Scary Moments in Your Racing Career?

Larry Fulton · 12-11-2008, 03:21 PM

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

12-11-2008, 03:21 PM	#15
Larry Fulton Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 271 Likes: 54 Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Scary Moments in Your Racing Career? 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