Hill Escapes Serious Injury in Accident : Dragster Takes to the Air in a Spectacular Crash at Pomona

Eddie Hill survived what many Pomona drag racing old-timers say was the most spectacular accident in the 36-year history of the Fairgrounds strip Friday and former winner Connie Kalitta turned in the sport’s second-fastest run in qualifying for the Chief Auto Parts Winternationals.

Hill, 52, a drag racing veteran from Wichita Falls, Tex., appeared headed for a near-record run in his bright yellow top-fuel dragster when it suddenly became airborne at about the 1,000-foot mark. The 27-foot 6-inch dragster climbed like an airplane taking off from Brackett Field, just across the street from the racing strip.

The rear end, with Hill in the roll cage, soared straight up and the front end came down on its nose, pirouetting through the timing lights. The impact sent one wheel sailing 50 feet in the air as the crumpled dragster, pieces falling off, flopped over on its side.

A brief fire erupted in the parachutes, which trailed along the ground, but quickly went out as the car slid to a stop up against the barrier in the wrong lane. Arley Langlo of Goleta, who was in the other lane, had to drive around Hill’s car to avoid hitting it. Langlo’s car sustained front end damage from broken pieces that were strewn across the strip.

Before National Hot Rod Assn. Safety Safari personnel could reach Hill, he was unbuckling himself and crawling out of the cage.

“It happened so sudden it was out of my hands,” Hill said later from the San Dimas Hospital, where he was taken for observation. “Once I started crashing I covered my face with my hands and closed my eyes.

“I’m proud the man upstairs let me do it again. I think he wants me to do it as much as I can.”

Hill, a former drag boat record- holder, once bounced across the water like a skipping pebble at more than 200 m.p.h., breaking seven bones and suffering multiple cuts and bruises.

This time he apparently escaped with little more than bruised knees.

“I’m thankful that I landed right side up,” he said. “Both my knees are dinged up. I tried to ball up like I learned in boat racing. You know, whatever sticks out goes in the water.

“I was obviously on a good pass and I don’t think I was late lifting (off the gas pedal). It seemed to me like the car was already in the timing lights when it happened. What injuries I got were probably self-inflicted. My right knee hurts worse than my left. I know it’ll be sore tomorrow.”

NHRA officials said that the front end was so high in the air that it was the rear wheels that triggered the timing lights.

The car, even though apparently damaged beyond repair, was still clocked at 5.210 seconds and 236.15 m.p.h. That was 11th-quickest after two rounds of time trials.

Drag racing old-timers, including Wally Parks, founder of the NHRA, could not recall a more frightening accident than Hill’s. The most spectacular before were generally felt to be Larry Reyes’ flip in the Hawaiian Dodge in 1969 at 180 m.p.h., and Tommy Ivo’s engine explosion at the finish line after a 209-m.p.h. run in 1974 when his car ended up a rolling ball of fire.

Hill said he expected to be back on the starting line today.

“Get me another car,” Hill told crew chief Fuzzy Carter as he was climbing into the ambulance.

Several drivers, including 1987 Winston World champion Dick LaHaie and Darrell Gwynn, offered their backup cars to Hill.

Carter apparently decided to take Gwynn’s chassis, but Hill will have to qualify it today if he hopes to get into Sunday’s 16-car elimination.

Hill’s car, after it was swept up and placed on a truck bed, looked like a picked-over carcass.

The frame was bent, the fuel tank was twisted, punctured and leaking fuel--which apparently set the parachutes on fire--all the wheels were damaged and there was a gaping hole where the left rear wheel had been ripped away.

Moments later, after the track had been cleared of the debris, Kalitta raced his ’87 model top fueler through the lights at 288.46 m.p.h. The only faster run ever recorded was a 288.73 by Hill in the Gatornationals final last year at Gainesville, Fla.

“If we’d had the old speed trap, I’d have had a 290 for sure,” Kalitta said. “The NHRA made a study of the difference between this year and last year and figured speeds were about a mile and a half slower.”

The length of the speed trap, where top speeds are measured, was shortened by 66 feet this year as a safety measure.

Kalitta’s car, built by Chuck Kurzawa of Detroit and powered by a Keith Black engine, gave indication of its performance last Thursday when it ran 286.25, at that time the Pomona track record.

“We didn’t do anything special, we just had everything working right,” said Kalitta, who won the Winternationals in 1967.

“We’ve still got some work to do before Sunday, though. We’re having trouble getting our ET (elapsed time) down where we want it.”

Despite Kalitta’s record speed, his ET of 5.105 seconds is only fourth behind defending NHRA champion Joe Amato, Dennis Forcelle and Gary Ormsby.

Amato ran a Winternationals record 5.042 to take the No. 1 spot after two rounds. Two more rounds are scheduled today.

Mike Dunn, a former U.S. Nationals funny car champion from Ontario, set both speed and elapsed time records in his ’88 Cutlass when he ran 279.85 m.p.h. in 5.346 seconds. The old records were 276.24 m.p.h. by Scott Kalitta, Connie’s son, and 5.395 seconds by Ed McCulloch of Hemet, both set last year.

Dunn already held the track record of 280.72, set during the 1987 Winston World Finals.

Kenny Bernstein, defending four-time national funny car champion, made it safely into the field with a conservative run of 5.623 seconds, but Don (Snake) Prudhomme, another four-time national champion, failed for the second time to post a quick time. The Granada Hills veteran, who holds the national record of 5.305 seconds, has two more chances today.

Don Beverley of Chester, Va., was a surprise leader in pro stock with a track record of 7.358 in his Cutlass. Nine-time pro stock champion Bob Glidden of Whiteland, Ind., was fourth at 7.364 in his Ford Probe.