1990 NHRA Drag Racing Crash - Johnny West

[BobbyRossRacing93]

I remember watching this on a VSH tape called "And they Walked Away EXTREME"

Anyone remember those tapes :D

[LanceCampeau]

I watched this broacast live.... what a moment....

[kissklassics]

how stupid for englishtown to have a guardrail at the end of the track. they still didn't learn even after Scott got killed at the top end.

[bigdawgmark]

@kissklassics You have to have the catch net at the end of the track, right past those trees is pension road and about a 20 foot drop onto the road.

[nitromethane222]

isnt this the track the scott got killed at

[nashvilleraidersfan]

i have no clue how he survived this...O_O

i don't care about tradition. Take Etown off the NHRA schedule until a full shutdown area renovation is complete, and go back to 1/4 mile racing.

[jeba189]

Is that in Englishtown?

[fastestsmallblock]

wow I remember being there

[petrolheadkiwi92]

is this the same track that kallita was killed at?

[racingformusic]

Yes it is.

[oneday555889]

wait y didnt he drop the chutes then?

[zfishman]

big daddy said he felt johnny was knocked out when he hit the wall so he would have never had the chance to pull the chutes.

[Buggy1Boy]

Who was calling the race with Don Garlits and Steve Evans?

[RFury]

i think Joel Myers, he was one of NBC Sportsworld's NHRA announcers along with Gary Gerould, and Don "Kriki" (spelling his last name in how he pronounces it) I remember watching NHRA Sportsworld shows back in the early 90s.

[bc1271]

Definitely Don Criqui

[RFury]

Thanks on correcting me on the spelling

[jrm111881]

I think Gary Gerould had already switched to ABC to cover Indycar racing by this time...

[jrm111881]

bc1271 is correct. it was one of NBC's regulars, who was not necessarily a drag racing announcer, Don Criqui working in the booth.

[kissklassics]

The NHRA let this track continue to have an unsafe shut down area all these years until it finally killed a driver.

[nhraz328]

I agree with racingformusic im still in the Junior Dragster series and greatly into drag racing. I have compared this video with Scott Kallitas videos many times and the only difference is in this video there isn't a cherry picker down at the top - end

[racingformusic]

I remember watching that race, and the crash, this looks almost exactly if not closely like the crash that killed Scott Kalitta in 2008, anyone noticed the similarities of those crashes?

[oilpride]

Probably the only differnece was Scott hit the now concrete guard wall at the end of the track at a higher speed.

[RFury]

Plus when Kalitta's accident happened, He was going well over 300 mph and the explosion happened at the finish line stripe right in front of the TOP END ZONE Vantage point, Johnny's car wasn't going as fast as Scott's car did mostly due to hitting the wall between 60' & 330' knocking him out,

[RFury]

This was at old bridge Township Raceway Park in NJ, I've been to the nationals there since 1992

[slimjim18]

i remember watching this when it first aired back in 1990. i hadnt seen it in a while. thanks for posting it!