John Force Kenny Bernstein crash, Force injured

[ANDY M]

http://www.nhra.com/index.asp
Try this.

[427.060]

Here is the video.
James

http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/...ideoId=3033159

[427TJ]

Looks like Force had rear tire failure that swerved him to the right?

[markjohnson]

It's hard to tell from that angle and I'm sure there were other cameras, but it kinda looks like Bernstein's car kicked that timer box under Force's rear tire. Anybody seen a different view yet that can elaborate maybe?

[Belair62]

Unbelievable amount of energy to tear that car in half.

[NCGuy68]

Bernstein's comments are on www.NHRA.com

[x Baldwin Motion]

Transcript of Bernstein's comments:

"I'll take you through the run the best I can. It was a good leave. The car was running fine through there. It got towards the centerline; about halfway down it started moving over. I kept turning and correcting as hard as I could and it just kept sticking over there right next to that centerline. Right at the finish line I said, 'Man I think this thing's gonna catch the cone,' and I guess I did with the rear tire. I just couldn't get it to come back.

"At the finish line I basically lifted the throttle and hit the parachutes at the same time, that's my procedure there. As soon as I hit the parachutes, out of the corner of my eye I saw John's black car coming towards me. It was coming over and it just hit me. We were wadded up together for a second or so there and I all I could see was nothing because there were bodies coming apart and coming up in front of you and taking your eyesight away.

"I remember seeing my body up there and driving through it and then his body. When I came out of that I saw John's car going towards the wall and it hit the wall really, really hard.

"I was a little out of control at that time. It was kind of teeter-tottering on turning over or not turning over. I was just trying to steer it and go as straight as I possibly could. Then it finally settled down and stayed on all fours. Right when I got ready to stop I saw something again out of the corner of my eye and it was the chassis and the engine, the front half of the car, passing me on the right side. I was trying to figure out what I was seeing. I let my car roll to get up there to see if I could help him but he wasn't even there. When I got out I saw all the commotion back up the track and I realized that piece that went by was just the front half of the car.

"I guarantee you something happened. John Force isn't gonna run over anybody unless something causes it. Something takes place that causes a driver to do what he does. Something had to happen. Even though I had my hands full right against that centerline as a driver you know you can't go across that and you're gonna do whatever you can to keep from it. So I certainly think something happened to his racecar.

"At that part of the racetrack you're under control down there in the sense of the word. All the stuff's over with other than the fact you're getting to the finish line. You're going pretty straight at that point in time so I would say something happened to that racecar. To come across and collect me, it definitely had to have something happen.

"I don't think I did (cross into Force's lane.) I sure don't feel like I did. I never have felt that way. I have to look at the film. I know I was close to the center but I don't think I ever went across it with the entire car. Jimmy Walsh [crew chief] went down there and looked at the tracks and the rear tire hit the last cone. But I was totally under control when I reached up to pull the parachutes. I just thought I'd given the race away.

"I actually saw him coming my way. I saw the front of his car pointed towards me. I actually saw that. Now I'm not talking 90 degrees, but certainly a 45. For him to come across to where you can see it, he's got to be pretty far across on you. Otherwise you would never see him.

"I got a ride way back down the course and when he was on the stretcher he was saying, 'Did I hit anybody?' They were telling him 'It's okay, John,' and I went up and said 'John, it's Bernstein, I'm okay.' He was a little delirious because he kept asking if he hit me so I don't know how much he'll remember.

"On my side, physically I'm fine. I did have a little big of a headache right when I stopped and that's from my head going back and forth in the roll cage. Because of John's work in that area, putting those extra pads up in there, it's not as bad and I'm thankful for that. If it had been the old pads, I'd a had a lot worse headache. It was pretty violent when we got together."

[Belair62]

If you catch that video and pause it at the right second it looks like the timer box flew over but a cone SHOT out towards the rear of Forces car. One comment on the ESPN video site was that the cone hit Forces chutes causing them to open and all hell broke loose. Hard to tell but I bet they will get to the bottom of it...Hope he heals quickly. Best F.C pilot ever.

[GRB]

I don't believe Bernstein's crossing the center line (which sent debris into Force's car) and the resulting crash are isolated incidents. When the debris hit Force's RR tire it disentegrated and Force's car naturally went dead right.