CHANDLER, Ariz. – Top Fuel driver Cory McClenathan and Funny Car driver Jack Beckman picked up victories Monday at the weather-delayed NHRA Arizona Nationals, an event marred by the death of a fan at Firebird International Raceway a day earlier.
A woman was killed Sunday by a tire that flew off the crashing dragster.
More rain delayed the start of Monday’s final rounds.
McClenathan beat Doug Kalitta with a 3.183-second pass at a top speed of 316.67 mph to Kalitta’s 4.736 at 219.67.
Beckman kept John Force from winning back-to-back races to open the season, powered his Dodge Charger R/T to a 4.121 at 301.13.
The Pro Stock class completed only one round Sunday and the final three rounds were rescheduled for March 12 and 13 in Gainesville.
Many of the fans who returned to Chandler’s Firebird International Raceway for the NHRA Arizona Nationals said it was a freak accident that won’t stop them from attending.
They also said they hope NHRA officials won’t add netting or otherwise restrict how they watch races. Some fans choose to stand about 50 feet from the action, separated from the track by a chest-high wall.
“I just hope that nobody decides they want to change the sport because something horrible happened. It’s bound to happen in any sport,” said Sheila Cahill of Prescott, Ariz. “You’ve got Motocross, you’ve got the Olympics, you’ve got off-road racing. Even hockey pucks fly over the glass. It’s all risky.”
The victim was attending a first-round Top Fuel run Sunday when Antron Brown’s Matco Tools/U.S. Army dragster went out of control and its left rear wheel came off. Witnesses said the wheel bounced a couple of times and soared over the grandstands – missing the bulk of the spectators – before it hit the woman, who later died at a hospital. Her identity had not been released as of Monday.
NHRA and Firebird officials met to discuss the crash Monday, but spokesmen for both declined to say whether safety measures were under discussion.
Firebird spokesman Bill Mayhall said the death was the only racing-related spectator fatality in the track’s 27 years.
