Team owner Bob Vandergriff Jr. confirmed driver Larry Dixon will not return for Sunday’s eliminations at the NHRA Amalie Oil Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla.
“I don’t know that it makes sense,” said Vandergriff. “He is sore and will be sore tomorrow. For him to try and race tomorrow, he would have to do so in a car he’s unfamiliar with and in being beaten up, not sure it makes sense.”
Dixon, during the Q-3 session, was involved in a high-speed crash when the Bob Vandergriff Racing dragster he was driving apparently broke at the footbox. The car then broke into pieces, with the back-half where Dixon was, flying high into the air before crashing down to the track, and impacting the left retaining wall.
Dixon was extracted by NHRA Safety Personnel, where he walked under his own power to a nearby ambulance. He waved towards the grandstands as he entered the emergency vehicle.
Dixon was checked and released by medical officials.
Sources indicated the track underwent repair at the point where the car impacted in its descent.
Dixon was unavailable for comment following the accident.
BVR crew members were still seeking answers for what caused the accident nearly an hour later.
“It’s just something that happens,” said Guger. “The car gets thoroughly inspected. And we had just inspected it, two runs ago. The first thought that comes to mind is, ‘did we overlook something?”
“You second guess yourself.”
The NHRA has impounded the car, and at the time of this posting has not yet released the vehicle to the team. An NHRA official confirmed with CompetitionPlus.com the team has access to the impounded car.
“We really cannot draw any conclusions what happened without the car,” Guger added.
Joe Barlam, Guger’s assistant who joined the team this season, shared in the pain of the initial moments.
“Excruciating, is the only way I can describe it,” Barlam said. “But the best thing is [Dixon’s] okay, and we can build race cars anytime.”
Guger admits he stood on the starting line in shock before he could react to the horror he witnessed.
“You cannot even process something like this,” said Guger. “It happens and you immediately enter a state of shock. The inclination is to wonder if Larry is okay. Nothing else matters. It just takes a while to process.”
Vandergriff, in his first season as a retired driver and holding the exclusive role as team owner, said in the preseason watching his cars provided nervous moments. Today accident provided a level of anxiety he hadn’t experienced.
“In 20 years of driving you don’t get the perspective of watching the race car from the rear,” said Vandergriff. “It has been hard the first couple of races, just in watching and realizing you have no control of the car. Then to see something like that happen as a team owner, I count myself as fully responsible to both Larry Dixon and Dave Connolly to keep them as safe as possible.
“It’s hard to see this, because of the obligation to keep them safe. My team and my guys do a great job of inspecting these cars and taking every precaution in the name of safety. Even at that, you can still have a failure. The car didn’t have that many runs on it, and to have a catastrophic failure like this is surprising.”
In incidents such as this one, Vandergriff believes the lines get blurred between team owner and friend.
“Those guys are part of my family,” Vandergriff said. “As a team owner, I provide the equipment and the crew. These guys have families and kids, and in the end I bear the responsibility for their safety. We didn’t do it that time. All that matters is Dixon is okay. He’s beaten up and is going to be sore. The bottom line is we have more race cars, and a shop, and we can provide another race car when he is ready.”
