Doorslammer legend Tony Christian may soon be out of the cockpit, but don’t count him out of racing just yet.

After qualifying in October on the Super Pro Street pole for the prestigious World Street Nationals at Orlando Speed World Dragway, Christian made a surprise announcement of plans to retire from driving. Unfortunately, his exit was hastened by a second-round crash the next day, when the rear wheels of his 2005 Grand Am locked up near the finish line and the resulting slide from the right lane ended with the car going solidly into the left wall. Initially baffled by the cause of the accident, the veteran racer now personally accepts full responsibility.

“I’m not shy to say that the only thing that malfunctioned was me. I reached over, pulled the chutes out, and I hit the transbrake button and stayed on it. It was 100 percent my fault,” Christian admits. “After I hit the chutes I got into the button and you don’t realize you’re on the button in a situation like that when the thing’s locking up and going sideways on you.

Doorslammer legend Tony Christian may soon be out of the cockpit, but don’t count him out of racing just yet.

After qualifying in October on the Super Pro Street pole for the prestigious World Street Nationals at Orlando Speed World Dragway, Christian made a surprise announcement of plans to retire from driving. Unfortunately, his exit was hastened by a second-round crash the next day, when the rear wheels of his 2005 Grand Am locked up near the finish line and the resulting slide from the right lane ended with the car going solidly into the left wall. Initially baffled by the cause of the accident, the veteran racer now personally accepts full responsibility.

“I’m not shy to say that the only thing that malfunctioned was me. I reached over, pulled the chutes out, and I hit the transbrake button and stayed on it. It was 100 percent my fault,” Christian admits. “After I hit the chutes I got into the button and you don’t realize you’re on the button in a situation like that when the thing’s locking up and going sideways on you.

“These Brunos and Lencodrives are the best transmissions out there, but they will 100-percent lock up if you hit the button and I’ve got a broken back to prove it from 12 or 13 years ago, before anybody realized they would do that. So I pray to God that anyone who has one is smarter than me and has a shutoff in the thing that once it leaves the starting line it just turns it off or cuts the air off going to the cylinder. That’s what I should’ve had and it’s what everyone needs who runs one of these (transmissions).”

Even before the wreck, though, Christian had reached an agreement with brothers Jimmy and Vic Keen to field his ’63 Corvette next year. Christian purchased the car about six months ago from Puerto Rico’s Hector Estrada and promptly sold its engine and several other major components to help finance a move to Automatic Pro Mod competition with the Keens.

“It’s like a brand-new Bickel car that they mounted the body on in Puerto Rico and I recouped all my money on it, so I thought if I sold my other car I’d be in decent shape,” he says. In order to sell his Grand Am, however, Christian must first complete repairs.

“I knocked the front end off the car over in Orlando so I want to fix it and at least run it in testing just to prove to everyone that nothing’s hurt. If I get it done in time I’ll run the Street Nationals here in Bradenton in January (28-30),” he says, describing quite possibly his final competitive outing as a driver.

But with a new Reher & Morrison 5.3-inch bore space motor on the way, himself serving as crew chief and Jimmy Keen’s talents behind the wheel, Christian hopes to make some headway with the Vette in the ADRL’s Pro Nitrous class and select Automatic Pro Mod events.

“I’d like to concentrate mainly on the eighth mile. Jimmy’s a good driver and we’ll have good stuff, so it should be interesting,” Christian says. “But even half the expense is too much to race. I mean, this stuff is out of hand now and I’d like to find a little sponsorship somewhere, but I’m sure a million other people would, too. We’ll see how it goes.”

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