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When it happened to me, I was at a track I had never raced at before, so I had made a trip to the top end and made a mental note as to what I would do in such a situation. The track had a rather short shutdown area, a long sand trap, then a serious dropoff into a valley. I noted that the sand led to a dirt access road on the left side. So I thought if I had problems, I would steer to the left.

After 4 runs Friday and 6 runs Saturday, I made my first run Sunday, crossed the stripe at 127 MPH, reached for the brake pedal...and it was up against the steering column with the prop rod against the firewall. A feeling of terror came over me, but I knew right away that I would go left through the sand.

I coasted a couple hunded feet, then shifted into 2nd, that scrubbed off a bunch of speed, then I shifted into 1st, forgetting that the trans would freewheel with my older valve body. The motor died, I hit the sand, then turned to the left. The car made 1/2 a spin and stopped.

Never did I consider shifting into reverse. I have heard of this being done with street cars, but I think if you do this with a 9 or 10-second car, the back end will come around and you will roll it.

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