I saw a LOT of close calls in 2016 during my time calling drag races. Whether we’re talking wild NMRA and NMCA small tire stuff to the traditional NHRA scene, there’s never a shortage of action at the track and you never know what’s about to happen next to mentally being “up on the wheel” is as important for the announcer as it is for the drivers if he or she want to do a good job.
In this case we were at the NHRA AAA Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex and this was during alcohol funny car. I cannot remember if it was qualifying or eliminations but you will see Shane Westerfield and Jeff Jones hurtle down the track in their cars next to each other. Jones’s car is pretty unsettled from early on and he’s wrestling with it for most of the run. Westerfield’s pass is pretty nice looking and he had to have no idea that Jones was working for a living inside his car.
With Jones fighting for control and Westerfield already with the parachute out, things get weird in a hurry. Again, with no ability to see behind him Westerfield must have been mighty surprised when Jones came barreling up next to him mere inches away!
This could have been a complete catastrophe but it ended up being a light grazing and not much more. The spill plate on Jones’s car was actually nicked up because it caught the parachute of Westerfield’s machine on the way by.
Wild stuff!
