Sixty-nine-year-old Funny Car racer Gary Denham walked away from a spectacular-looking wreck during Saturday’s third overall qualifying session at the Circle K Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, Calif.
 
It left him and his Dodge Charger wrapped up in the catch net at the end of the shutdown area.
 
The parachutes on his car failed to deploy after he crossed the finish line with his career-best 4.050-second elapsed time at 307.30 mph. The car skimmed across the sand and left him and the car wrapped up, cocoon-like, in the safety netting.
 
That pass secured for him the provisional 11th spot in the 16-car lineup.
 
But Densham, who walked away from the scene on his own, was more disgusted than hurt.
 
“It's hard to tear up a perfectly good race car,” he said before sharing a hug with wife Joanne. “We don’t know what happened. Referring to the emergency rescue crew, he said, “It's great that the Safety Safari are who they are and they do what they do for us.”
 
As for the car, which ended up in more than one piece, Densham said, “When it don’t stop, it don’t stop. These cars are going awful fast, and when the parachutes don’t work, the brakes aren't quite enough in a case like this. That's the way it goes.”
 
The NHRA emergency service officials evaluated and released Denham at the racetrack.