A real gift to fans — an unforgettable sight and additional costs for the teams budgets. Frankly, at the event of the most ambitious dregovoy series it was not very long ago. accidents concentration was extremely high, and some of the episodes and did enter into the modern history of American drag racing: some — because of the curious, and some — because of the unprecedented scale of the incident.
It all started during the first qualifying session in Pro Mod class on Friday. Forecasters predicted a worsening of weather conditions, and therefore, because of the possible cancellation of Saturday's races thirty teams tried to squeeze everything out of their technology in the hopes to be among the participants, who continue to struggle in the playoffs. Both dregster started not the best, but at the moment when the situation seemed to have stabilized, turbocharged Chevrolet Corvette C7 running Sidney Frigo at about 230 mph speed abruptly thrown on the dividing line of the strip. After meeting with a plastic block, the front part of the body and suspension were damaged and the car spun across the track. The impact was really terrible, because clash with the striker was «on the forehead.» Corvette rolled several times in all possible planes, losing on the go, and the wheels of the car body cladding, and landed on the roof is already beyond the asphalt canvas. The pilot was urgently taken to hospital by helicopter from the scene of the accident. Later it turned out that the security service in some sense to be safe driver escaped with a broken arm, and a day later returned to the strip as a spectator. As he said in an interview Frigo, he tried at first to keep dregster on the course with the help of the accelerator, but at some point worked enough driving, and then to do anything about it was useless.
The holder of the national record in the class, which debuted this year at the wheel of Pro Mod dregster, Jonathan Gray also distinguished himself during Friday races. At a speed of over 250 mph, after the car crossed the finish line, for unknown reasons, the rear wheel of the car exploded at the very moment when the braking parachutes shot. Unlike Sidney Frigo Gray lucky a lot more red Chevrolet Camaro ottormozilsya right sidewall of the concrete barrier and stopped. The rider himself out of the cockpit and immediately signaled to the stands that came out unscathed from this very unpleasant situation.
In the first round of races Shootout in the fastest division met Terry McMillen and eight-time champion Tony Schumacher. As they say, there were no signs of trouble, but the sudden explosion was so powerful that it swept away with the blower motor like a feather, though he was assigned additional Kevlar straps to the unit just to avoid similar incidents. What happened after that at all except as a total bad luck can hardly be called a compressor bounced off the asphalt and landed exactly on the rear left wheel, which led to the instant transformation of tires to pieces and destroying the rear wing. Despite everything that happened, and that the brake parachutes were torn to shreds by numerous fragments, the outcome of the accident can be called the most successful in a similar situation: dregster pritersya to bump stop, and stopped very quickly. Terry McMillen was not injured and will appear on stage in Atlanta on a new car, and the fans with the experience unanimously agreed that such a fiery extravaganza on strips NHRA was not ten years.
The final race in the Pro Mod class fans will remember for a long time. Ricky Smith at this event marked the best time among the cars equipped with nitrous oxide injection, and was the first who was able to overcome the 250-mile barrier, using this configuration to increase the impact of the power plant. The veteran was a clear favorite in the decisive battle, but it came out the winner of his opponent, who was not even crossed the finish line. Something went wrong immediately after the start, dragster Smith first at full throttle flew to bump right in front of the miracle had time to slow down Jim Whiteley, then Chevrolet Camaro with the failed steering once again crossed the center line and collided with a guardrail It has on its track. Movement Smith stopped only on the side of his opponent, laying siege to uncontrollable car stationary using the brake, without the help of parachutes. It is necessary to pay tribute to the steel shutter speed and phenomenal skills of the rider, because we have seen this weekend, what could cause such scenarios. As a result, disqualified for crossing the dividing line and not the most promising prospects for recovery technique to the next stage.
This was Houston. Unpredictable, entertaining and extremely dangerous. On the other hand, these four incidents — a clear demonstration of the fact that security in drag racing continues to be at the highest level.
Photo: Mark J. Rebilas
