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Oh, chute! Calamity at drags

01.01.70

The Motueka monster has returned to mar the opening of the Nelson drag racing season.

Saturday's summer starter at the Rock 94.4FM Dragway was spoiled by a violent crash that wrecked Craig Griffith's Motueka-based supercharged dragster.

Following in the tyre tracks of fellow Nelson drag racers John Gourdie and Chris Whalan, along with a hearty handful of visiting drivers, Griffith was caught out by the short braking area and temporary nature of the track at the Motueka airport.

The parachute release on his 509 cubic inch Chev rail failed after an 8.84sec pass that saw Griffith cross the finish line at a strong 169 miles per hour (271kmh).

With the catch net coming up rapidly, Griffith tried to brake the car but it bounced on its large racing slick tyres and was still travelling at speed. Faced with a choice between ploughing into the safety net – imported from the US by the Nelson Drag Racing Association and designed to arrest cars travelling at race speeds – or try to make a turn off the end of the strip, Griffith swung the car to the right.

It began to barrel roll, flipping at least four times before ending on its side, meshed in the net.

Track safety crews, police and Fire Service teams were quick to the scene, Griffith emerging almost unscathed.

The car, which has just posted the quickest and fastest run of the day at that point, was badly twisted although most of the mechanicals appeared salvageable.

The crash was a huge setback for the Motueka team who had only returned to racing last season after a long rebuild to lift the car to its current 7.6sec supercharged outlaw class capabilities.

It also spelled a significant slowdown in the middle of the meeting, firstly to ensure Griffith was well and to clear away his car, then to have a broken bracket on the catch net welded and replaced before the competition cars could return to racing.

Predictably, the race surface suffered a dose of the "early season slipperies" with a lack of tyre rubber, a long layoff since the last meeting in February and a winter weathering scrubbing away all the startline traction.

Source: The Nelson Mail

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