Re: Scary Pro-Stock crash
Yea that was this past weekend at Enis, Tx at the motorplex.<br />They neither one got a broken bone.<br />Here is a report from Allen.<br />_______________________________________________<br />Bruce Allen doesn't remember any part of the spectacular accident he was involved in Friday night at Texas Motorplex. He doesn't remember getting in his Reher-Morrison Pontiac Pro Stocker. He doesn't remember putting on his helmet or strapping on his safety belts. He doesn't remember doing a burnout or launching his race car and zipping down the track. He doesn't remember drifting out of the groove or when his car suddenly went left and flipped onto its side. <br /><br />He doesn't remember the impact when his opponent, Ken Koretsky, literally drove through the tubing of his chassis and blasted his car into several pieces. He doesn't remember flipping and spinning, catching on fire, or sliding down the track upside down. He doesn't remember being knocked out, the short ambulance ride to the evacuation helicopter, the flight to the hospital. It's all gone, erased from his memory forever. Thank God.<br /><br />Groggy from the ordeal and numbed by medication, Allen finally relived the accident at the same time millions of stunned viewers did, watching the race coverage on ESPN2 Sunday afternoon. Like everyone else, the 55-year-old veteran of 31 Pro Stock seasons was horrified by what he saw. <br /><br />How could I live through something like that? How could that be me? How can I be sitting here virtually unscathed after going on a ride like that? What happened?<br /><br /> <br />Watch the incredible videos<br /> <br />"I've seen a lot of things in my life, but if you asked me if I've seen a wreck worse than that one I don't think I could come up with one right now," Allen said. "I'm pretty beat up. I feel like I've been in a 100-round axe fight and I lost my axe in the first round. But I'm sitting here talking, and I don't have any broken bones. I feel very lucky."<br /><br />Running in the right lane, Allen's car drifted out of the track's groove just as he was shifting into high gear. The car appeared to experience some tire shake and in the blink of an eye was suddenly veering into the path of Koretsky's car. It turned up onto its right side for a split second before Koretsky literally drove through the undercarriage of Allen's car, knocking it into several pieces. Most notably, the front of the car from the windshield forward was sheared off. The cockpit, or what was left of it, slid along behind Koretsky's vehicle for several hundred feet until everything came to a stop well past the finish line.<br /><br />Paramedics and the vaunted NHRA Safety Safari were on the scene in seconds, and an unconscious Allen was carefully extricated from his car and placed on a backboard. As medics lifted the backboard to a stretcher, Allen came to, much to the relief of everyone on the scene.<br /><br />Meanwhile, Koretsky had climbed from his car and walked back to where Allen was being worked on. With adrenaline pumping through his body, Koretsky watched as Allen was loaded into an ambulance to be transported to the helicopter. It was only then, after he made sure Allen was alive, that Koretsky realized he was also in some pain and finally accepted help for himself. <br /><br />"I haven't talked to Kenny yet," Allen said. "From what I saw on TV, I think it was good that his car punched mine forward and kept it from going over the wall. At least it was good for me, I mean, obviously not so good for Kenny. Maybe it would have been a different outcome if Kenny wasn't there to straighten me out and keep the energy of the wreck going down the track."<br /><br />Widely regarded as one of the most cautious drivers on tour, Allen has competed in 385 of NHRA's 546 Pro Stock races. He's won 16 races in 39 final-round showings and has an impressive 314-295 record in eliminations. Despite his lengthy résumé, this accident marks just the second time he's ever been involved in a wreck. Ironically, his other scrape was at Texas Motorplex, his home track, when his parachutes bunched up at the top end and he tangled with opponent Gary Brown and the wall before climbing out of his totaled car uninjured.<br /><br />"We always say the Motorplex has the narrowest groove," said Allen, who moved from Michigan to Texas years ago when he was hired by Reher-Morrison Racing Engines. "I was curious as to what went wrong this time. Did I overcorrect? I don't think so. If something broke in the car, we'll never know. There were so many pieces scattered around they were still finding parts on Sunday. It was just a fluke thing."<br /><br />Unlike Koretsky, who has made overtones of hanging up his firesuit for good, Allen says he'll probably race again. The team already had a new car on order, and Allen expects they'll hit the strip at some point in the future.<br /><br />"We'll need time to reorganize," Allen said. "I'll need to heal some more. My three main fingers are ground down from the tips to where the fingernail starts. Saturday I was so tired that if I stopped talking I'd just fall asleep. I couldn't believe how tired I was. It got a little better [Sunday] and a lot better [Monday]. If this keeps up, I should feel normal in a few more days.<br /><br />"I told David [Reher] how sorry I was that I tore up the car, but he said he didn't care about that. We haven't even talked about long-range stuff, but this is our business and it's what we do.<br /><br />"It's also our family. Mike and Lisa Edwards were with us at the hospital. Larry Morgan, Rickie Smith, **** Maskin, and several others came by. I think I was asleep for some of them, but it was nice to know how much people cared. I'm glad [wife] Deb had some great support. The e-mails and calls we've gotten from fans have been awesome.<br /><br />"We've had offers from several teams to use their spare cars if we want to race in Vegas or Pomona. I don't think we'll do that. I'm thinking next year at the earliest.
<br /><br />Bruce Allen and Ken Koretsky are both very luckey individuals....
