Worst Stuck-Throttle Incident EVER

[twostep]

I've seen a lot of drag racing mishaps in my time, many a lot worse than this, but none more bizarre. Street Car SuperNats, Las Vegas, this weekend. Final qualifying round.

XDR FIREBIRD WRECK IN VEGAS SCSN 7 - YouTube

 

[sparky]

I'd be curious about the details on that one. Was the driver hurt or knocked out from the wall impact? I hope not.

Seems like it could have been a lot worse if the car would have gotten on the other side of the wall.

 

[twostep]

They're guessing that the driver was knocked unconscious after the second wall strike. Not sure if his foot or some object physically jamming the throttle linkage was the culprit. The driver is OK. Other than that, no other news that I'm aware of.

 

[Randy]

I'm here with Dan Nickeson running pro mod and are pitted next to the end of the grandstands. While we didn't see it we certainly heard it. Very scary deal. While the engine was screaming the announcer was telling people to get away from the starting line area in case the car made a move back up the track. We were happy to hear that the driver survived the whole deal.

 

[Buns]

While this was bad, I would contend that what happened to Bert Jackson earlier this year is the worst incident ever.

 

[t-roy]

Report on YB is that the driver was unconscious when they arrived at the car.

 

[jm]

IMHO...

1. Shelly Howard
2. Bert Jackson
3. Whit Bazemore, testing @ IRP... musta hit 345 mph. Whit, correct me if i am way off base, please...

John Matson

 

[twostep]

Should have said 'weirdest' rather than 'worst', I suppose. I wasn't aware of the Bert Jackson incident and had forgotten completely about Shelly Howard. Of course, nothing's worse than a fatality or an serioius-injury accident.

Let's hope this driver just got his bell rung and that he'll be OK.

 

[.]

That throttle was stuck before he ever crossed the center line. It sure seemed like an eternity for the safety crew to get to the car.

 

[yoda]

That throttle was stuck before he ever crossed the center line. It sure seemed like an eternity for the safety crew to get to the car.

Emergency Lights were on and the truck was moving before the car came to a stop ( look at the shutdown area in the video- truck was on the move PDQ)

I've heard a broken arm and hospital observation for some swelling on the brain...

 

[Toejam]

That throttle was stuck before he ever crossed the center line. It sure seemed like an eternity for the safety crew to get to the car.

That's what I thought! Seemed like 15-20 seconds he sat there! If he had been on Fire he would be Dead right now!

 

[MM]

Emergency Lights were on and the truck was moving before the car came to a stop ( look at the shutdown area in the video- truck was on the move PDQ)

I've heard a broken arm and hospital observation for some swelling on the brain...

Had to be nerve racking for the safety crew driving from the shutdown area through that billowing cloud of smoke and hearing the car at full rev, having no idea where it could be at. Within ten seconds of them arriving on the scene, the cut off switch was hit and there was water on the fire. I say the safety crew did a hell of a job.

 

[BaldyLochs]

Ugh that's scary. Can't imagine how ugly it could have gotten had the car moved back towards the starting line.

I'm curious if the Safety Safari has a contingency/emergency response plan for something like that happening. My late friend, Wayne Bailey from Michigan, flipped his top fueler once, and it pointed back up track. Luckilly he didn't get very far and didn't get hurt very badly.

 

[Toejam]

Ugh that's scary. Can't imagine how ugly it could have gotten had the car moved back towards the starting line.

The Shelly Howard incident comes to mind....

 

[TR]

Very scary, I'm glad the driver is O.K., but in racing you never know what's going to happen, lucky in this case it was a single car pass, it could have been a lot worse. Kudos to the safety guys, not being able to see, what if the driver was laying out on the track, with the visibility they could have run over him.

Rick

 

[Rajunz]

From reading the comments under the video, it says the master cylinder broke off the firewall and that is what locked up the front tires. That's divine intervention right there..............

 

[JL]

From reading the comments under the video, it says the master cylinder broke off the firewall and that is what locked up the front tires. That's divine intervention right there..............

You aren't kidding. That is amazing. Happy everyone was okay.

 

[the zone]

Shelly Howard's crash and aftermath are easily the most horrific in drag racing period!!!!!!!!!!! For those that don't know the details, she had a blow over in her TAD and when the car landed it was pointed back up to the starting line and the throttle suck. She came back up the track and hit her tow vehicle with her handicapped son in the car. Both were killed


Luckily in this Vegas incident the driver is relatively okay a few bumps and bruises.
The guy that has the broken limbs and head injury at Vegas this past weekend was Rick Snavely in a 10.5 car. His went over the wall at close to 200mph.

Dean

 

[James]

Very scary, I'm glad the driver is O.K., but in racing you never know what's going to happen, lucky in this case it was a single car pass, it could have been a lot worse. Kudos to the safety guys, not being able to see, what if the driver was laying out on the track, with the visibility they could have run over him.

Rick

I agree, the safety team did a hell of a job. Need to make sure the car is done moving around lest someone gets killed trying to go for the shut off and the car takes off. Pretty ballsy on the part of the safety team. Sometimes 15 or 20 seconds evaluating a scene is exactly what's needed to keep more people from being hurt. Not sure there is a real good rescue scenario for something like this.

 

[Rollout96]

Had to be nerve racking for the safety crew driving from the shutdown area through that billowing cloud of smoke and hearing the car at full rev, having no idea where it could be at. Within ten seconds of them arriving on the scene, the cut off switch was hit and there was water on the fire. I say the safety crew did a hell of a job.

I have no idea how they could see through that. It did seem (rightfully) like they had to really go slow once they got in the middle of that smoke.

WOW!!