Video: Debbie Reed’s Spectacular New Year’s Day Crash

On New Year’s Day, during qualifying for the ANDRA Pro Series’ New Year Series event at the Willowbank Raceway in Australia, veteran female competitor Debbie Reed suffered a catastrophic finish line crash in her Top Alcohol Dragster following a 5.980-second, 360 kilometers per hour pass. The fifty one-year old mother of two and grandmother-to-be was treated at the track by medical personnel and transported via road to the Ipswich Hospital. Despite the severity of the crash, Reed was later cleared of serious head injuries and remained at Ipswich in stable condition for over a week.

Recently, husband Steve Reed, a veteran Australian Top Alcohol competitor himself, viewed the top end footage of the frightening crash himself and spoke on camera of the ordeal, of Debbie’s continued recovery, and what the future may hold for her 30-plus year career behind the wheel.

As you can see in the footage, as Read neared the quarter mile finish stripe, her dragster began drifting out of the groove to the right, hugging the centerline as it went though the traps. It appears then as though Reed over corrected the car back across the lanes, although oil spillage on the tires from the valve covers has been rumored as the culprit. Her dragster takes a hard glancing blow into the left hand retaining wall and breaking the chassis just aft of the firewall. With the throttle possibly hung and no steering to be had, it careens across the lanes into the opposing wall and slides to a rest on its top just short of the stand trap.

Steve Reed had just completed his qualifying attempt in his Top Alcohol Funny Car moments prior and witness the crash unfold from the top end of the race track. Said Steve “I though the worst and jumped in the nearest car and went to the braking area.” Reed, who has experienced his share of accidents during his long career, is quick to credit the safety regulations set forth by ANDRA for making the end result of a rather nasty crash much less severe than it could’ve been. Steve indicates that both he and Debbie will evaluate her possible return to the cockpit as she continues to recover.

“We’ll assess where we are from here and we’ll talk about it, Debbie and I. We haven’t spoken yet as to whether she wants to continue driving, but over the next couple months we’ll discuss things as a family and figure out where to go from here.”