Debris from NHRA crash kills spectator

Sunday, Feb. 21, 2010

A high-speed crash at an NHRA event in Arizona catapulted a tire and other debris into a spectator area on Sunday, killing a woman watching the drag race.

The victim was airlifted to Good Samaritan Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Her name had not been released early Monday. She was attending the NHRA Arizona Nationals at Firebird International Raceway in Chandler, Ariz.

Eliminations continued after the accident, but were eventually halted by rain and scheduled to resume Monday.

Speedtv.com that Antron Brown's Top Fuel dragster appeared to lose traction moments after it roared off the starting line. The left-rear wheel came off and the 8,000-horsepower machine the car rolled onto its side.

It slid across the track and into a retaining wall. The car continued its slide along the barriers for several hundred before stopping. There was a flash of flame from spilled fuel.

"It felt like the back end just dropped out and the car started pitching end-over-end," Brown said, according to the Speedtv.com account.

"At that point, I was upside down, and in my mind, things were going crazy. I was just hoping I didn't go into Troy (Buff) or into the other lane. The next thing I knew, I hit the wall.

"I saw a little burst of flame come around my head, and I saw sparks."

It was not clear late Sunday if Brown was aware at the time that a spectator had been hurt. He and Buff were making the final run of Sunday's first round of Top Fuel eliminations.

Drag racing is head-to-head competition. Two cars line up and race from a standing start in parallel lanes, with the winner advancing to the next round. Cars in the NHRA's Top Fuel and Funny Car divisions routinely post top speeds well over 300 mph, completing their straight 1,000-foot runs in four seconds or less.

In what is an exception to the traditional format, the NHRA is expected to double the number of cars making each run at two events.

Four cars instead of two will be lined up March 25-28 at Zmax Dragway, part of the Charlotte Motor Speedway complex in Concord, N.C. That weekend's event is the first of two on the NHRA's 2010 calendar.

After Funny Car competitor Scott Kalitta was killed in a 2008 crash, the drag racing sanctioning body cut the distance of runs in the Top Fuel and Funny Car divisions from 1,320 feet – the traditional quarter-mile – to 1,000 feet.

Kalitta was the son of drag racing legend and team owner Connie Kalitta. Doug Kalitta, Connie Kalitta's nephew, was among the top qualifiers in Top Fuel at the weekend's Arizona Nationals.

Many blamed Scott Kalitta's death on the speeds reached in the NHRA's top divisions. Investigators also said the run-off area at the Englishtown, N.J., strip was too short. Hazards in that area drew further criticism.

All dragstrips have run-off areas that lie past the straight stretches of pavement on which the cars compete and are clocked.

It is also generally conceded that some strips – like Englishtown's and other, older facilities – lack enough room for drivers to slow down and stop when there's trouble during or immediately after their runs.

The fatality on Sunday was believed to be the first in a major National Hot Rod Association event since the mid-1970s, at least among non-participants.

Four seasons before Kalitta died, Darrell Russell, a rising star in the Top Fuel ranks, was killed in a crash during eliminations at Madison, Ill.

"The entire NHRA community is deeply saddened by today's incident," the drag racing body said in a news release Sunday night.

A separate NHRA release said that eliminations were scheduled to resume Monday. Forecasts called for more rain in the area.

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