Doug Foley doesn't plan on failing.

The New Jersey native, just a few months removed from a horrifying crash during an elimination run at the IHRA Canadian Nationals in September, is back and ready to attack another drag racing season. This is one horse that Foley is truly looking to get back on.

"You have to chalk it up to that when you get into one of these cars, crashes happen," said Foley, whose injuries included several broken bones, a separated shoulder and a concussion. "You have to chalk it up to that and realize it is what it is. You just have to get back in the car and do you're job."

The failure is the man who stays down when he falls
-- David Dunbar Buick

Doug Foley doesn't plan on failing.

The New Jersey native, just a few months removed from a horrifying crash during an elimination run at the IHRA Canadian Nationals in September, is back and ready to attack another drag racing season. This is one horse that Foley is truly looking to get back on.

"You have to chalk it up to that when you get into one of these cars, crashes happen," said Foley, whose injuries included several broken bones, a separated shoulder and a concussion. "You have to chalk it up to that and realize it is what it is. You just have to get back in the car and do you're job."

Foley did his job quite well for much of the 2006 season. He won one race in five final rounds and was leading the IHRA Top Fuel standings coming into the Canadian Nationals. He appeared to be primed to add to his advantage when he met IHRA juggernaut Clay Millican in final, having just reset the Toronto Motorsports Park track record with a stout 4.603-second pass at 322.65 mph in the semifinals.

But the championship chase became secondary moments after he launched his dragster off the starting line. Foley's dragster went into a wheelstand. Then after back-pedaling near the 300-foot mark, the car immediately veered left before crashing into the retaining wall, breaking the chassis in two before both pieces of the car slid across the track and erupting into flames.

"It was going to be a pivotal round running Clay because at the time we were just seven points ahead of him in the championship," Foley recalled. "It went out there real quick. It shook, and I pedaled it. It smoked the tires, and I tried to pedal it again. And that's when it came around on me real hard. It hit the wall, unfortunately."

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Foley was removed from the car and transported to West Haldimand General Hospital, in Hagersville, Ontario, where he remained for two days. He suffered a broken foot and leg, four cracked ribs, a separated shoulder and a concussion. Foley's memory is blank from the moment he hit the wall to the time he awoke in the hospital some six hours later.

"The first thing I remember is waking up in (the hospital)," he said. "I guess I crashed about (noon local time), one o'clock, somewhere around there...They were shipping me from one hospital to another hospital and I woke up in that hospital. It was kind of weird because I remember crashing in the daylight, but I woke up in the dark.

"My recollection is that I lost about five or six hours to when I was actually able to remember anything."

Still, Foley felt fortunate. The injuries he suffered sidelined him for the remainder of the season, but no surgery was required for his injuries, with his only rehabilitation being rest.

"It was just letting things heal, that's all," Foley said. "I was pretty luck, in that regards. I still have some issues with a break in the leg, but so far we are in pretty good shape.

"I just got the OK to drive (in late December) and had my physical done, so we're pretty much looking forward to getting things started again."

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And the potential for another stout season looks very promising for Foley.

The 2004 IHRA Rookie of the Year, who finished fourth in points in '06 despite missing the final event, appears to have an excellent shot at not only repeating last season's performance, but taking several steps beyond it.

The team announced in November that it has added veteran tuner Rick Cassell as crew chief. Cassell has worked for several NHRA teams and tuned them to elite performances, including veteran Top Fueler Bob Vandergriff Jr. and 1992 Funny Car champ Cruz Pedregon.

"We've got a new car, a new crew chief...a lot of things going on," Foley said. "Obviously, it's going to take a bit to gel, but we're excited. If we can continue to where we left off last year, we're in good shape.

"The accident, obviously, is not where we want to be, but we have a brand new hot rod, a new crew chief...We were just really consistent last year. If we can keep the consistency going on the IHRA side, we'll be OK."

Foley, who said he plans on running 8-10 events on NHRA POWERade Series tour, believes the future is bright on the IHRA circuit, despite the announcement that six-time series champion Millican will move fulltime to NHRA in 2007.

"Last year, (IHRA) was pretty even," Foley said. "You had myself, Bobby (Lagana Jr.), Clay, Bruce (Litton)...We were all right there in the running. I expect it's going to be about the same. Clay won't be there, but we have Scotty (Cannon) coming in. I like to believe that the future looks very good for IHRA."

And while Foley does expect to have success in the handful of NHRA races he plans on competing in, his heart -- at least for now -- is with IHRA drag racing.

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"Like most guys, I would like a shot at the NHRA side, but I also believe we have some unfinished business (in the IHRA)," Foley said. "We haven't' won a (IHRA) championship yet, and that's got to be the goal first. If we can do that, maybe that would give us the opportunity to go (to NHRA fulltime), but right now, especially the way the season ended for us last year, we still feel like there's unfinished business over there."

And the game plan to accomplish is a simple one.

"We ran good," said Foley, who will begin his season when the NHRA POWERade Series tour opens with next month's Carquest Auto Parts Winternationals in Pomona, Calif. "We just didn't close the deal in some cases. For some reason, we ran real consistent, but we just couldn't close those final rounds.

"If we would have closed at least two of those final rounds, and you have to look back at Grand Bend (Ontario) when we didn't' qualify, that was terrible for us. That shows that we have room for improvement. We just have to go out there and be consistent and you have to pick your opportunities when you can go for it."