Buy Eddie Hill's Vette

[scottycards]

If you don't know how Eddie Hill is, try Google. Great guy. He simultaneously held the top fuel records in drag racing and on water for a few years.

What a beautiful car, and to have that kind of history.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/showthread.php?t=1754945&page=2

I'm not a red fanatic, and the price ain't that great, but it's a good read.

[scottycards]

There's a famous crash photo-
here is some of his description of the events. Holy cats:
Originally Posted by Hobs
Eddie,
Which track is this ? I vividly remember a similar incident at the Texas Motorplex. We were sitting at about the ~330 foot point half way up the stands. When the engine let go the heat was unbelievable even that far away! Can't imagine what it was like for you. I then started getting a bit concerned about where all those parts were going. Winston vision (yeah that far back) showed you at the far end and there was nothing visible between the frame rails where the engine had been. Glad the only thing hurt was your pocket book.

Hobs



Houston--my last ride in a Top Fuel car, and the last time we've been to a dragstrip.

That was a brand new block on it's first run, and it did not go the full quarter mile, before the block basically shattered like glass- a defective cast block that was extremely porous and brittle, actually a reject block that should have been rejected/scrapped, but instead was sold to us as a good one-- After this, and probably partly BECAUSE of this incident, NHRA made billet blocks mandatory--no more cast blocks allowed.

I have frame-by-frame video showing the block coming apart- one cylinder head leaving the car with one side of the block still with it, and after the parts had all scattered into an area about three times the normal engine size, the hot parts (headers) ignited the hot oil and all that raw nitro spraying around. The engine came apart several frames before the fireball, easy to see on the video. Most people that saw the incident live, probably thought that there was an internal explosion that blew the block apart--not so. All the internal parts, crank, rods, pistons, bearings, etc. were fine.

The intense pressure-wave from the fireball blew my head and shoulders so far forward that my butterfly steering wheel put a prang in the front of my helmet! In one frame, my head is in the normal position, in the next it is against the steering wheel, and the next it's back in the normal position again. And all this with my shoulder harness literally as tight as my crew guy can pull them, while I'm holding a deep breath. So my belts leave me only enough room to breathe, no more. So when I got shoved/blown that far forward, something had to give--- and it was my L-1 vertebra- 40% compression fracture, and the most pain I've ever felt. It hurt so bad I thought a piece of frame tubing or something had punctured my back.

I told the Safety Safari to cut the cage off the car (the only time in my career that I allowed one of my cars to be cut up to get me out) and to lift me very carefully straight up and out, without flexing my back. Ercie was there watching, of course, and she said the pain was so bad that the tears were actually squirting forward, out of my eyes!

So my last ride ever, at a dragstrip, was out of there, in an ambulance!

Like it also was, at my last drag boat race!

I've never been back to a boat or a car drag race.

But I'm O.K. now.


Except for the brain damage--



Which the doctors all said was a pre-existing condition, or else I wouln't have been going that fast, anyway!

Eddie

[Steve]

Nice car, and very low miles. Eddie Hill is cool. :thumbsup:

[scottycards]

Eddie Hill has some LARGE stones, man. Definitely someone who's been there and done that.

He is THE MAN. And about as low-key as you'd expect from someone with his credentials. Friggin' cool.

[ColoradoSkier]

I think this is the engine blowing up he was talking about:

http://www.dragracingonline.com/special/images/pennzoil.jpg
http://www.dallasnews.com/img/photo/08-02/NS_24HILL.JPG

Was looking for pics of that famous wheelstand, but can't find any...

Ah, here's one:

http://i16.ebayimg.com/02/i/000/a8/14/0148_1.JPG

[ColoradoSkier]

And video of the crash in Sonoma where the car disintegrated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc1O4O-Kh-A

[Jake_Blues]

OK, Eddie Hill drives the vette... I find this a little hard to believe:


It has never been on any kind of race track, never even a burnout


He's NEVER smoked the tires? Not once?

-E