PDA

View Full Version : RIP Shelly Howard



Infomaniac
04-03-2005, 07:49 AM
Shelly was killed last night testing her brand new A/Fuel dragster here at the Tulsa track. To compound the tragedy she went over the wall and killed her son that was in the tow vehicle. She was such a sweet person it will be a tremendous loss. My prayers to Doc Howard and the remainder of her family and friends.
We sponsor Shelly's car and they are the most terrific people you could imagine.
Article From NHRA (http://www.nhra.com/apcm/templates/news_template.asp?articleid=3703&zoneid=8)
Scroll to page 2 for eyewitess account.

Lightning
04-03-2005, 07:51 AM
That sounds horrible, thoughts and prayers on the way.

cc322
04-03-2005, 07:52 AM
Sorry to hear thoughts are with the family. I have a friend in Tuscon racing this weekend for team Integera very fast sport.

Mrs.Racer277
04-03-2005, 08:01 AM
What a tragedy, we are so sorry.
The Racers

Jordy
04-03-2005, 08:49 AM
:( :( :(

MRS FLYIN VEE
04-03-2005, 08:50 AM
very sad. rest in peace.

Squirtin Thunder
04-03-2005, 08:52 AM
Holly Shit !!!
Sad Day !!!

MsDrmr
04-03-2005, 09:41 AM
My heavens, I am so sorry to hear about that, what a tragedy for all....Yes prayers are with the family and friends.

Floored
04-03-2005, 09:52 AM
I'm sorry just doesn't seem enough some times, this is one of those times. God Bless

FMluvswater
04-03-2005, 10:03 AM
I can't begin to imagine the grief their family is feeling. Prayers and condolences. :(

Infomaniac
04-03-2005, 10:51 AM
Just added this.
Article From NHRA (http://www.nhra.com/apcm/templates/news_template.asp?articleid=3703&zoneid=8)
http://moritzmachine.com/TRPTEMP.jpg

Sleek-Jet
04-03-2005, 11:00 AM
Wow, tragic news. :frown: :frown: :frown:
My condolences to the family.

JetBoatRich
04-03-2005, 01:06 PM
Our heart goes out to the family for such a tragic event.

Infomaniac
04-04-2005, 03:18 AM
10 a.m. Wednesday April 6th
Nind Woodland Chapel
5757 S. Memorial
Tulsa, OK 74136
The family has asked in lieu of flowers donations be made to Racers For Christ in memory of Shelly and Special Olympics in memory of Brian.

Seadog
04-04-2005, 05:14 AM
I watched this on the OKC news this morning. Such a major shame.

BILLY.B
04-04-2005, 06:29 AM
What a sad deal :( . My condolences go out to the husband and daughters that are left without a wife and mother. Couldn't even imagine what there going thru and the turn around of emotion, one second your jumping up and down hoping for that ultimate 1/4 mile pass, and then this happens. Just shows how quick your life change. Again my condolences to the family and friends.

dicudmore
04-04-2005, 06:38 AM
very sad :cry: :cry:
Been watching her for years now

Jbb
04-04-2005, 06:39 AM
Horrible Tradgedy.....My Condolences

HCS
04-04-2005, 06:50 AM
Wow! That's terrible. :frown:
My heart goes out to the family.

uclahater
04-04-2005, 06:59 AM
Our prayers go out to the father, and remaining children of this wonderful lady

vegasriverjunkie
04-04-2005, 07:10 AM
So sorry to hear the tragedy, my prayers are with the family.

Hustler
04-04-2005, 07:18 AM
Very sad news, Shelly was a great racer and wonderful person, We ran against her many times and she was always a great competitor. My thoughts and prayers go out to her family

Infomaniac
04-04-2005, 05:29 PM
The funeral location has changed to accomodate more people. If for some reason you need the new location let me know.
This crash was beyond comprehension as far as how it could happen and the magnitude of the impact. It is mind boggling.

welk2party
04-04-2005, 05:48 PM
An old friend used to build these cars and the amount of safety built in is amazing. And yet....the chance for tragedy remains. My thoughts and prayers to her family and friends.

