Video: Spectator View Of Mike Austin’s Pomona TAD Crash

It was a scene played and replayed during the ESPN2 telecasts from Pomona over the weekend and one that’s sure to be shown on drag racing highlight reels for years to come.

During the opening round of eliminations for the Top Alcohol Dragster category at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona on Saturday afternoon, Medford, Oregon-based racer Mike Austin went for one of the wildest rides we’ve seen in a long time.

Paired with No. 1 qualifier Jim Whitely, Austin’s blown alcohol mount made a hard move toward the centerline where an abrupt lack of traction sent the dragster careening on it’s side into and over the guardrail at what ESPN2 analyst Mike Dunn estimated at around 150 MPH. Jersey barriers placed outside the confines of the guardrails made the resulting impacts perhaps less damaging than they could’ve been, and most importantly, Austin escaped and literally walked away from this devastating incident. Of course the pocketbook is in some pain for this budget racer, but as we all know, race cars can be fixed or replaced.

The clip shown above was filmed from the spectator grandstands, providing a different angle on this wild incident from those shown on the ESPN2 cameras. Not quite as in-your face as the television cameras that were in the direct path of the errant dragster, but a new angle nonetheless.