Bubba Corzine believes the same incident that caused so much controversy between Extreme 10.5 racers Kenny Doak and Jason Wilson is likely to happen again between other drivers this season.

That’s what the ADRL’s Competition Director told CompetitionPlus.com Monday afternoon when asked about the incident in the shutdown area at National Trail Raceway where the Mustang driven by Wilson snagged Doak’s Chevelle’s wheelie bar with his parachute which reportedly blossomed with a gust of wind as he turned off the track. Doak’s Chevelle was unable to return to competition due to damage incurred as a result of the incident.

Wilson contends that he was merely following a track official’s instruction when the incident, unbeknownst to him, transpired. And, according to a witness, Wilson was motioned forward with his parachute tangled in Doak’s wheelie bars.

ADRL Deems Doak-Wilson Incident A Freak Accident

Bubba Corzine believes the same incident that caused so much controversy between Extreme 10.5 racers Kenny Doak and Jason Wilson is likely to happen again between other drivers this season.

That’s what the ADRL’s Competition Director told CompetitionPlus.com Monday afternoon when asked about the incident in the shutdown area at National Trail Raceway where the Mustang driven by Wilson snagged Doak’s Chevelle’s wheelie bar with his parachute which reportedly blossomed with a gust of wind as he turned off the track. Doak’s Chevelle was unable to return to competition due to damage incurred as a result of the incident.

Wilson contends that he was merely following a track official’s instruction when the incident, unbeknownst to him, transpired. And, according to a witness, Wilson was motioned forward with his parachute tangled in Doak’s wheelie bars.

The Doak-Wilson incident marked the second time two cars have tangled on the turn-off at an ADRL event this season. In Topeka, the parachute of a Pro Nitrous car hung another car’s wheelie bars causing significant cosmetic damage.

The question that remains is not if, but when, a similar incident will transpire.

Corzine confirmed the ADRL employs a regular staff member to direct the cars from the track but once they leave, their care is handed off to a track employee. He said that each worker that holds the position is experienced in the procedure but to what level he couldn’t confirm.

If Corzine had his druthers, he’d have a regular ADRL official filling the position.

“We have to use the track personnel because we can’t afford 50 employees like the other organizations can,” Corzine confirmed. “We have to use what is there.”

Corzine said the issue with the Doak-Wilson incident, and he believes everyone that stages a national event has had this issue, is that when the wind blows across track, dragging parachutes are going to re-blossom with the wind burst. He said there was a cross-wind on Friday in Columbus.

“When you get into a situation like that, I’ve never been to a race where you didn’t have an issue like that,” Corzine said. “It’s impossible not to hang a mini-bike or something like that. Unfortunately it was a car in Columbus.”

Corzine said that once he noticed the wind patterns on the first day of the ADRL’s Ohio Drags, before the incident, he radioed the top end to inform his team to be careful of the conditions.

Corzine’s assessment was Wilson’s adherence to the track worker’s instruction created an unfortunate, freakish accident. The ADRL was limited in what they could do to prevent the accident, as was Wilson.

“You can’t put a guy in harm’s way out there to grab the parachutes,” said Corzine speaking on the deflated parachutes dragging the ground. “Then you’re going to hurt a person. I’m not going to say it’s not avoidable, because any accident is avoidable, but it’s likely to happen again and it’s going to keep on happening because of the nature of the beast when you get the wind blowing a certain way.”

Just because this kind of scenario is likely to happen again doesn’t mean Corzine and his crew won’t study hard for a solution.

“If a guy hits the wall, I want to figure out if there’s something we could do to prevent another driver from hitting it,” Corzine emphatically explained. “When someone oils the track I want to know why the blanket didn’t hold it up. Sometimes it may seem like I am overprotective because I used to be a racer.”
 

 

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