Pro Extreme racer and PDRA co-owner Gene Hector crashed his brand-new 2015 C7 Corvette today during round two of qualifying for the inaugural PDRA Texas Nationals at the Texas Motorplex, south of Dallas.
After launching from the right lane, Hector got a little out of shape about 100 feet out, but gathered the car up and charged down the eighth mile to post a time of 4.074 seconds at 160.35 mph that would have placed him 15th in the 16-car qualified field.
Unfortunately, however, the bright white Corvette, running in its first competition event, made a hard left turn just past the finish line and crossed in front of Chad Sheffield’s ’41 Willys. Hector’s car exploded in a fireball when it ran head-on into the left wall, then overturned and slid to a stop on its roof well into the shutdown lanes. Sheffield somehow managed to steer past Hector and emerged unscathed through the debris after posting a 4.420 at 160.16 pass to qualify 15th for eliminations.
Hector was uninjured in the accident and after being extricated from the wreckage he praised Joey Martin Race Cars for building a safe ride, then warned other drivers not to “overdrive” their cars.
“I should’ve got out of it when it got loose at the start,” the native Texan said. “Let that be a lesson to everyone to not overdrive when you get into trouble.”
(Click on photos to enlarge)
This story was originally published on March 22, 2015. 
