Eric Medlen Saves Another Life

[Bobby Bennett]

Drag Racing Internet Magazine - Competition Plus.com - ERIC MEDLEN SAVES ANOTHER LIFE

 

[Gary H]

That was a wild ride watching it on TV. And was it Cruz that had a bunch of sparks come our from under the front wheels at the finish line? Anyone know what happened there?

 

[Butch]

“[Medlen] broke a rear end and the oscillation is what did so much damage to the car.”

Am I dumb? but this is the first I've heard of the wheel problem in Eric's mishap.
I always heard it was just unheard of tire shake. The way I understand it now is, The rear end broke damaging the wheel resulting in the oscillation that I & everyone was thinking was tire shake.

 

[Gary H]

They said last night that the wheel hub broke...

 

[Rumblebones]

“[Medlen] broke a rear end and the oscillation is what did so much damage to the car."

Bob Tasca has a similar broken hub in qualifying (Carolinas) and will race another day.

 

[.]

“[Medlen] broke a rear end and the oscillation is what did so much damage to the car.”

Am I dumb? but this is the first I've heard of the wheel problem in Eric's mishap.
I always heard it was just unheard of tire shake. The way I understand it now is, The rear end broke damaging the wheel resulting in the oscillation that I & everyone was thinking was tire shake.

Just the other day I re-read the articles on CompPlus from 2 years ago about heat-treated tubing after John's wreck and it said in one article that something hit the inside sidewall of the tire which caused it to come apart resulting in the severe out-of-balance that shook him to death. I don't know if they ever found what hit the tire.

Drag Racing Internet Magazine - Competition Plus.com - TUBULAR TALES -- AN INVESTIGATIVE STORY

Force’s accident appeared to be an almost mirror image of the accident that cost Eric Medlen his life in March of this year.

Chassis builder Murf McKinney says, “according to John Medlen (the accidents) were very, very similar.”

It’s also possible that John Force Racing was on the verge of what would have then been a second major chassis-related incident at Maple Grove in August when alert crew members spotted chassis damage after Robert Hight’s first round victory during which his car had gone through severe tire shake. Due to that damage Hight was a no-show for the second round, and debuted a brand new car just days later at the NHRA U.S. Nationals.

In the Medlen accident the Goodyear tires did play a pivotal role, and Goodyear’s engineers have publicly stated that something struck the inside sidewall of one of the tires, resulting in its failure. The question then becomes, “Where did the object come from that hit the tire, and what was it?”

It’s conceivable, but unlikely, that Medlen ran over something on the track with his front tires, which picked up that object, throwing it to the back of the car, where it struck the inside sidewall. More likely is that something came off the car and hit the tire, causing its failure.

What can’t be denied is how severely and dramatically Medlen’s chassis failed in his accident. Observers on the scene in Gainesville report his mechanics being visibly shaken and outspoken in their displeasure upon discovering how many places the car seemed to come apart in the accident.