Terry Haddock is finished drag racing this season. One of his most successful seasons on the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing has come to a halting conclusion not because he’s out of parts or operating capital.

Haddock is headed home because that’s where the NHRA is sending him.

Haddock was deemed to be in violation of a safety rule, one which mandates a valve cover restraint device must be in place. On Haddock’s engine, he uses titanium valve covers and the device is hinged and also prevents the launching of spark plugs from the engine.

Haddock explained, as he fought off the effects of pneumonia, “We were on our way up to the lanes to run this morning when we noticed one of the restraints had broken. We were in a panic just to make it to the line and we didn’t want there to be a second bye run in the first round. My guys asked me what to do and I told them to put one of those strong zip ties on it until we could make it back.”

Low Buck Racer Sent Home for Final Two Events of 2009

Terry Haddock is finished drag racing this season. One of his most successful seasons on the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing has come to a halting conclusion not because he’s out of parts or operating capital.

Haddock is headed home because that’s where the NHRA is sending him.

Haddock was deemed to be in violation of a safety rule, one which mandates a valve cover restraint device must be in place. On Haddock’s engine, he uses titanium valve covers and the device is hinged and also prevents the launching of spark plugs from the engine.

Haddock explained, as he fought off the effects of pneumonia, “We were on our way up to the lanes to run this morning when we noticed one of the restraints had broken. We were in a panic just to make it to the line and we didn’t want there to be a second bye run in the first round. My guys asked me what to do and I told them to put one of those strong zip ties on it until we could make it back.”

If Haddock lifted early in his run, there might not have been a problem. However, during the course of the run, the engine flamed up and shot a spark plug out, precisely the kind of thing the device was intended to prevent.

“It shot fire out but really didn’t hurt anything,” Haddock added.

Once he rounded the turnoff, tech officials looked over the car and noticed the improvisation.

“I got back to my pits and they brought a letter over to me and it said that based on my performances at the last few races, it doesn’t look like I perform the proper maintenance on my car.“

Then the final sentence hit him like a ton of bricks.

“They said to take the next two races off,” Haddock explained. “Then we can talk about racing in 2010.”

At those two races, Haddock confirmed, he was to have a potential primary sponsor in Las Vegas, to put the final touches on what could be a sponsorship program of enough value to run the entire 2010 tour.

“I made a mistake … I broke the rule … but I had no idea the repercussions would be this severe,” Haddock confided. “I was just trying to make the show. I’m really shocked and I don’t know what to say at this point other than it’s real disappointing.”

Haddock said he reasoned and pleaded with the NHRA, who he said, essentially told him, “You broke the rules and that’s the end of it”.

He’ll accept the punishment meted out by the sanctioning body but Haddock believes the punishment ought to fit the crime and in this instance, he doesn’t feel it does.

“You know, when I did it I really wasn’t thinking,” he said. “All I wanted to do was to make it to the line. If I had it all to do over again, I would have said, ‘this is broken and you can give someone a bye.”

“I really thought they [NHRA] wanted cars out there and we tried to do a good job. I know the last couple of races have been tough and we’ve had some stupid things happen. They forget the 45 to 50 clean runs we made at the beginning of the year.”

Where does this leave Haddock for 2010?

“I really don’t know,” said a downtrodden Haddock. “NHRA is right in that it could have hurt someone by shooting a spark plug out. At the same time, it seems harsh for what I did wrong.

“It’s not the way we wanted it. I know I screwed up and I apologized to them. I am sorry this happened. I just didn’t think they would take my racing away. They tell you to go home and when you do that, there’s no chance of earning there. We were still in the healing process of the last few races with everything we had out there for repair, with the money we had coming in from Vegas and Pomona, and we could pay those bills.

“If we can afford to be back next year, we will be back. There’s not a lot of teams that will do what we do to survive and we do it because we love this sport.”

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