Shelly Howard
04-03-2005, 05:09 PM
#1
Shelly Howard Madman/JBZ Racecars expressed our deepest condolences to the Howard family. Our prayers are with Paul and his 2 daughters on the loss Shelly and her son Brian in a testing accident at Tulsa raceway.
Shelly was a force to be reckoned with in Top alcohol dragster.
By all reports it seems the car became airborne and reversed direction back to the starting line and made impact with the tow vehicle which her son Brian was driving.
Shelly and Brian will be missed.
Shelly was a force to be reckoned with in Top alcohol dragster.
By all reports it seems the car became airborne and reversed direction back to the starting line and made impact with the tow vehicle which her son Brian was driving.
Shelly and Brian will be missed.
04-03-2005, 08:47 PM
#4
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Originally Posted by MADMAN
Madman/JBZ Racecars expressed our deepest condolences to the Howard family. Our prayers are with Paul and his 2 daughters on the loss Shelly and her son Brian in a testing accident at Tulsa raceway.
Shelly was a force to be reckoned with in Top alcohol dragster.
By all reports it seems the car became airborne and reversed direction back to the starting line and made impact with the tow vehicle which her son Brian was driving.
Shelly and Brian will be missed.
Shelly was a force to be reckoned with in Top alcohol dragster.
By all reports it seems the car became airborne and reversed direction back to the starting line and made impact with the tow vehicle which her son Brian was driving.
Shelly and Brian will be missed.
Man, sounds like a terrible misfortune. They're in our prayers.
04-03-2005, 09:46 PM
#5
Originally Posted by MADMAN
Madman/JBZ Racecars expressed our deepest condolences to the Howard family. Our prayers are with Paul and his 2 daughters on the loss Shelly and her son Brian in a testing accident at Tulsa raceway.
Shelly was a force to be reckoned with in Top alcohol dragster.
By all reports it seems the car became airborne and reversed direction back to the starting line and made impact with the tow vehicle which her son Brian was driving.
Shelly and Brian will be missed.
Shelly was a force to be reckoned with in Top alcohol dragster.
By all reports it seems the car became airborne and reversed direction back to the starting line and made impact with the tow vehicle which her son Brian was driving.
Shelly and Brian will be missed.
Coach
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04-03-2005, 11:38 PM
#8
Man 
ESPN article said the car blew over at half track, landed then headed back towards the starting wide open and ran into their tow truck which their son was sitting in at over 200mph.....
Thats almost to weird to beleive.
My deepest symphty goes to the Howard family.
ESPN article said the car blew over at half track, landed then headed back towards the starting wide open and ran into their tow truck which their son was sitting in at over 200mph..... Thats almost to weird to beleive.
My deepest symphty goes to the Howard family.
04-04-2005, 10:19 AM
#11
My deepest sympathies go out to the Howard family.
This is hard for me to deal with, I can only imagine what the family is going through.
Shelly and I are about the same age and shared many of the same interest one of them being health care and another was racing. I remember when she got her first dragster...must of been about 25 years ago and started tearing up everyone in the brackets. The girl shure could race!
I know that Joe has got to be hurting realy bad now to and my thoughts and prayers go out to him as well. I am shure that shelly was like family to him also.
God Bless the Howard family,
Maggie Stewart
Tripple S and Stewart Racing
t
This is hard for me to deal with, I can only imagine what the family is going through.
Shelly and I are about the same age and shared many of the same interest one of them being health care and another was racing. I remember when she got her first dragster...must of been about 25 years ago and started tearing up everyone in the brackets. The girl shure could race!
I know that Joe has got to be hurting realy bad now to and my thoughts and prayers go out to him as well. I am shure that shelly was like family to him also.
God Bless the Howard family,
Maggie Stewart
Tripple S and Stewart Racing
t
04-04-2005, 11:05 AM
#12
WHOA! That seriously sucks. Makes me appreciate Jen more so. I can't say I don't think about things like that when she is racing, that is very sad and I feel very sorry for her husband (and her family).
Makes me appreciate Jen more so. I can't say I don't think about things like that when she is racing, that is very sad and I feel very sorry for her husband (and her family).
04-04-2005, 12:35 PM
#13
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The car made a full pass when the "Blow Over" happened, somehow the car turned around 180 degrees and went down the same lane as it started. The estimated speed is confusing, it's any where from 150-170mph when it reached the tow vehicle. I just left 15 minutes before this happened. I'm glad I was not there when it happened. There is a metal / wood fence about 10'-12' high at the back of the staging lanes. The dragster slammed into the van and pushed it and the dragster through the fence. They say that the cage was severed where Shelly was at.
I talked to many of people that were there that night and they are in a state of shock. It's an helpless felling when someone sees this type of accident about to happen and there is nothing that you can do about it. It's very fortunate that more people were not killed or severly injured. If this was at a national event other than Tulsa than more people would have been injured. Not to mention the rules that they have in place where only crew members are allowed in the staging lanes. Each driver and crew member has arm bands.
The way that the staging lines and the starting lines are designed is that no more than one dragster can get behind the other one. There is a 90 degree turn that you have to do first to get to the pre-staging area. On this night she was the only T/A dragster there and she was doing some Test runs with here new dragster.
It's truly a sad accident.
I talked to many of people that were there that night and they are in a state of shock. It's an helpless felling when someone sees this type of accident about to happen and there is nothing that you can do about it. It's very fortunate that more people were not killed or severly injured. If this was at a national event other than Tulsa than more people would have been injured. Not to mention the rules that they have in place where only crew members are allowed in the staging lanes. Each driver and crew member has arm bands.
The way that the staging lines and the starting lines are designed is that no more than one dragster can get behind the other one. There is a 90 degree turn that you have to do first to get to the pre-staging area. On this night she was the only T/A dragster there and she was doing some Test runs with here new dragster.
It's truly a sad accident.
04-04-2005, 01:37 PM
#14
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Wow, that is truly awful, its hard to believe something like that can happen.
God Bless the Howard Family, and Godspeed Shelly and Brian
Here is the NHRA article on the accident:
http://www.nhra.com/apcm/templates/n...=3703&zoneid=8
God Bless the Howard Family, and Godspeed Shelly and Brian
Here is the NHRA article on the accident:
http://www.nhra.com/apcm/templates/n...=3703&zoneid=8
04-04-2005, 05:20 PM
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04-04-2005, 05:58 PM
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very sad mythougts and prayers are with the family
if any ne wants to check out the site i am sure there will be more on it in a few days www.tulsaracewaypark.com
if any ne wants to check out the site i am sure there will be more on it in a few days www.tulsaracewaypark.com
04-04-2005, 07:29 PM
#18
Maggie I feel your pain. I have lost one of my drivers before and I almost quit altogether.
Tony the car from what I have been told pulled a wheelstand that turned into a blowover. Don Garlits had this same thing happen about 10 years ago he turned around in the air and landed facing the starting line.. The difference is when his car came down it broke in half. Shellys car seems to have landed and the throttle hung.
Tony the car from what I have been told pulled a wheelstand that turned into a blowover. Don Garlits had this same thing happen about 10 years ago he turned around in the air and landed facing the starting line.. The difference is when his car came down it broke in half. Shellys car seems to have landed and the throttle hung.
04-07-2005, 04:41 PM
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Here is the official press release of what happened.
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.
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.