A very tragic but strange accident !

OK, below is what it should have said when you clicked the link

And a later report on tulsaworld.com........

"Tulsa Raceway Park has released a new version of the racing accident that killed drag racer Michele ``Shelly'' Howard and her son Brian Howard on Saturday.

The racetrack's version of events varies somewhat from a police report on the accident, but neither seems to suggest the deaths were anything but accidental.

According to the track's statement, Howard was making her third pass of the evening at 10:12 p.m. when the incident occurred.

Her car left the starting line in what appeared to be a problem-free run, the track's statement says.

"After passing the 1/8 mile mark at 201 mph, the dragster began what is referred to as a blow-over," the statement says.

A blow-over occurs when too much air goes under the front wing of the dragster causing the front end to lift.

"At this point, Shelly lifted off the accelerator," the statement says. "As the dragster became vertical, it rotated 180 degrees on its axis and then touched down on all four wheels and against the wall with the car now facing the starting line.

"The impact of the dragster to the pavement could have been severe enough to cause Shelly Howard to lose consciousness," the statement says. "This theory is supported by the

fact that she did not hit the kill switch, deploy the chutes or turn the fuel supply off to the motor.

Either the car's throttle stuck wide open, or, Howard's foot jammed the throttle down, the statement says.

"Extensive damage to the dragster and the onboard 'black box' made it impossible to determine which occurred," the statement says. "The car continued down the track backwards making almost continuous contact with the tower lane wall, while the tires were spinning in the opposite direction.

The dragster passed the 1/4-mile stripe in 6.633 seconds at 115 mph, continued down the track backwards until about 1,500 feet from the starting line, when it ceased its rearward momentum and began to travel forward towards the starting line, under full acceleration, the statement says.

"After traveling several hundred feet uptrack towards the starting line, the car swerved into the spectator lane and then back into the tower lane at the 660-foot line," the statement says. "The car made hard contact with the wall in the tower lane at the 320-foot mark and light contact with the tower lane wall at the starting line while traveling an estimated 250 mph.

At 125 feet past the starting line, the dragster struck Howard's crew chase car, where Brian Howard, was sitting in the rear seat, the statement says.

Both were killed instantly, the statement says.

The force of the collision hurled both the dragster and the chase car 225 feet through a rear burn-out wall and into an open field and stream," the statement says.

An earlier police report described the details of the car's movements differently, but also concluded the deaths were accident. There were no other injuries. "

Go to dragster crash where there is also an animation of the accident.

A terrible tragedy for anyone, perhaps sadder that she was a nurse and her husband a doctor.