Posted on 07/06/2005 1:09:44 PM PDT by wallcrawlr
It will likely go down in history as the most freakish, nightmarish accident in drag-racing history. One top drag-racing official with 40 years' experience told the media he'd never seen or heard of anything like it.
On the first Saturday in April, Michelle "Shelly" Howard, a 59-year-old registered nurse and mother of three who had been drag-racing for 27 years, took her Top Alcohol Dragster for a 10 p.m. practice run at Tulsa Raceway Park as part of a late-night event. Howard, the wife of a Tulsa physician, had huge experience—she'd won the Division 4 title twice and was a three-time national event winner. Top Alcohol is just one notch below drag racing's ferocious 8000-hp Top Fuel class, where these rails rip to 100 mph in less than a second and at least one has turned the quarter-mile at 335 mph in 4.4 seconds.
Howard got off to a good start, but what happened next will have drag-racing people shaking their heads in disbelief for years to come. About halfway down the quarter-mile course, the nose of her dragster got airborne, lifted straight up into what is called a "blowover wheelstand," and while continuing to roar down the track standing on its tail, turned 180 degrees and came down with tremendous force, now facing the starting line. It is likely Howard was knocked unconscious.
Although the dragster was pointed toward the start line and the wheels were spinning in that direction, the tremendous momentum continued to send it backward, toward the finish line, which it passed, astonishingly, at 115 mph with a time of 6.633 seconds. This rearward travel finally ended about 1500 feet past the finish line, with Howard unconscious and the dragster's throttle still at full tilt. Then the rear wheels sent the dragster headed back toward the start line, careening off the spectator and tower lanes as it gained speed, and crossing the line where it had started the race just seconds earlier, at perhaps 250 mph.
Adding an element of tragic, numbing shock, Howard's husband, Paul, was watching all of this, helplessly, from the stands, while their son, Brian, 36, was in the back of their chase vehicle about 125 feet behind the start line. The dragster next plunged into the chase vehicle, killing mother and son instantly. The force of this bizarre collision sent the dragster and chase vehicle 225 feet through a rear burnout wall and into an open field and stream, according to a report posted on the Internet.
Besides her husband, Shelly Howard is survived by two daughters.
I've never understood why these things are so popular. Personally, I have NO desire to see a person in drag strip. :-)
Tragic and bizarre.
I read about this when it happened months ago and it was very sad.
What a tragedy. Very sad.
Lots of vehicles have "dead man" switches that cut off the engine if the operator becomes disabled. These don't have such a thing installed?
I never heard about it until it hit Car & Driver. Then I looked it up and found other news articles online.
It is very sad.
Makes you think about putting a remote shut down device on there.
I hate it when that happens.
Way wierd - 1st. Saturday in April - I was at my accontants office crying.
Her vehicle was equipped with a kill switch.
Ping
Racing is all about finding that fine line. Sometimes it gets crossed and this is what happens. It isn't for everybody. If you play, expect to pay.
Sad anyway.
Even a stand-alone garage door opener could have allowed her husband to kill the engine with the push of a button.
Probably not because the car is shaking like mad and there is the possibility of accidentally killing the engine and losing the race. However, it might not be a bad idea to have safety man with a digitally encoded remote control (digitally encodes to block random or malicious signals and dual buttons to prevent accidental shutdowns) that could kill the engine from anywhere on the track.
The drag strip was where all the kids went when we were in high school. Why didnt the engine stop when she went unconsious? her foot was no longer pressing the pedal, and if there is another way to give it gas(like on a boat), that is a bad idea because if you go unconsious, the car will keep going.
How about a remote one?
Could that be a safety feature in the future?
Something the pitcrew would hang on to that could shut the car down in a crash.
When the magazine arrived a couple weeks ago, I stumbled upon this column and could hardly believe what I was reading. Wow.
I wanted to post it then but it wasn't yet online. Glad to see someone did.
She was beautiful.
I'm amazed that the thing stayed running that long. These things don't carry that much fuel, and the engine is running on compression only by halfway through the run. By all rights, it should have grenaded after being kept at full throttle so long.
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