This devastating accident that aired on ESPN2’s Inside Drag racing program back in 1996 has been seared into my memory all these years and when I stumbled upon it on YouTube, it just had to be shared.
For those that don’t recall the Inside Drag Racing show, it was a half-hour program that aired each week and was hosted by Bret Kepner, Ted Jones, and other renowned voices in the sport. Despite being rather interview and sponsor heavy, the show did a great job showcasing organizations and races that would normally never be shown before a national television audience. Case in point: the United Drag Racers Association meet at Cordova Dragway Park in Illinois.
During qualifying in the Supercharged Dragster category, driver Eric Hendaberger, in the lane nearest to the camera, rattled the tires just off the starting line and in his attempt to drive through the shake, lost control of his mount and shot across the center line into the path of Lou Novotny. The resulting contact cause Novotny’s machine to break just behind the drivers roll cage and climb the guardrail, sending it soaring outside the confines of the strip itself.
Hendaberger walked away unscathed and Novotny did likewise after being checked out by safety personnel following an incident that could’ve easily resulted in a much worse outcome for the drivers and the nearby spectators alike.
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