(Photo credit: Mike Murillo fan page) – It was a bad night at the races for legendary door slammer, small tire, and Mustang racer Mike Murillo last night. During a no-prep event at Edinburgh Raceway in Texas, Murillo hit the guardrail and rolled his car a reported three times before it came to rest outside the the racing surface. Murillo posted on his own FB fan page that he was feeling beat up but was otherwise ok. Heartbroken but OK.
Like the car that Justin Shearer destroyed, the famed “Crow” Pontiac, the Lafawnduh Mustang has lots of personal significance to Murillo not to mention lots of historical significance for the more than one dozen championships the car has won over the span of the last 15 years, the combinations on both the power and chassis side that Murillo was on the bleeding edge of are innumerable.
NMCA, NMRA, Fun Ford, and any number of other races and events that Murillo and the car attended and won all helped build the legend of the car and of Murillo himself. From humble beginnings behind the counter of an auto parts store, Murillo raced and worked his way to the top of his part of the drag racing world and along the way built an incredibly popular and successful business in Murillo Motorsports where he’s built and tuned lots of really fast stuff. He was a “featured player” a few years ago on Street Outlaws and after parting ways with that show he has embarked on his own television venture with Ken Herring called House of Grudge.
Mike Murillo is OK but the car that has been his calling card, the machine that he towed and raced and won with so many times at so many tracks, over so may years, is not. Fixable? Maybe. Right now it is one twisted hunk of steel, plastic, and rubber.
Murillo posed this message and photo on his FB page:
Haven’t felt like this since my football days.. My bell has been rung.. I’m good everyone mainly heartbroken.
$h!t’ll buff out
Someday these guys will figure out why they have been Prepping the surface for the last 60 years. That sticky shit is good for traction and helps keep the cars between the rails.
Agreed. I really don’t feel terribly sorry for these guys that wad their cars up doing these no-prep events or racing on the street.
It’s a cost of doing business, if somebody dies they’ll have the Gopros for a great funeral special.
No-prep = lame. Of course, this is IHMO.
Who wants no-prep as a nuance in racing?
Drag racing, the only racing where the track has to be prepped. Road or oval racing? Go out there and build up rubber, buyer beware. Oh, it might rain as well. Off road or rally? Too bad it is what it is. Pedal it