Outlaw 10.5 Racer Planning Return to Competition Thanks To Friends

Some accidents can’t be erased at the snap of a finger.

Canadian Outlaw 10.5 racer Eddie Timal will always be reminded of what could have been a fatal accident during the 2005 World Street Nationals in Orlando, Florida. Timal’s classic turbocharged GTO struck the Armco guardrail and became airborne before barrel-rolling violently down the track sidelines.

Timal can’t seem to shake the memory of that accident. Neither can he shake a desire to return to competition.

A dream will be realized this October when Timal will return to Outlaw 10.5 Competition at the 2008 Orlando World Street Nationals. When he launches in a brand-new 2000 C-5 Corvette, somewhere in the back of
Timal’s mind will be the day he became the subject of a violent crash sequence shot by the leading photographers.

Outlaw 10.5 Racer Planning Return to Competition Thanks To Friends

Some accidents can’t be erased at the snap of a finger.

Canadian Outlaw 10.5 racer Eddie Timal will always be reminded of what could have been a fatal accident during the 2005 World Street Nationals in Orlando, Florida. Timal’s classic turbocharged GTO struck the Armco guardrail and became airborne before barrel-rolling violently down the track sidelines.

Timal can’t seem to shake the memory of that accident. Neither can he shake a desire to return to competition.

A dream will be realized this October when Timal will return to Outlaw 10.5 Competition at the 2008 Orlando World Street Nationals. When he launches in a brand-new 2000 C-5 Corvette, somewhere in the back of

Timal’s mind will be the day he became the subject of a violent crash sequence shot by the leading photographers.

 

“I haven’t forgotten about it by any means, but then again I don’t wake up in a cold sweat either,” Timal said.

Timal, upon request, can recollect the day he left many Orlando spectators nervously awaiting word of his status.

“I knew when the car went sideways that it was going to hit the wall,” Timal said. “I didn’t expect the car to launch in the air like it did, though. When it started rolling, I just grabbed on to the wheel tight. You go into self-preservation mode at that point.”

Timal said he remained conscious throughout the ordeal. He was uninjured.

 

“It was scary and it gets scarier when you hear the crunching and grinding,” Timal said. “You know something is going wrong at that point.”

Many drivers shy away from watching footage of a devastating crash. One can consider Timal in the minority. He immediately sought the video footage.

A frightening reminder of his lucky fortunes was in watching the footage and glancing over at the remnants of his once-prized race car.

“I was looking at the car in the trailer and it was clearly a pile of rubble,” Timal said. “It was a devastating crash. To see the video further amplified that.”

Timal hasn’t raced Outlaw 10.5 since, but has braved the drag strip in a few nine-second Corvettes. Clearly these cars haven’t been as volatile as a 10.5 tire car can be.

Timal will be reintroduced to the class thanks to the selfless efforts of friends like chassis builder Eddie Bryck at the Chassis Shop. Add in the efforts of Wade Stevens and the Ontario Street Car Association and
Timal admits, “Without them I wouldn’t be here again.”

Timal pointed out that Stevens and his friends at the OSCA conducted a fundraiser to make his return a reality.

Timal admitted that he could have rebuilt the GTO, although the process would have been painstaking.

“The chassis was intact, but everything was tweaked to one side,” Timal said. “For him to fix it would have required to cut all the way down to the chassis and start over. You might as well start all over again.”

Timal is prepared to do just that this fall. 

 

(Video footage of the incident)