Unforgiven
04-05-2005, 06:58 AM
Hi all...Sunday morning started with a call from Ron (info) with the news...followed by many calls from friends from back in Tulsa that we had just lost part of our family and a good friend...Shelly was a great person to be around, alot of people knew her as a driver/racer.. but we shared a race shop with her back when we ran SHOWTIME USA...so I got to know her and Doc Howard, Brian and family...THEY ARE TOP NOTCH PEOPLE...
Doc are hearts and prayers go out to you and family...SHELLY AND BRIAN you will be dearly missed....God Bless!!
Eddie
TEAM INTEGRA

Infomaniac
04-05-2005, 10:27 AM
Eddie,
I know this is painful for you and I would imagine this is one of the worst drag racing accidents ever. It still amazes me that this could actually happen.
This is an eyewitness account posted on a local drag racing forum.:
First off let me say that I hesitated posting this on here so I sent this to Carl first and he felt that it would help people with closure, recognizing danger being close to the track and to help people understand what happened rather than trying to put together bits and pieces 3rd and 4th hand.
I did this write-up in responce to another message board that I frequent as they were trying to put the bit of news articles together to figure out what happened becuase the news wasn't very accurate or complete. So here is the write up I did to address that thread.
----------------------------------------------------
Shelly Howard lived here in Tulsa. Here husband is a doctor here in town. They haven't been down the Tulsa track in years because the facility was sub par and wouldn't have held the power. But just last year the track was purchased and several million dollars have been put into the track to make it a National Event level track. Mike Edwards, from the Tulsa area, V Gaines and a bunch of Comp Eliminator cars have been renting the track recently and they have proven that the new facility will hold the power. Mike Edwards matched his, I think #2, qualifying spot from Gainesville just a few weeks ago at the Tulsa facility. So the track has now been proven to be a good track for testing of the Pro class cars.
About week or 2 ago they had a small wreck in their TAD, no one was hurt and the car didn't roll or anything but she did brush the wall, I think it was pretty close to the starting line, but it did bend the chassis. The car from this past weekend was a brand new car and the first time it was taken to the track. They just finished putting it together at 4:30pm that day and they came out to do some testing.
First pass she picked the front end of the car up about 5 foot and set is down. The Second pass she made about a 300 foot pass and shut it off. I think she had some serious tire shake and eventually broke the tires loose.
The Third pass, I was in the fenced in area just behind the tower side lane and about 20 feet behind the burn out box. It's a spectator access area that allows the spectators to get close to the cars as they pull into the burn out box or in a Pro car situation to watch them start up the motors. So we were about 10 feet to the side of the crew car, Saturn Stationwagon, and about 15 feet from the TAD as they were starting it.
It was getting real cool so they had the intake and injector lines covered with a blanket. They took it off and handed it to Shelly's son, he pulled it into the back seat of the car and made room for the rest of crew once they were ready to go down track. So he was in the back seat holding the blanket, I can't confirm this and it really doesn't matter but someone told me that he was mentally handicapped but still helped out the crew.
She launched hard and went straight, all the candles lit and looked to be on a low 5 sec, 270mph pass, when somewhere between the 1/8 and 1000 ft mark the front end of the car caught some air and it did a blow over landing on it's top and slid through the finish line. The clocks showed 6.53 at 115mph. So she was on a fast pass.
I wasn't able to tell what happened after she landed on her top because of all the smoke, sparks and flames. I just assumed she was barrel rolling but when she finally stopped her down track movement she was about 500 foot pass the finish line she ended right side up, and that make some sense because the wing and the motor would keep it from landing up side down and the low center of gravity would try to make the car end up right side up.
We could still hear the motor running but it sounded as if it was flooding over and fouling out plugs and was about to die. But then it started clearing up and picking up RPM. At this time most of us just thought that she was in the car on it's side and on fire because we could see fire, a few of her crew actually started to run down the track, they only made it to about the Christmas tree. When all of a sudden we hear the motor go to WOT (wide open throttle) fire coming out of the headers. It was an injection motor not a blower and I think they run like 50% nitro so it was lit up. We still didn't realize that the car was rolling. I actually thought the motor had broken free from the car and was just about to explode (I know that doesn't make any sense but that's what came to my mind).
About that time we could see that something was headed back this way but from the smoke we couldn't tell exactly what was going on (who would ever in their right mind think the the car would be heading back down the track). Everyone just stopped and watched trying to figure out what was going on when all of a sudden everyone realized. It was up right and heading back down the track in the same lane it went down in and was at WOT, nitro flames coming out of header just like they were when she left. We kept thinking that it would hit the wall, go over and stop but it didn't.
We actually don't think it hit the wall until around the 100 foot mark. So it was on a straight on pass WOT. I waited until the car got to the 60 foot mark when everyone started running for their lives, it was just over 100foot from where we were standing. We had started moving behind the tower thinking that would protect us but then we thought otherwise and started running. We could actually see the car through the tower because the front and the side are glass so we were for the most part protected from the car and were still watching it come.
The car still at full throttle brushed off the wall, which just straightened it up and hit their crew car at what had to be 250mph plus, head on. It was on the left side of the tower lane. It and the dragster just disintegrated and went thru the retaining wall which was about 30 foot past where the crew car was parked. Her son was apparently still in the car, but there probably wasn't enough time to get out once everyone knew the car was coming back at us. The dragster and the car ended up about 20 foot past the retaining wall. So the impact of the car and the retaining the wall stopped a 250mph dragster within 50 - 70 feet, that in itself was amazing.
The retaining wall did have about a 10 inch I-beam and it was laid over and the metal siding was gone. It appeared that the pit car flew over the wall and the dragster went threw the wall.
Myself and one other guy ran down into the wreckage and I stopped once I got close to the fires fearing that it was about to explode, many fires were going, but the other guys went another 15 foot looking for the driver compartment.
About that time the officials and the crew got there so I backed off and looked at the wreckage.
It was dark but I couldn't recognize anything, just scrapes of metal everywhere. It was a horrifying experience and I left shortly after.
Out of respect for the family and friends I won't go into any other details.
The odds of all the combined things that happened to end up like this are mind boggling. I can't imagine what the family, friends and crew are going through. Neither my wife or I could sleep that night, it just kept playing over and over and over again in our heads. The fenced in area where I stood and watched it all until the car was about at the 60foot mark was destroyed, that way to close for me and think about how lucky I was and spent the next few days appreciating life...
As we were running from the fenced in area and as the dragster hit the crew car parts were hitting us in the back of the head and then part were falling from the sky, it was crazy.

