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BS EXCLUSIVE: A Never Before Seen, Incredible Photo Sequence of John Bartunek’s Massive Pro Mod Wreck From 2009


BS EXCLUSIVE: A Never Before Seen, Incredible Photo Sequence of John Bartunek’s Massive Pro Mod Wreck From 2009

(Photos by Denis LeBlanc/ActionRacingPhotos) – This is one of, if not the most incredible top end crash photo sequence we have ever seen. Shot at the 2009 Shakedown at E-Town by Denis LeBlanc, it captures one of the most high flying, violent, and scary crashes in the history of that colorful event. The driver turned pilot is John Bartunek, a long time IHRA Mountain Motor Pro Stock racer who switched to Pro Mod action in the nitrous injected machine you see in these photos.

There’s not a lot more to say other than that Denis was in the right place at the wrong time for Bartunek and followed this action sequence from the moment that Bartunek’s car made the hard left toward the wall and all the way through the violent crash landing at the end of the mess. This photo sequence has not been published or viewed outside of Denis’s friends and family. There have been other sequences that popped up shortly after the crash, but none of them are anywhere close to this one.

Bartunek was OK after this crash and actually climbed out of the car immediately.

 


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27 thoughts on “BS EXCLUSIVE: A Never Before Seen, Incredible Photo Sequence of John Bartunek’s Massive Pro Mod Wreck From 2009

  1. Nitronut

    I like the big sign in the back gorund, “3 LEFT HAND TURNOFFS”. My guess is he didn’t make one of them.

    Hate to see a pretty car like that get totaled.

  2. Shane Willems

    THREE turn offs and STILL. missed the exit! Haha. That musta been one hell of a ride !

  3. ratty

    yeah that is (er, was?), a really pretty car… but actually as violent as it looks, it manages to not take too much of obvious damage… the initial hit in the wall, ok, the nose got crushed for sure… but the engine looks untouched, the car seemed to get ricocheted away quickly before the impact went any deeper than a foot or so… and then all that air time… nothing to hit up there but birds… i does look like the wheelie bars might’ve been taken out of adjustment a bit on that grind on the tail of the car… but yeah, that flatbottom landing had to tweak a few things.. that was the bellyflop of all bellyflops… i’m guessing those coilovers were all toast… and i bet Bartunek’s back is still hurtin’ from that landing… but yeah, wow… sure glad he walked away from that, but how did the car fare??

  4. gary

    I’m with ratty, all the time spent in the air is time spent disapating energy, and speed, and that’s a good thing.
    I’d still rather not have that wreck myself. At my age, the stuff I want to stay plyable is getting brittle, and the stuff I want to stay hard is getting soft!

  5. Lee

    Damn . . . I always thought those cars could fly if they ever left the ground. Hell of a crash to walk away from.

  6. ernie algorri

    thank god for K rail and the overall improvements in vehicle safety. think if this had been 20 years ago, or if this had been a post-type of “thrie-beam” guardrail?

  7. franknstein

    yep,im flying thru the air,this cant be good,……at least he aired out his laundry!

  8. Chevelle.Chris

    I would be more inclined to think that during this event, ashtrays were emptied and drawers were FILLED.

  9. Rdstngry

    To add to what Ratty and Gary said it doesn’t look like he was goindg fast enough to open the ‘chute even though it was deployed, intentionaly or otherwise.

  10. Caveman Tony

    yep. Flew right past the porta-potties. Good thing he didn’t make a left THERE.

  11. Scott Liggett

    I hope the rescue crews carry new shorts cause that dude would need a fresh pair. Yikes.

  12. Birdman

    Interesting observation: with still shots like these, one can take the time to peruse all aspects of carnage in progress, spending as much time as one cares to to absorb details. Actual time progression from the first frame to the last frame, however, was probably no more than 10-20 seconds, though I’m sure it seemed like an eternity to Bartunek.

    Amazing what modern science and engineering can allow one to literally walk away from!

    1. Lee

      Actually it was less then 3 seconds.

      You can watch the crash by going to YouTube and do a cut and paste for: Shakedown at E-town CRASH John Bartunek Pro Mod Drag Race

      1. Birdman

        WOW, you’re right! Didn’t know that it was that late in the run. Well through the lights and no chutes! It explains why everything went south so fast. Even more amazing that he was able to climb out and walk away.

        I agree with anotheridiot; had it happened a few feet further down the track, we might be mourning yet another driver loss.

  13. anotheridiot

    Incredible. if that happened just a little later, that car could have come down at that turnoff break in the wall. They might want to move those kbars for national events, I doubt if anyone makes the short chute.

  14. Hoot Geezer

    Thanks to all the saftey innovators in drag racing and to the sanctioning bodys for thier scrutinty in pre race inspections! This is one factor in drag racing and for that matter all types of motorsports that really counts! I started in 1961 and it was saftey be damned and just more speed! We lost alot of drivers thru the years but with todays speed that number has been sustantially reduced with all these new saftey innovations! Thanks to all that have created and invented all these new saftey dvices! After 51 years in the sport I would not have ever dreamed of the speed now achieved! I hope all you folks keep the sport safe and fast! At 73 I still have a right foot that works quite well! Thanks for looking! See ya at the stripe! “Hoot”

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