One of the Worst Crashes in NHRA Pro Stock History – Bruce Allen & Kenny Koretsky

I remember very well the first time I saw this crash and the sick feeling in my gut, believing I’d just seen one, if not both drivers seriously injured in what is to this day the image that flashes in my head anytime I hear the phrase “total devastation”. However, despite how it looks, both drivers survived, though one of them would walk away from the sport afterwards. To set the scene and help explain exactly why things happened the way they did, I’ll walk you through each stage of the crash, starting with the launch, which plays a huge role in the way things unfolded.

In the right lane, longtime NHRA Pro Stock competitor Bruce Allen is staged alongside relative newcomer, but fierce competitor, Kenny Koretsky. The lights come down and Allen leaves on cue. However, since this particular run was during qualifying, Koretsky hesitated, focusing on getting the launch just right. Letting the other driver leave would also allow him to hear his own engine better to help him relay info to his crew about what it was doing during the run, and was a pretty common practice, especially in Pro Stock. However, in this case it would prove catastrophically disastrous just moments later.

Allen left and began inching out of the notoriously narrow groove at Texas Motorplex, his home track. Allen eased the wheel to the left to steer the car back into the center of the groove, but Pro Stock cars don’t have much downforce even at speed, so the steering input was just enough to upset the car’s balance and sent it directly across the track toward the opposite retaining wall. By this time, Koretsky had launched and was en route to the finish line in the left lane, which Allen was suddenly blocking. As his car skidded, it rolled up onto the passenger side, becoming quite literally a wall of race car squarely in front of a rapidly accelerating Koretsky.

With nowhere to go, Kenny literally plowed through Allen’s car like a wrecking ball, splitting Bruce’s car in half and sending sparks and pieces of both cars flying in all directions. The two halves of Allen’s car tumbled to a stop while Koretsky’s car burst into flames, eventually rolling to a stop in the shutdown area. Both drivers would be transported to the hospital – Allen in the LifeFlight chopper – but would have no life-threatening injuries. Koretsky later returned to competition, but Allen would walk away from the sport completely after the crash.