rrrr
04-05-2005, 11:10 AM
That's horrible. I suppose she was unconscious after the blowover. I can't believe it stayed lit. :frown: :frown:
RIP

HCS
04-05-2005, 11:32 AM
That is really bizzare. Iv'e seen freak things happen and your mind just can't really sort out how something like that can happen.
What a turn of avents.

Infomaniac
04-05-2005, 04:56 PM
Totally unbelieveable when you talk to people that witnessed it.
I will be at the funeral tomorrow AM

Mrs.Racer277
04-05-2005, 05:14 PM
Eddie and Ron hope you guys are doing ok I know this must be really hard for both of you.
The family is in our thoughts and prayers.
Dia

Infomaniac
04-05-2005, 07:00 PM
Eddie and Ron hope you guys are doing ok I know this must be really hard for both of you.
The family is in our thoughts and prayers.
Dia
Thanks "D" when this is all over, I still intend to make a few of those payments.

Unforgiven
04-06-2005, 08:19 AM
Ron and Dia...Thanks... it's been crazy theses past few days..I still can't believe what has happened..Mom and Dad came over when they found out what happened...Like many people have asked..."how did this happen?"....I got the call and was told the details....so in respect of Doc Howard and family I won't comment on details......
SHELLY AND BRIAN you will be dearly missed!!!

