Things were a whole lot messier in Funny Car's opening round.
John Force's much-anticipated comeback from severe injuries to his hands, feet, and legs in the Ennis, Texas, race last September -- a pass many didn't think Force would or should make -- took a bizarre twist. By the end of the run, the focus wasn't on Force at all.
Current champion Tony Pedregon's flaming crash had triggered a sickening familiarity. Pedregon, who opened defense of his series title in the opposite lane, was injured in a fiery explosion and a wallbanger that shot him and his Q Racing Chevy Impala across the track behind Force's Castrol GTX Ford Mustang and sent him to Pomona Valley Medical Center Hospital via a helicopter.
Just as Kenny Bernstein had been fortunate not to have been injured with Force's car breaking apart at about 300 mph and collecting him in the confusion, this time it was Force who was lucky -- in more ways than one.
He landed in the sand trap, a victim of what he called self-inflicted "brainfade," because, in his words, "I broke every rule you can break as a driver." But again, that might have saved his life. Had he deployed the parachutes, he might have slowed down enough that Pedregon's untamed fireball that shot into his lane behind him would have hit him. The fact that Force was assisted by several men in getting out of his escape hatch there in the sand, cast some question about the wisdom of his driving right now.
Force instinctively hobbled over to Pedregon as he lay on a gurney, his driving boots and legs of his firesuit charred and his burned hand smarting, hovered over him like a worried mom and kissed him on the forehead. Long gone is the tension Pedregon generated when he bolted from John Force Racing after winning the 2003 championship. These two clearly love and value each other, for Pedregon was one of the first to dash to Baylor Medical Center at Dallas and check in on Force last fall.
The winding plot could stretch back to the moment that Pedregon left JFR, opening that seat for Eric Medlen to fill. Medlen died after sustaining injuries in a testing crash last March. And in the wake of his death, JFR has initiated and implemented safety features in these Funny Cars that spared Kenny Bernstein at the Texas Motorplex and Pedregon at Pomona.
Bernstein has said so. And Sunday, after returning to the track before the start of the quarterfinals with all but the thumb of his right hand swathed in gauze bandages, Pedregon followed suit. "To have a high-speed wreck like that, blow a motor, and go into the wall a couple of times at close to 300 mph, I think it proves a lot about the safety features we've added to these cars," he said.
We see drivers escape sensational-looking accidents but have been reminded lately that sometimes they don't walk away. So imagine how 50-50 Pedregon thought his chances were Sunday. "It blew up, and I had instant flames, like a flame-thrower in my face," he said. "And the scary part was I didn't know where I was. I hit the wall very hard, and I feel very lucky. I knew that my hands were burned and I knew that I got beat up a little." Again, Eric Medlen's legacy was at work there. Pedregon is blessed that he could say that afternoon that with all the support from GM, his sponsors, and team, "This is something that will be pretty easy for us to overcome."