Lizzy Musi Will Run Rockingham, Gene Hector Still Regrouping

PITTSBORO, NC – While much anticipation surrounded the start of the Professional Drag Racers Association sophomore season, things did not go according to best laid plans. Mother Nature wreaked havoc on qualifying, canceling sessions and pushing the race finish to Sunday. While racers, fans and staff were forced to dance to Mother Nature’s beat, however, rain was the least of worries for two PDRA standouts.

Pro Nitrous racer Lizzy Musi and Pro Extreme racer Gene Hector both debuted brand new cars at the Texas Nationals. During the opening round of Pro Nitrous qualifying, Musi was on her way to an impressive run. She crossed the finish line at just under 200 MPH with a 3.753 elapsed time that would have been good enough to qualify her third in the PN pack. However, even before the scoreboard relayed the time, Musi was getting loose and the Dart quickly crossed the center line, making contact with competitor Ron Muenks. While Musi walked away, the Dart suffered severe damage.

Hector took his opening pass in the swoopy new Joey Martin built C7 Corvette to a 4.88. Although this was way off the pace for Pro Extreme, it was good enough to qualify 13th for the time being. In the second and final qualifying session, Hector was looking to continue shaking out the new car bugs. He was on a much better pass this time around, a 4.07, but the car took a sudden sideways turn as Hector approached the finish line, slamming into the opposite guardrail and bursting into flames before sliding on its roof and coming to a stop down track. Hector emerged from the car without major injury, but the same couldn’t be said of the Corvette.

With the PDRA Spring Nationals just three weeks after these accidents, neither driver was expected to make it back to competition in time. However, thanks to a loaner car from Mike Bankston of the Bankston Boys, Musi will have the opportunity to race at her home stop on the tour.

Unfortunately, Hector will miss the Rockingham, N.C. race as both he and the Corvette are still on the mend. “I’m still a little sore, but I’m doing alright,” Hector explained. “The car is at Joey Martin’s place in Florida getting fixed as we speak. We’re still going to be three or four weeks getting a new body from Tim McAmis. We’re real close to having all the parts back together, but we’re waiting on a supercharger. It had a bunch of rocks and stuff get in it, and unfortunately we don’t have a spare supercharger. It went to Kevin Cantrell last week. Same thing there, it’ll take a few weeks.We’re doing all we can to get it put together, but it’s still going to be a little bit. We’re thinking we may be back out for the Shreveport race. We’ll just have to wait and see.

“I’m a little sore,” Hector added. “I don’t know if I cracked my tailbone or what in the world happened there, but I have a literal pain in the rear. I couldn’t drive right now if I wanted to. It’s unfortunate for sure. Been racing 20-something years, and I’ve had three wrecks, but that was by far the worst one.”

A video replay of Hector’s accident shows things could have been much worse for the Drilling Contractor from Texas. Despite the high impact crash, fire and and upside down flip, the well-constructed Corvette, along with Hector’s safety equipment, kept his injuries at a minimum. Still, he wasn’t the only one in danger as the Corvette came scarily close to a cameraman when it made contact with the left retaining wall.

“I’m thankful I didn’t tear up anybody else’s equipment or hurt that camera man. That was pretty nasty when you watched it on video. That would have been a lot harder to recover from. The other stuff can be replaced, but tearing up somebody’s stuff or hurting somebody else, that would have been a hard pill to swallow.”

While Hector will have to sit out this weekend’s marquee event, he is making every effort to return to the tour as soon as possible. Musi knows the importance of being able to get back in the saddle again and is thankful for the opportunity to compete in the Bankston-owned 1969 Camaro at Rockingham. Both drivers would like to express their gratitude for the outpouring of support and concern shown by their fans and racing community.

Catch all the PDRA Spring Nationals action online via the Motor Mania Live Feed.