Nice description of a sad event!--On Sun, Jun 10, 2018, 2:55 PM Doug J <63sprtfury@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:--I'll start a new post so as not to walk on Mike's, (since I tend to be long winded)That was a tough day to say the least. We had just gotten to the track when they opened it up, so Mike went for a run. My wife and I hurried up to the spectator area to watch him make a pass. I generally like to watch the launch, so I was right at the start. The car hooked pretty good for that track and he was on a nice run. Seems like shortly after the 3rd gear shift, there was a big cloud of blue smoke from under the car. From where I was standing, the car was still pulling hard. I remember thinking it odd that he didn't get off the pedal, so Mike had no idea there was a malfunction. The car slid to the right like it was on ice (oil on the slicks obviously), he caught that, then it naturally slid left and it looked like he had it saved, but then it snapped right again and the slicks must have cleaned themselves cause they caught and it came off the ground and started a barrel roll. I saw 3 rolls for sure, then it was across the other lane and in the grass and on the guard rail. Dirt, dust and smoke was too thick to see anymore from where I was at, as he had tripped the beam on his roof (over 120mph on the billboard as I recall) and was already in the shut down area. Considering that was a 9.80 car and ran close to 140 mph he was on quite a ride. I heard everything from 6 to 8 flips from those watching from the end of the track.I've seen some nasty crashes over the last 50 + years of attending races and running my own car. This was one of the worst, and having your friend in the drivers seat was a feeling I won't forget. I was not smart enough to go back to the pit and get my own car and drive up to the top end, so by the time my 60 year old knees did the run, walk, hobble where he landed, Mike was out of the car and in the emergency van, and they were already beginning to remove his car. The whole way there I was waiting for the announcer to tell us he was out of the car and ok, but they didn't until I was already there. When I walked up to the rescue unit I was amazed and pleasantly surprised to see Mike sitting there without a scratch. The EMT was with him so we just kinda nodded to each other at that point and I went to check out the car. I don't think I could have talked at that point anyway !!Mike did a hell of a job building that roll cage. It held up wonderfully and kept him safe. I remember crawling over those bars to go for a ride in that monster! Still hard to believe it happened. I will try to add a couple pics from the crash, and one from the glory days. RIP old friend....Doug63 Sport Fury ragtop
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Please address private email -- email of interest to only one person -- directly to that person. That is, email your parts/car transactions and negotiations, as well as other personal messages, only to the intended recipient. Do not just press "reply" and send your email to everyone using the general '62-'65 Clubhouse public email address. This practice will protect your privacy, reduce the total volume of mail and fine-tune the content signal to Mopar topic. Thanks!
1962 to 1965 Mopar Clubhouse Discussion Guidelines:
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