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The Special Flies Through the Air
Your webmaster saw this accident. Turn 1 at the modified Santa
Barbara course was a high-speed left hander. Harris got sideways,
then clipped a trackside culvert. (Amazing the lack of safety standards
in those days!), and was catapulted 30 feet in the air.
A whole grandstand-full of spectators had a perfect view of the incident,
as well as two other major crashes that day, one of them fatal.
| (1-15-09) From Bob Harris:
"I was in the modified main event, running second or third.
I went to pass the car in front of me, misjudged and made a momentary four
wheel departure into the dirt. After that, the car didn't seem to be handling
right. My pit crew noticed something was wrong, and as I went by them they
had their hands out as if to ask what's wrong? I shook my head to indicate
that I wasn't sure. As I approached Turn 1, I decided to use extra caution
as I knew something was wrong. Halfway through the turn, the car just seemed
to snap out from under me. Next thing I knew, I was spinning at about 140mph.
At that speed I knew I was in big trouble. I clenched the wheel as hard
as I could, bent down, and hung on. The next thing I knew I had struck
something and was airborne." |
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