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The horrible drag racing incident in Selmer, Tennessee at the "Cars and Kids" event last June has taken yet another tragic turn, with charges now being filed against the driver involved. The June incident occurred when Aussie drag racer Troy Critchley, while performing a burnout in his top fuel dragster, veered into a crowd, resulting in six dead and eighteen injured. More »
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The father of fifteen-year-old Scarlett Replogle — killed in the Selmer, Tennesee accident when Troy Critchley's Pro Mod got out of line during an exhibition burnout at the Cars for Kids charity event earlier this month — is suing for 2.5 million dollars in compensatory damages, on top of $7.5 mil in punitive damages. Bruce Replogle has named Cars for Kids, Critchley and car-owner AMS as defendants in the case. In other news pertaining to the tragedy, the Tennessee Department of State is checking into whether Cars for Kids was correctly licensed as a charitable organization under the state's tax code. – Davey G. Johnson More »
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A couple of Los Jalops have spent a fair amount of time covering drag racing or hanging out with drag racers (or in Bumbeck's case, actually wrenching on Fuel cars). While the signal-to-signal, station to station contest is the provenence of any teenage hoon in any part of the world, it's one motorsport whose apex is a truly American thing. Quarter-mile competition was invented here. And while we've seen all kinds of amazing motorsport between us, there truly is nothing quite like a top-rank dragster burnout. Fuel cars may stoke the sense the most, but anything from Pro Stock on up is still pretty mind-blowing. And we have to say, we've been on the barrier during NHRA Fuel burnouts snapping photos, and it's seriously an exercise in fight or flight. It's an absolutely exhilarating experience for those lucky enough to experience it. As impressive as it is from the stands, being ten feet from a car with that much power as it willfully chews rubber to get hot? And that in the back of one's mind that there's a remote possibility that a chunk of the engine's reciprocating mass may shoot right through one's skull, reminiscent of that one scene in Glory? Total, body-wide rush. It may have been irresponsible for the Cars for Kids people to allow people at the big end of the burnout. But at the same time, you also can't blame people for wanting to be close to it. It's sad when the awesome turns tragic. Critchley/AMS statement after the jump. – Davey G. Johnson More »
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