Today during the first round of eliminations in Pro Mod at NMCA West Fontana, Scott Oksas and Mike Bowman both endured separate horrific accidents on the same run. Let’s first be clear that the racetrack has been the best it has been all year, with multiple participants reporting that Track Meter readings produced over 300+ on the Track Meter gauge consistently.
Oksas experienced severe tire shake in his Turbo Pro Mod Camaro and with Bowman ahead of him, ended up losing control of his car veering from the right lane to the left lane impacting the wall hard and flipped over the guardrail as his car flipped several times in the air. It was a horrific accident that Oksas not only walked away from, but seemed to have no injuries.
Bowman, with Oksas flipping in the air behind him, had his own problems. His parachutes failed to open, putting him in the sand traps where his car did a complete 180-degree turn, entering the sand traps backward where it smashed the car badly. Then, to make matters worse, it caught fire.
As safety crews sped immediately to get Oksas, they were forced to divert immediately to Bowman whose Chevelle was on fire and needed more urgent attention. It’s a sad blow for two legendary West Coast racers who have a great deal of on-track experience and many race wins between them.
The NMCA and track staff have worked their asses off to provide a great racetrack this weekend, and their emergency personnel were on the scene immediately, providing as much critical attention as humanly possible with two drivers in such perilous conditions.
We wish both racers the best of luck and all of dragzine.psapp.dev’s support as they think about rebuilding their cars.