Waist Deep
04-06-2005, 08:39 AM
Sorry to hear this, our prayers are with the family and friends who lost two loved ones.

I Feel the Need...
04-06-2005, 09:05 AM
I think they run like 50% nitro
We run 98% nitro...
This is unbelievable, I have been arround Dragracing for about 40 years and have seen many of crashes, but I would never have thought that some like this could happen. Just to many things that went wrong to cause this...
Shelly was a class act! RIP
Doug

topless
04-06-2005, 09:32 AM
OMG..........I haven't been here for the last few days and just read this. I feel sick right about now and will keep the family and friends in my prayers. Ron and Eddie, you know everyone here loves you guys and will keep you in our thoughts and prayers too. I didn't know them but feel a great loss at the same time. I can't even imagine the feeling of witnessing such a tragedy or knowing the victims.

Infomaniac
04-06-2005, 01:35 PM
Very nice funeral. About 600 people. President of racers for Christ did the service. Dave McClellan read the obituaries.

Infomaniac
04-06-2005, 07:48 PM
Press release from the track owner.
On Saturday, April 2, 2005 Shelly Howard, and her son Brian Howard, were killed in a racing accident at Tulsa Raceway Park. The accident occurred while making a test run of Shelly’s new dragster during the bracket racing program. At 10:12 p.m., Shelly made her third pass of the evening in the tower lane. The car left the starting line in what appeared to be a problem-free run. After passing the 1/8 mile mark at 201 miles per hour, the dragster began what is referred to as a blow-over. 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. 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. 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. At that point, either the throttle stuck wide open, or, Shelly’s foot jammed the throttle down. Extensive damage to the dragster and the onboard “black box” made it impossible to determine which occurred. 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 ¼ mile stripe in 6.633 seconds at 115 miles an hour. The car continued down the track backwards until approximately 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. 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 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 miles per hour. At 125’ past the starting line, the dragster struck the crew’s chase car. The chase car’s occupant, Brian Howard, was sitting in the rear seat, and along with Shelly, was killed instantly. The force of the collision hurled both the dragster and the chase car 225’ through a rear burn-out wall and into an open field and stream. An investigation by the Tulsa Police Department ruled their deaths an accident. No other injuries were reported.
Tulsa Raceway Park and its employees extend their deepest sympathies to Dr. Paul Howard, daughters Tracy and Jennifer and their extended family. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

I Feel the Need...
04-07-2005, 08:07 AM
Press release from the track owner.
On Saturday, April 2, 2005 Shelly Howard, and her son Brian Howard, were killed in a racing accident at Tulsa Raceway Park. The accident occurred while making a test run of Shelly’s new dragster during the bracket racing program. At 10:12 p.m., Shelly made her third pass of the evening in the tower lane. The car left the starting line in what appeared to be a problem-free run. After passing the 1/8 mile mark at 201 miles per hour, the dragster began what is referred to as a blow-over. 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. 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. 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. At that point, either the throttle stuck wide open, or, Shelly’s foot jammed the throttle down. Extensive damage to the dragster and the onboard “black box” made it impossible to determine which occurred. 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 ¼ mile stripe in 6.633 seconds at 115 miles an hour. The car continued down the track backwards until approximately 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. 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 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 miles per hour. At 125’ past the starting line, the dragster struck the crew’s chase car. The chase car’s occupant, Brian Howard, was sitting in the rear seat, and along with Shelly, was killed instantly. The force of the collision hurled both the dragster and the chase car 225’ through a rear burn-out wall and into an open field and stream. An investigation by the Tulsa Police Department ruled their deaths an accident. No other injuries were reported.
Tulsa Raceway Park and its employees extend their deepest sympathies to Dr. Paul Howard, daughters Tracy and Jennifer and their extended family. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.
This is the most unbelievable set of circumstances that cause this accident.
Doug