NHRA legend John Force injured in crash
The good news: he's alive. The bad news: he's a little busted up. John Force's dragster (yeah, that John Force, the one with the Driving Force tv show about him and his hawt drag racing daughters) went out of control at the O'Reilly NHRA Fall Nationals in Texas on Sunday. In the process of heading for the wall, he also took out Kenny Bernstein's car before smacking the barrier. Berstein is fine, Force is also largely fine, suffering a broken wrist and ankle in the crash. As he was being stabilized and extricated from his car, Force was apparently more concerned with Bernstein's fate, even though he was obviously aware of his own injuries. Force's chassis broke, which seems to be what caused the collision. His daughter Ashley, also an NHRA drag racer, withdrew from the semifinals to be with her father at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, TX. Our main question, after making sure he was okay, was the fate of the famously filthy Nomex suit - will he finally get a clean one?
Video embedded after jump
[Source: AP]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Frank Rizzo 12:39AM (9/24/2007)
Hope he is OK.
He's a great guy and a true legend.
Best wishes and thoughts to him and his family.
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Thushara 12:54AM (9/24/2007)
How to down load video
Thushara
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Dave Ellis 1:23AM (9/24/2007)
"Force is also largely fine, suffering a broken wrist and ankle in the crash."
It is far worse than that according to latest reports. He suffered a compound fracture of one leg and other leg was ground down to the bone at the knee. On one hand he has a broken and dislocated wrist and on the other hand broken fingers.
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Joshua 1:59AM (9/24/2007)
But does he need Dale Gribble's kidney?
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Bert 8:15AM (9/24/2007)
I am not sure that the initial cause of the accident was a chassis failure. Bernstein can be seen hitting cones in the center of the track, sending them in to Force's lane. A tire puncture could have been the result and from there everything went bad very quickly.
Keep up the good spritis!
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Matt G 8:59AM (9/24/2007)
I have to agree with Bert. Looks like something kicked over, and from there it went downhill.
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cowboy bob 8:48AM (9/24/2007)
I have met both John and Kenny and they are both stand up guys. John will be back and tougher than legend. This is racing
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Chad 9:32AM (9/24/2007)
Dang! Didn't his daughter get into an accident recently too?
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Travis Rassat 10:21AM (9/24/2007)
Yes, she went for a pretty wild ride earlier this year, but was uninjured. Eric Medlen, who drove a funny car for Force's team, was killed earlier this year. It's been quite the year in drag racing.
Mr. Oak 10:04AM (9/24/2007)
I like John, he is a riot. If anyone were to play him in a movie, it would have to be a bulked up Gary Busey. The similarities astound.
Get well John, and get back on that hoss.
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Bert 11:01AM (9/24/2007)
Spot-on!
http://www.castrol.com/liveassets/bp_internet/castrol/castrol_usa/STAGING/local_assets/images/racing/John_Force_375x253.jpg
http://codebrigade.com/images/Gary-Busey-1sm.gif
seoultrain 11:22AM (9/24/2007)
lol, the espn announcer pronounced the last 's' in 'chassis'
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Susan 3:35PM (9/28/2007)
John that was a horrible looking accident, and I am looking forward to seeing you race again next year..So hurry up and get better.. I just hope that Ashley can have a good finish this season so the Force name will be on going in the record books. This season will be over soon, it sure has been a sad season for John Force Racing Teams
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Dave 2:28AM (9/29/2007)
I agree with Bert. I see Kenny's car launching the lane marker into Force's lane. It looks as if the marker goes straight into the side if Force's tire causing the blowout. I have watched this over and over and it appears that the marker flies into Force's tire..... thats when the blowout seems to occur.?? It may have went behind John's car, regardless, this type of lane marker doesn't appear to be safe at 300+MPH... what do ya think????
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Kelly 7:59PM (9/30/2007)
From what I have been told, from my friends who drag race, the markers are styrophome and might have caused the tire blow out but would not have caused the cars chasis to fail like it did. In order for the car to split in half the chasis would have had to been weakened in more then two locations. According to them something else must have been going on. Some speculate that the accident could be a result of some testing that force was doing as a result of Eric Medlins crash. But I guess we will never know unless someone inspects that car and releases the report.
Jerry N.Picklesimer 5:26PM (10/02/2007)
Get well soon,John.I'll be watching you next year.The loss of Eric was tragic.My belated condolences to his family & friends.I've heard the speculation about Kenny sending a cone into John's lane.I didn't see live photos of the crash,so I won't judge one way or another.Best luck next year.
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