Pete’s final run came with a hard launch, clutch dust blowing as the car rocketed off the line, the engine pounding the ground. At mid-course the run appeared routine and observers thought it quick enough to allow Pete’s sleek, blue missile a spot in Sunday’s Top Fuel field.

Entering the traps something went terribly wrong. The car began moving sharply right, towards the Armco steel guardrail. Pete fought to steer away from danger, but to no avail. The car lurched off track and into the guardrail. Upon impact its sturdy chassis began disintegrating, raising an ominous cloud of dust and shiny, bouncing metal particles. The Pomona NHRA safety crew reached the car seconds after it halted. The car’s chromemoly steel, three-point roll cage performed as required. Pete’s unmoving form remained strapped in the driver seat.

The drag racer whom many considered to be the brightest and most innovative in the sport had suffered grievous trauma to the head and internal organs. He was rushed to a nearby hospital but declared dead soon after.

Lew Russell Robinson died from extreme trauma suffered at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds drag strip. Pete’s last ride came while trying to prove that his ground-effects system and the SOHC Ford were still viable in Top Fuel racing. He was 37 years old at the time of his death, and left behind a wife, Sandra, and a daughter, Kelly.

His final run of 6.77 seconds at 220 mph easily qualified him for the field. On Sunday the Top Fuel field honored his career and legacy before the first round of racing began.

To this day knowledgeable people who were there continue to speculate as to what caused Pete’s fatal crash. The remains of his car were gathered and placed in his trailer, to be claimed later by his crew. An official investigation of the car’s remnants and the fatal accident was not conducted. It was not required in 1971.

Perhaps the most accurate evidence of what happened is contained in a series of photographs shot by veteran drag racing photographer Jere Alhadeff. Ahadeff’s motor-drive sequence shows several key points to the mishap. Pete knew the car was making a sudden move right, towards the guardrail. He had already steered left, cranking the butterfly wheel nearly vertical in an attempt to correct the car’s path. The chromed steering rod is severely bowed from Pete’s steering effort. Both tie-rods are severely flexing, and the cycle front tires are exiting their motorcycle rims. These are all irrefutable signs Robinson knew he was moving towards disaster, and putting his best into trying to correct its deadly path.

Curiously, Pete’s helmet is seen being lifted high up on his forehead. This was not unusual for front-engine cars of that era. Air turbulence often created this, and many other drivers were photographed with similar helmet elevation at high speed. Those who reached him said the helmet was firmly strapped on.

The photo also shows the ground-effects air dam still intact, although slightly askew. This may be due to the extreme flexing of the chassis and the course that Pete was unable to steer away from.

Another possibility may have been found in the car’s rear axle housing. Pete preferred running a fully locked rear. With this system, power is directed to both rear tires at all times. It is speculatively possible that a major component failure in the rear axle produced the overwhelming force that drove Pete into the guardrail.

Pete’s untimely passing left the racing community shocked and saddened. Although often outspoken in his opinions, Pete was universally respected and well-liked by competitors and officials.

Wally Parks, the late founder of NHRA, said: “Who can guess what his fundamental talents might have contributed in today’s world? Pete was an innovator whose discoveries were the leading edge of technology.”

Drag racing icon Don Garlits, who raced Pete since the early ’60s, was quoted in NHRA’s National Dragster: “If he had survived that horrible wreck, he’d be an engineer on some team right now. Pete was always on the edge of the envelope, and I always had respect for him. Pete didn’t just stick somebody in the car when he had some idea. He was the test pilot, just like Chuck Yeager or any of them. He took the risk, and there’s a lot to be said for that too.”

Garlits knew full well the peril of driving slingshot dragsters. In 1970, at an early season event at Lions, Garlits lost half of his foot in a transmission explosion. After recovering and in response to that terrible incident Garlits came to the 1971 Pomona race with what many thought was a joke. After considerable thought, effort and field testing, Garlits, T.C. Lemons, and Connie Swingle created a Top Fuel dragster that moved the driver ahead of the engine. Garlits’ “joke” dominated and won the event. It also heralded a new era where front-engine fuel dragsters would become extinct in just a single season.

Would a rear-engine dragster have saved “Sneaky Pete” there at Pomona, that Saturday afternoon in 1971? We will never know.