(Words and Photos by Darr Hawthorne) Oregon Pro Mod racer Dennis Radford’s return to the NHRA Pro Mod wars after taking a one-year hiatus proved to be a successful, but took a bad turn Saturday evening in Las Vegas.
This past weekend at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Radford was driving a second IDG Supply Camaro for newly crowned Pro Mod Champion “Tricky” Rickie Smith’s at the13th annual NHRA Toyota Nationals.
After his first round win Radford was involved in a pit area accident on his scooter. “ I was heading down to Lenco to get those guys cause Rickie was having trans issues I was following a car in the pit area and he was driving very slowly so I went to go around him and he turned left and hit me.”
Radford was taken by ambulance to a Las Vegas Medical facility with a broken collarbone and bruised ribs and knee. Radford was able to keep his sense of humor “ I told the guy in the ambulance I just got done running 240 miles per hour in my race car the I go out and crash on my scooter.” Radford, running a 5.996 elapsed time at 239.78 mph, had just defeated Chip King in the first round of eliminations in Pro Modified at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series. Because of the injury, he was unable to meet eventual Event winner Troy Coughlin in the second round, giving the JEGS driver a bye run.
“Feel so bad for my guys, for Rickie , for IDG, and my fans, cause we had a bad hot rod and was looking to make noise this weekend” stated Radford on Sunday Morning.
man that sux, the pits can be just as dangerous as being out on the track, I have the scars to prove it
I once saw a PS motorcycle pilot throw his scooter down in the pits at the US Nationals. I bet he heard about that for a while.