Graham Ellis drag racing crash at Santapod Euro fnals 2013

[TransAmDan]

Graham Ellis had a big accident in his Superbird car on 21 Sept 2013.
[video=youtube;DovVXTnmpvs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DovVXTnmpvs&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DDov VXTnmpvs&app=desktop[/video]
Shows how great the car was made, Driver Graham Ellis got broken nose, broken collar bone and broken arm. This happened on Saturday September 21st at Santapod Raceway.

Graham Ellis was racing his Pro Modified Plymouth Superbird built by Andy Robinson Race Cars which is blown alcohol powered. The imminence amount of power the car was producing one of the back wheels broke traction, as some other cars were also doing before Graham's race, perhaps something on the track?

Graham Ellis became interested in drag racing in the late 1970s, started with Bikes. His first race was in a 383ci Dodge Dart, the car named Ethiopian Chicken. The 383ci grew to 452ci. Working his way up to where he is now with a once very quick Superbird, we hope Graham will be back soon and racing with another great Pro Modified car.

Wishing him a speedy recovery. I've seen this car many time at Santapod. It did half shift, looked great too. Hope some parts may be salvageable from this accident, although the crash looks like there wont be one part that can be reused.

 

[sarah]

What an awful crash! So happy he's okay!

In one piece.....

 

[sarah]

Found out Graham was air lifted to hospital after his accident for precaution but stayed conscious the whole time. He has also fractured his skull, around his eyes but on a good note can still feel his legs but being kept in hospital for observation due to the bruising on his legs.

Apparently he had sold the Superbird too....not good for the buyer?

The reason there is a ET/Top speed even though the car didn't make it over the line is because the turbo did!!

 

[saleen 192]

wow, very lucky

 

[maryxr3i]

He was very lucky

 

[sarah]

Update:

Graham Ellis had an interview with Euro Dragster about his crash back in September, his injuries, his recovery and intentions of racing next year!


Graham's Superbird, which had just been sold, turned hard right, impacted and then went over the guardrail after recording 164.59 mph sideways on two wheels at the eighth mile, and rolled out in No Man's Land before eventually coming to a halt just before the finish line gantry.

The car was drifting left because more power was being applied and the drift is one of the characteristics of a Pro Mod with a lot of power. It was very high on the back tyres but the front was also high. It was on the verge of a power wheelstand and Graham was steering right more and more but the front was up and it wasn't responding to the steering. Graham pedalled briefly and the front end came down but because the wheel was cranked to the right it just nosedived into the wall.

Graham's injuries: Just about every bone in his face was broken. The C1 vertebra broke into three pieces and one of his vertebrae has a wedge fracture. He still suffers with a lot of pain and can only stand up for a short while. The most pain at the moment is from his shoulder injury. Graham's collar bone is in three pieces, the shoulder socket snapped off the blade and the shoulder's not attached to anything at the moment. He has got nerve damage in his left arm and some of it has no feeling.


For the full interview with Graham Ellis visit http://www.eurodragster.com/news/features/graham_ellis_recovery/default.asp