[Kenny Wigington]

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 !