It was a holy disaster that was reminiscent of another chilling and iconic drag racing crash. When John Force’s chassis slid past Kenny Bernstein at the top end of the race track with no driver’s area attached to it, he had to have had flashbacks of the Jim Nicoll Indy wreck that nearly caused Don Prudhomme to retire from the sport as a young man. This was horrible and it was a wreck that knocked John Force out of commission fora good long while as he recovered from broken bones and all of his other injuries.
The crash was a nightmare scenario, really. You had both cars traveling at the absolute top speed that they could be moving at and then compounding the problem was the fact that it became a two car wreck. We’re not sure if it was ever determined what caused John Force’s rear tires to come apart like bombs but they did and the force of their failure so weakened the chassis that when the parachutes blossomed, it broke the car in half, literally extracting the entire rear second of the car, with Force in it, out from under the body. When John’s car goes across the track and collects up Bernstein, he’s no longer in it. Keep your eyes peeled to the right side of the frame to see where John was, rolling around like a bowling ball.
Bernstein to his credit was able to keep his wits about him and after the impact with John’s car was able to get his car back to the center of the track where it rolled to a slow stop just short of the sand trap. This is a brutal video and it was definitely the worst wreck in the career of John Force.
The Texas Motorplex is a fast and unforgiving place. This weekend racers will once again dance on the razor’s edge of power and control as they run 300+ down the surface of the first super track that the drag racing world ever knew.
Was there, seen that. Can’t believe it’s been 10 years. They lifted John out with a chopper, after the accident you could have heard a pin drop.
Might be in that video, don’t remember exactly where the Coke sign was – we were top of the spectator stands right under the sign near the finish. Had VIP tickets and the run of the place that entire weekend.