Veteran NHRA Pro Stock driver Kenny Koretsky walked away from a violent qualifying accident Saturday at Heartland Park Topeka when his car hit the left guard wall and then slid across the track on its top before banging into the right wall.

“I hit the wall really hard,” said Koretsky. “My lower back and left leg hurt right now, but I feel okay. I am upset that our new Pontiac GXP wrecked like this.  It was just a freak thing. I got out towards the centerline and tried to push the clutch in and before I knew it the thing just went haywire. Veteran NHRA Pro Stock driver Kenny Koretsky walked away from a violent qualifying accident Saturday at Heartland Park Topeka when his car hit the left guard wall and then slid across the track on its top before banging into the right wall.

“I hit the wall really hard,” said Koretsky. “My lower back and left leg hurt right now, but I feel okay. I am upset that our new Pontiac GXP wrecked like this.  It was just a freak thing. I got out towards the centerline and tried to push the clutch in and before I knew it the thing just went haywire.

“I’m a little more upset about the whole thing myself. I probably should’ve shut it off a little earlier.  The car started shaking so quickly . . . and then I didn’t know what was going on; it was happening so fast.  When it flipped over I was hanging in there like a monkey and that wasn’t good because I’m claustrophobic.

Koretsky, 50, was attempting to get into the starting lineup on that run.

I’ve crashed before, but this was the first time it was my fault,” he concluded.

Koretsky, of Richboro, Pa., was seriously injured in a two-car racing accident with Bruce Allen in 2005.