I can’t find the exact quote, but I know that on more than one occasion I’ve heard Brian explain that seeing a car coming back up the track under throttle is his nightmare fuel. He ain’t lying…if a car is purposely returning back to the starting line of a dragstrip under power and nobody knew about it well in advance, one of two things has happened, and neither is going to end well. The first is that the nut behind the wheel has finally slipped loose of reality and is seeing red mist one way or another. Call the cops, prepare beanbag shots and Tazers. The other is even more horrifying, and you’re going to see the perfect example in this video: a hung throttle.
During the South Coast Wild Bunch Wars event at South Coast Raceway in Portland, Victoria, Australia, the green Ford Capri, which we understand to have a big-block Chevy, had it’s throttle hang WFO during the burnout. At first it looks like the driver, Ken Donat, is going for a nice long smokey burnout…then it looks like he’s going for a full-kill skid and you immediately realize that the throttle is no longer a human-controlled option as the Capri tags the back of Dean Cleary’s GTO before whipping around and launching up the track like a Space Shuttle, smoke trailing and the engine screaming at max volume. The Capri punched through the back wall and, as we understand the events, wound up in the trees where the Chevy finally shut off. Due to the damage at the starting line, the event was ended after the incident.
We have made attempts to reach out to the track to get clearer information involving the incident and the aftermath, and we will update this story when we hear back. We understand that Donat got out of the car banged up a bit but otherwise in one piece. If there is one thing that must be emphasized from this video, it’s that the drag strip is a dangerous place and that regardless of where you are at, you need to keep your head on a swivel and you need to be paying attention. Don’t try to be a hero, don’t act like you’re part of the Safety Safari or medical staff if something happens, either…get out of the professional’s way and keep away from the scene.
What? No mag-kill or fuel shutoff in the car?
When this happens at one of those no-prep events with the staging area packed full of people its going to be bad.
This has happened more than once. More dry runs required, need to automatically hit that kill switch in an event like this.
Awesome!
step one – slap it in neutral and /or clutch in
step two – click it off
Only time I experienced it was a 64 Galaxie – broken return spring
key was on the dash so no steering lock , etc
I actually killed the ignition first ..
This applies to Fly by Wire Toyotas as well as race cars …..
Lose an engine or you lose life ……..
kinda a gene pool thing if you make the wrong choice
Looks like he may have had a medical incident/heart attack. This was the result
My mistake. Throttle did get jammed
Remember Shelly Howard.
this came up on my facebook the other day, the original poster and a few others were saying that when the car was inspected /scrutineered the driver could not reach the kill switch from a strapped in position. Others questioned this so take it with a grain of salt but several other racers at the same meet who made the comment even offered up the name of the inspector ….