Sometimes, you can’t really figure out why bad luck takes the course it does.
On Friday night, during Pro Stock qualifying at the 20th O’Reilly Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex near Dallas, two of the most well-liked and unanimously popular drivers in the NHRA POWERade Pro Stock class were involved in a horrifying crash.
Bruce Allen, a resident of the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Tex., and Kenny Koretsky – veteran racer from Richboro, Pa., collided during their qualifying pass resulting in a spectacular crash that turned the filled grandstands stone silent.
According to reports, Allen lost control of his Reher-Morrison Pontiac Grand Am near half-track, causing the car to swerve onto its side. The car veered into Koretsky’s lane with Koretsky’s Nitro Fish Wear Dodge Stratus making heavy contact and essentially splitting Allen’s car at the firewall. Allen’s Pontiac exploded in a detonation of parts and pieces with the race car’s 500-cubic-inch engine skidding down the racing surface for hundreds of feet.
Koretsky emerged from his heavily damaged machine without injury while Allen was airlifted to Parkland Hospital in Dallas. The latest reports indicated Bruce suffered several minor hand injuries and escaped life-threatening injuries.
The accident was a tough break for two drivers who continue to race hard in a category that becomes more and more formidable with each passing event. But it is their personalities and character that have won Allen and Koretsky so much respect from their racing peers and NHRA fans alike.
Allen’s wife, Deb, is an education specialist who works with mentally and physically challenged children. Bruce is a regular visitor to Deb’s classrooms and offers whatever unselfish support he can. Despite his duties as a full-time employee of Reher-Morrison, a Texas-based engine-building facility, Bruce has become a real hero to the kids with whom Deb works with.
Koretsky is also a devoted husband and family man while tending to a host of successful business ventures. Last year, as his wife Karen was battling cancer, Kenny was prepared to sit out the 50th Anniversary Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis – the sport’s gala event – in order to be with Karen during her treatments. Upon her insistence, Kenny agreed to race at Indy and succeeded in advancing to his first career final round, nearly beating Gerg Anderson for the U.S. Nationals title.
They are both diehard drag racers who also understand what really matters in life. They are two of the “good guys” in the NHRA POWERade firmament and it is truly by the hand of God that both escaped serious harm in Friday night’s stunning mishap.
Score one for “good luck.”