Scary Moments in Your Racing Career?

[Bob Pagano]

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.

[John Kelley]

Originally Posted by bill dedman

nobody ever accused me of being smart. bill

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

[GaryGoFast]

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.

[FLEMING]

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..

[bobby]

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.

[Bob Don]

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!).