ESPN Video of Force/Bernstein Top End Crash in Texas
Written by Sheila Scarborough · September 23, 2007
ESPN has posted the video clip showing the Funny Car accident between John Force and Kenny Bernstein during the 2007 Fall Nationals eliminations at Texas Motorplex in Ennis, Texas.
Here’s the ESPN video clip of the Bernstein/Force crash:
Kenny Bernstein indicated in an earlier statement that he felt certain something had happened to Force’s vehicle in addition to the control problems that Bernstein was having.
The video indicates that both drivers had their hands full with car issues.
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12 Responses to “ESPN Video of Force/Bernstein Top End Crash in Texas”
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In watching the video of the wreck and the information obtained on Wind Tunnel I have come to a conclusion about this wreck.. As it has been mentioned people feel tire may have gone down..
I personally do not think so.. When you watch the wreck you will notice that the cone gets catapulted toward Forces car at a high rate of speed and looks to hit the car just in front of the rear tire. I belive that this cone probably had enough force to penetrate the body and actually hit the frame rail at a high rate of speed bending the rails and therfore causing the car to split at the location that it did. If you notice the front of the car turns and shoots across the track and the cockpit continues to travel straight. I don’t think a flat tire would be able to split the frame at the location where it did. though a compromised sttructure under that much stress can easily give.
Brion Sohn
Yorba Linda CA
OK disregard the last post.. I just watched it again in slow mo.. that and the cones pass behind the car.. this is just the weirdest thing I have seen..
Brion Sohn
watch the video in frame by frame. it appears that the 1st orange cone bounces off retaining wall back into left rear tire.then shoots up into air. parachute deploys, then second cone hits right rear.
GOOD LUCK JOHN! SPEEDY RECOVERY!
I have looked at the video frame by frame. What I see first is the burst panel blowing off extremely fast, going up and out at about a 45 degree angle followed by the blower belt. watch closely as his car disintegrates and you can see the body distort at the back large pieces of it breaking away. Just as the car turns right you can clearly see the car is in two pieces and the rear is starting to roll over.
Here is my scenario: He had a catastrophic engine or clutch failure which severed the left structure of the frame. ( a interesting thing is why didn’t the engine blankets and other protection work to contain the initial failure) The failure would cause the car to turn right. If you look closely you will see the car was already severed when it turned right. You can see John strapped in and starting to roll as the front end hits Kenny.
Just behind the engine in a funny car is a real high stress area. Imagine all of the stresses and suddenly something hits it… Ouch.
That is my story and I am sticking to it!
I want to also take a moment to send all my thoughts and prayers to John and his family. Lets hope he makes a speedy recovery…
Looks to me like Kenny hit the cones sending fragments into John’s LR tire . When the tire exploded the imbalance or the shredded tire itself caused the roll-cage to break off . The frame severed at the cockpit leaving John’s legs unprotected . You can see the steering wheel with the forward part of the car. RFL
My thoughts & prayers go out to John Force & his family.As horrific as these crashes can look & be,I’m glad to hear he will recover & I hope the time goes fast for him
If you watch the video you can see that when Kenny went over the center divider he hit the timing blocks. The timing blocks flew into Johns tire causing it to blow and yanking his car to the right at such force that it actually ripped the car in half. Watch it again and tell me if you disagree.
How can all of these news stories get it wrong? Every article I have read says that the impact with Berstein’s car broke Forces chassis. That is clearly not the case. The first block goes behind Forces car and parts are flying before the second block gets launched. The coverage on ESPN Sunday also showed a camera view from the staging area and I don’t think the first block bounced off the wall in Force’s lane and hit the car either. Just wierd juxtaposition.
Godspeed John
First of all I want to wish John Force a speedy recovery from his injuries. I know what leg pain is and I just hope that he has the good sense to use the pain killers the doctors offer to him.
My impression of the wreck is that there was a catastrophic failure in the clutch system and that is what split the frame into. There is no way that one of those timing cones caused that.Maybe NHRA should think about making the frame about two or three feet longer on Funny Cars to allow a better encapsulation of the driver’s body parts.
There was a lot of iron and fiberglass starting to fly when KB hit the cone. I am just glad nobody got killed.
James Anderson
Native Texan
I think that Kenny driving through those 2 “cones” or “timing Blocks” set this all off. Both other funny cars running in that lane before Kenny (Bertone & Ashley) drifted over to the center and had to back off to avoid crossing. Kenny knew this and chose to keep his foot in!
The 1st block moves slowly & does not hit John. The second cone is fired accross & passes the first at speed to hit the rear of John’s car. I think the right Rear tyre blows (but the left has a huge hole in it) and the rear of the car starts to slide to the left as the right side drops. The car’s rear end seems to trip over and the whole rear of the car rotates clockwise & down shearing the chassis behind the engine. Some chassis rails are tucked back under & around the diff.
As the rear end rapidly decelerates, rotating John down into the track, the broken off front, with the body, moves out to the right into Kenny.
I’m not a believer in co-incidence - the flying cone/block hits the rear of John’s car fractions of a second before the rear of the car destroys itself - it is classic cause and effect just like the falling foam and broken shuttle tile. It does not make sence to think the block/cone & wreck are not related. I Wonder if the Force camp will ever tell us what they found?
See a bigger video here:
[...] This was his first final since last season at Reading, as the champ continues his comeback from the Fall Nationals wreck (near Dallas) in September [...]
[...] the order of the day in Funny Car, as the (ever-excitable) John Force punched his way back from a near-fatal accident last fall to beat points leader Tim Wilkerson for his first win since being choppered off of the drag strip [...]