn the TV off and hit the sack when the local news started talking about kids "drag racing" in an Orlando, FL subdivision, hitting a van, killing 2 and injuring several others! While a few people did say "street" racing, the majority of the references was "drag" racing.

Well, that pissed me off! I doubt it will do any good, but I got back on the computer and emailed them about when are they going to learn how to accurately report news! I was restraining myself and kept it short because I work early. If nothing else, it made me feel better.

But I did have a thought! May not be practical, but a thought nonetheless:

A class action lawsuit against any media that reports "street racing" as "drag racing" because it slanders a legitimate sport, may actually encourage people to shut down local "drag" strips (which can actually reduce the "street" racing problem}, potentially costing participants and the race tracks money because the media continually associates "drag" racing with illegal activities, death and destruction, thus turning away potential sponsors because they are afraid to be associated with "that"....there's probably more, but you get the point.

Hope this wasn't too far off topic. But in the overall picture, drag racing doesn't need any more bad publicity, especially if it's inaccurate and after this Pro Mod incident.

Locomotion Racing
http://www.geocities.com/locomotionracing

I know here in Ca. there has been an effort to enlighten the local TV reporters to the difference. It takes constant reminding and I have seen a change. The majority of the time they'll refer to street accidents as just that, street racing and I've even heard one of the guys correct himself during the braodcast. It does take someone letting these people know. Don't expect someone else to inform them. Do what Myron did at least. Be nice about it too.

Sometimes the best substitute for brains is silence.

Myron,

Here in Houston, the Chronicle would title it Drag Racing instead of Street Racing. After several e-mails to the paper, including the reference to Houston Raceway Park having a Friday session for the street racers, they printed my response in the editorial section and since then have refrained from including the term Drag Racing while writing stories about a fatal street race. Maybe someone up there got the point.

Todd

Thanks. At least there is progress somewhere. But I have emailed them (WESH Channel 2) as well as the local paper in past years and it obviously hasn't changed yet. But we have to keep trying!

Locomotion Racing
http://www.geocities.com/locomotionracing

saw on the news that california has new approach to stop street racing... they are confiscating cars and crushing them !!! that should get a few racers off the street http://www.classracer.com/html/happy.gif... bruce dont get caught http://www.classracer.com/html/happy.gif

as far as the tennessee idiot i wouldnt have done a burnout in my 14 second wagon with throngs of spectators nearby... and it has brakes !

jack

I have been reading and formulating a reply trying not to sound ignorant and hatefull. I feel terrible for the families and The guy driving. IMHO the blame lies with the promotors and whomever allowed people to stand right on the curb on the side and infront of such a powerfull and volitile car. Something could have gone wrong with the car, throttle maybe, clutch pedal could have stuck not allowing him to get out of it. Most of us know that when you get off the throttle on these blown alcohol motors, you don't really get off of it. Maybe his foot slipped out of the pedal. Tons of things could have happend that a guardrail could have kept in check. This is not a drag racing accident it is an exhibition accident that has happend many time over the years and this is why these cars are relegated to the track.

We are all of the same opinion. Support our fellow racer in his recovery and return to the track and prayers for the families that have lost a loved one. This was a horrible day for motorsports in general.

Just gooes to show that no matter how well you know your car, or how much experience you may have that even the slowest of drag cars are unpredictable and dangerous in the wrong situation.

Sorry for the run on sentances..

Dustin Chase 470 L/AA

I'm sure it could have been prevented but even if you took away everything fun accidents will still happen. It's a terrible blow for drag racing even though it wasn't at the track.

The media generally has a terrible time with correctly naming or describing anything to do with cars. I first heard "Parade" which made me think of my own 'tragedy'. It was 40 years and a month ago when a downtown parade included cars and banners for a new local drag strip and somebody thoughtlessly let the marching bands and trailered cars get up the block and let a dragster do a dangerous burnout (they actually launched like that back then) and pull the chute in front of an impressionable little tyke. It ruined his life. He spends all his money on cars and races and visits drag racing websites even now! http://www.classracer.com/html/ooo.gif