Video: Watch Nicky Bonifante Tell The Most Insane Rental Car Story Ever – Legend Of The Bob Gilbertson Cadillac


Video: Watch Nicky Bonifante Tell The Most Insane Rental Car Story Ever – Legend Of The Bob Gilbertson Cadillac

In the realm of rental car stories they literally do not get any more insane than this. It is a tale of escalating insanity, potential death and injury, of trouble, fines, and flat out crazy behavior. In short, you are going to hear Nicky Bonifante tell the most incredible rental car story you have ever heard and one that (we don’t think) can ever be topped without some serious injury being involved, and there ARE injuries involved with this one. It all happened more than a decade ago and people are still talking about it today. In fact, I tell people this story all the time and half of them don’t believe me. Well here it comes straight from Nicky Bonifante who was there and inside the flaming rental car for a time before he decided to exit stage left.

When this happened Bob Gilbertson ran kind of a mixed schedule. He’d hit some NHRA and some IHRA races each season. I was still in my tenure as an IHRA announcer at that point and to say that Gilby and the boys knew how to party would be an understatement. In fact, if there was a national even centered around fun these guys would have been undefeated 100 times out of 100. Fun is what got them into what turned into a catastrophe in Las Vegas during pre season testing but that’s for Nicky to tell you about.

This is one of those stories that seems like it has hit its peak and then it just keeps going and going. We’re not saying that in a bad way but we’re preparing you because when your jaw hits the desk the first time you have about three more shots to go before it is over.

Bobby Bennett at CompetitionPlus has been running this series of videos called Drag Racing Storytellers and they are fantastic. They are important to. This type of stuff is what we need to preserve history and keep some of these stories truthful instead of people thinking that they are urban legends!

Press play below to hear the most insane rental car story ever –

Here’s the press release from NHRA following this melee –

The NHRA has fined Funny Car Bob Gilbertson $15,000 and placed him on two years probation for an incident that occurred Feb. 4 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway during a recent testing session.

The incident of concern involved the irresponsible and unsafe operation of a rental car in the pit area and a subsequent fire. Additionally, Gilbertson failed to remain at the scene of the incident and ignored the instructions of LVMS security.

Gilbertson’s blatant disregard for the safety of other competitors and the professional image of the sport are violations of the Participant Conduct policy as stated on page 254 of the 2005 NHRA Rulebook. Gilbertson’s team has been warned about inappropriate behavior on previous occasions, conduct detrimental to the sport of drag racing.

In addition to the fine and probation, Gilbertson is required to reimburse Las Vegas Motor Speedway for all property damages and direct expenses resulting from this incident.


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