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Virginia Man Killed In Racing Accident At Atlanta Dragway

Posted by

Brandon Reed

Monday, October 6. 2008

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According to a report on the National Hot Rod Association's website, a 65 year old Virginia man was fatally injured in a high-speed racing accident Saturday at the Atlanta Dragway.

Bobby Martindale, age 65 of Glen Allen, VA., was racing his Top Alcohol Funny Car when he experienced engine failure at the finish line, according to preliminary reports.

The car continued down the track at a high rate of speed, reportedly overshooting the end of the drag strip.

Martindale was competing in an NHRA Southeast Division Lucas Oil Drag Racing series event. Considered a veteran racer, Martindale was 11th in the Division 2 points standings when the accident occured.

According to the website, racing was halted at the speedway after the accident, allowing for officials and authorities to begin conducting an investigation. Racing resumed on Sunday.

Martindale's death is the first on the Commerce quarter mile track since Jerry Gannon was killed in a jet car crash in June of 2002.

Martindale is survived by his wife Geraldine and family.

For more on this story, see Wednesday's edition of The Commerce News or The Banks County News or The Jackson Herald.

Defined tags for this entry: Atlanta Dragway, Auto Racing, banksnewstoday, commercenewstoday, Drag Racing, jacksonheraldtoday, NHRA, Top Stories

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#1 Bobby Bennett on 10/07/08 at 01:21 PM [Reply]

Do your homework and then you'll see this is the third death since Labor Day weekend at a track owned by the NHRA. A Pro Modified racer in Indianapolis and a sportsman racer in Columbus.

#1.1 Brandon Reed on 10/07/08 at 02:16 PM [Reply]

Hi Bobby,

I'm generally good about doing my homework, and my research had shown what I reported.

However, after your email, I did a more specific search. As in looking up, word for word, "NHRA, Death, Indianapolis, 2008".

Up popped a report on the death of Pro Modified racer Greg Engel during qualifying at the U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis.

I apologize to our readers for making such an error, as I pride myself, as a motorsports writer, on being factual and correct. I have changed the story to no longer reflect the error.

The odd thing to me is that it was so difficult to find the information - not just on this terrible accident, but also on Mr. Engel's crash.

But the most important thing at this point is to focus on the loss of Bobby Martindale, and to pray for his family and friends during their time of loss.

Thanks for reading, and thank you for clarifying my error.

-Brandon

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Virginia Man Killed In Racing Accident At Atlanta Dragway

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