Tony Pedregon was just trying to ride out another fiery run in his Q Horsepower Funny Car when calamity struck.

Making his final qualifying run from the right lane, Pedregon's flopper lost a head gasket which resulted in a fire which started to consume the car. Just as Pedregon thought it might be safe to bring the car to a stop and exit unscathed disaster struck in the way of human error.

The safety crews positioned along the wall could see the fire and in their haste made a critical error. One Graham Light, Vice President of Racing Operations, assures will not occur again.

“Was the gate open?” Light asked when questioned about the situation. “Yes, the gate was open,” he freely admitted. “It wasn't open prior to the run. Tony Pedregon was just trying to ride out another fiery run in his Q Horsepower Funny Car when calamity struck.

Making his final qualifying run from the right lane, Pedregon's flopper lost a head gasket which resulted in a fire which started to consume the car. Just as Pedregon thought it might be safe to bring the car to a stop and exit unscathed disaster struck in the way of human error.

The safety crews positioned along the wall could see the fire and in their haste made a critical error. One Graham Light, Vice President of Racing Operations, assures will not occur again.

“Was the gate open?” Light asked when questioned about the situation. “Yes, the gate was open,” he freely admitted. “It wasn't open prior to the run.

“Our guys made an error in judgment. Our emergency crews, the guys that man those gates, saw Tony's fire, saw the car coming. In their haste to try and get the gate open so the emergency truck could access the racetrack and get to it as soon as possible they opened the gate prematurely; the car came down sliding along the wall. It didn't impact head on, it didn't stop the car.

“We have qualified people in that area; in their attempt to try and get to the scene faster to assist Tony an error was made and that gate was opened prematurely. It will never happen again. We talked to the guys and it won't happen again.”

Pedregon wishes the mistake had never been made, however he is grateful Light admitted the mistake and addressed the issue, despite taking a fairly huge hit in the pocketbook.  

“I am glad they admitted the mistake,” he said. “I know those guys are doing their best to protect the safety of the drivers. I just hope this never happens to anyone else.”

Pedregon's crew worked until 3 am in the morning rolling out a completely untested chassis, bolting on the necessary parts and then working feverishly through four rounds of eliminations to claim the win. It was drag racing's version of Cinderella.  

Viewing the incident on reply, it appeared to most Pedregon was simply agitated losing a round and another body; he lost one in Pomona earlier this year. However, what really had Pedregon's dander up was knowing he had hit the gate -- a gate that never should have been open.

“It blew a tire and went into the wall,” Pedregon said when asked how the incident started. “As the car was scrubbing off speed they had that gate open and it snagged and that's what wiped our chassis out. The chassis would have been fine. There was minimal damage. When it jolted it and it snagged on the front wheel and then it caught the pipe it launched the body. Which may have been a good thing. I was fixing to get out of it. The body was a write-off anyway. It was just a mistake on their part and we hope that they learn from it and fix it because that gate has got to be closed. When a car goes down there at that rate of speed or even faster than what we were going its not a good situation. That was the reason that it jolted the car and the body came off; the flip side is it kept me from inhaling a bit more black smoke.”

Both Pedregon and Light are in total agreement, while hitting the gate allowed the driver to escape the fire and smoke it never should have happened that way.  

Light says it never will. Pedregon believes him.