Horrific drag racing crash
There was plenty of tough cars out on the track for the first Full Throttle Friday of the season and it was none-stop action right through the night. Unfortunately the buzz of the night was dampened somewhat by a horrific accident involving Steven 'Junior' Abreu's 'back-halfed' RX3 and Anthony Daquino's full chassis RX3.
More info and a video of the accident over the fold
Here's a clip of the accident thanks to Rotorg33k -
The clip shows how a massive fluid leak from Steve's car saw it cross over the centerline in the deep end at over 140mph rolling over in front of daquino before hitting the barrier. The car then continued to flip violently several times before coming to rest on its side. Daquino also rolled after swerving out of the way however, it was a much more sedate incident having only completed a 3/4 track pass testing the car.
We cought up with Steve (Junior) this morning to see how he is holding up and to get an insite on what went down.
"It all happened so fast and before i knew it the wall was in front of me. The next thing I remember was getting out of the car"
"We're not sure what exactly happened as we have not looked at the car as yet. We get the car back this afternoon so will will go over it and try and work out what went wrong"
"I thoroughly check the car over myself before each meet and before/after each and every run. Everything was perfect and the car was running strong. It was just one of those things I guess. Nothing could have been done to prevent it"
" I'm really dissapointed but also really glad I was able to walk away from it and that Anthony is ok. It could have been a lot worse"
"Now we just have to see what we can salvage from the wreck and move forward I guess"
Thankfully both drivers emerged with only a few minor injuries, a true testiment to the safety standard of these purpose-built race cars.
Ausrotary forum member sbw commented here about the hussle young Steve put in over several years to build his dream RX3
"That there is the shattered dream of a 14 year old kid who bought a car out of money saved from flipping patties at McDonalds. 8 years of blood ,sweat and tears and damn hard saving, Junior worked so hard for this while all his mates were out drinking and chasing "fluff" and even had to put up with us older guys questioning his sexuality because he was more interested in working on his car. I don't think he had a beer until he was 20 because that would have been a few dollars to spend on the car.
It doesn't seem that long ago when this little kid wearing a McDonalds uniform would turn up on his motorised scooter to work on his car for a few hours.
Such a shame but life deals blows like this to make you stronger."
It doesn't seem that long ago when this little kid wearing a McDonalds uniform would turn up on his motorised scooter to work on his car for a few hours.
Such a shame but life deals blows like this to make you stronger."
There are also several comments on the popular US drag racing forum yellowbullet regarding the crash with many well known racers passing on thier comiserations and applauding the fast reactions of the track staff
Forum member gregm784 commented here;
"Very glad the drivers were ok.
My thanks to their fire crews. The were rolling from mulitple spots before the wreck was 'done'
My thanks to their fire crews. The were rolling from mulitple spots before the wreck was 'done'
Check out these other links for further info on the accident
