For those of you who dont already know..

[Spidey2721]

We lost a driver today. NHRA driver Darrell Russell died today at 35 after a wreck in which one of his rear tires exploded and tore his car apart just after the finish line in St Louis. He was taken out of what was left of his car and taken to the er via life flight and died shortly after. Any of you that made it to the NHRA race at National Trail two Sundays ago got to see him win his last race there on his team owners (Joe Amato) b-day. He was a real joy to watch and I was a big fan of both him and Joe's

 

Later,

jay

 

 

http://www.nhra.com/dragster/Cover22.gif

http://www.amatoracing.com

 

Here is a qucik news article about it.

 

MADISON, Ill. (AP) - Drag racer Darrell Russell died Sunday after his car broke up and burst into flames during a Top Fuel race at Gateway International Raceway.

 

The 35-year-old driver had just lost to Scott Kalitta in the second round of eliminations at the Sears Craftsman NHRA Nationals when his dragster came apart while running about 300 m.p.h at the end of the quarter-mile strip.

 

Russell was unconscious when he was removed from the wreckage and taken to the St. Louis University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead about two hours later.

 

Russell is the first participant to be killed in competition at an NHRA national event since Blaine Johnson died in a crash during a qualifying run in the 1996 U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis.

 

Sunday's event continued after a 45-minute delay.

 

Russell, the 2001 NHRA rookie of the year, had six career Top Fuel victories, including the Pontiac Excitement Nationals two weeks ago in Columbus, Ohio.

 

In his 2001 season, he became the third driver in NHRA history to win in his first start

[Balian]

Man that really sucks..

[Crash1647545504]

yea i was watching when he wrecked... too bad

[Guest BIG BIRD]

thats unfortunate, he was too young...

[Akula]

That wreck was really bad, I didn't figure anyone would have made it out of that. It sucks seeing wreck like that in a sport that I love and participate in.

 

God speed....

[burgels]

Originally posted by Theoretic:

yea i was watching when he wrecked... too bad

+1

 

That's really sad...

[SHIEF]

Man that sucks

Anyone have the vid for it? I didn't get to watch any of the race this weekend.

[Kurt B.]

check ESPN-its on there