ARDMORE, Okla. -- A new race car went airborne in 'awfully windy' conditions and crashed, ripping Lee Shepherd from his harness and killing the five-time national drag racing champion, authorities said today.
Ardmore police Det. Butch Kinslow said Shepherd, 40, of Arlington, Texas, was testing a new car Monday when the accident occurred.
Shepherd was dead on arrival at an Ardmore hospital.
The driver had leased the Ardmore Raceway, an old airport that has been converted to a dragstrip, for the day to practice for next week's Gatornationals drag racing event in Gainesville, Fla.
The car had just finished a practice run and Shepherd had deployed his parachute to slow the vehicle, when it went out of control, Kinslow said.
'It was awfully windy out there,' Kinslow said.
'The front end of the car came off the ground,' he said. 'He lost control and it veered to the left. When it touched back down he apparently was trying to correct with the wheel turned to the right.
'It rolled several times and landed on its top.'
Shepherd was ripped from his five-point racing harness and ejected 163 feet.
'The car was virtually destroyed,' Kinslow said. 'Had the harness not broke he probably would have lived.
'The only thing still intact was the driver's cage. It held up pretty good.'
Dale Hamm, of Amarillo, Texas, south central region director of the National Hot Rod Association, said: 'His car had made a full pass, but it went airborne through the traps.
'The chute was out and the car went completely airborne then started rolling. It was like a bomb going off.
'What killed Lee was that the seatbelts and shoulder harness all came undone. He was thrown out of the car. His helmet came off, with the straps still together. Of course, the main concerns are to find out why the seatbelts gave way and why he was thrown out of the car.'
Shepherd had been racing since 1970. In the last 10 years, he has won 147 of 194 races. He won the last four NHRA world championships in the pro-stock class.
In 1983, he was the International Hot Rod Association pro-stock world championship. He was third on the NHRA victory list, trailing Bob Glidden and Don Prudhomme.
In NHRA events only, Shepherd has 29 victories. He has been to the finals in 44 of the last 56 NHRA national events.
Drag racer Shirley Muldowney is still recuperating from severe injuries suffered last June in Montreal.
