It seems that lots of guys dug the stories of racing accidents that I have witnessed from last week’s Barnstormin’ column so I am going to profile a wreck or odd occurrence I’ve seen firsthand every week for as long as they last. Here’s the first one of the new column called The Lohnes Wreck Files.
Bruce Litton is an awesome Top Fuel racer, he’s been at it for a long time, and has claimed the IHRA championship in years past. The guy has as good a resume as anyone out there driving a Top Fuel car today.
Unfortunately, one Sunday in 2006, Litton had a very bad day at the IHRA North American Nationals, staged at New England Dragway in Epping, New Hampshire. In this late-season race, Litton was needing points to stay in contention for the 2006 title in Top Fuel, and anyone who has ever known a racer chasing points knows that they’ll push the envelope as far as they can to get them.
In the video at the bottom of the page you’ll see Bruce Litton hit the wall HARD in his dragster. This was during the time I worked for IHRA as a national event announcer and during this lap I was standing in NED’s oddly shaped, but neatly retro timing tower doing color for this round of Top Fuel. It was the wildest lap I have ever announced.
Both dragsters smoked the tires at the hit of the throttle and the drivers seemed to look over at each other and realize, “Hey, what the hell is HE still doing here!” Both drivers began to pedal the cars wildly with Bobby Lagana getting his to stick first. Litton whacked the throttle one too many times and his crossed-up dragster struck the wall and burst into a large fireball.
The scariest part of this incident was the fact the dragster hit directly in front of the top-end grandstand that was packed with people. You can actually see some parts come off the car and fly over the stands and a couple hundred yards into the pits. Bruce was hurt. With the car grinding along the wall as it did, it actually tore a chunk out of his shoulder. Out of precaution, he was Medi-vac’d out of the facility and brought to Mass General hospital where he was kept for a couple days of observation.
According to Bruce, the computer showed that he pedaled the car close to 10 times! Watch the header pipes in his dragster and you can tell he’s not telling a tall tale. It’s astounding that the car did not completely hydraulic and explode.
Bruce Litton came back in 2007 and promptly won the IHRA World Championship in dramatic fashion at the last race of the season down in Rockingham, North Carolina. He’s a heck of a guy.
