Mark Albert!

saturday night Mark Albert crashed his alcohol dragster at maple grove. it was not a pretty sight. after smacking the wall at the finish line the back half broke off and turned the front half backwards ,sliding toward the end of the track. when the back broke away it ripped the main fuel line loose spraying fuel . it ignited into an enormous fire. i saw the remains of the car and it BURNT the paint off the whole car and destorted all the body panels. mark got burned severly ! i don't want to give to many details and i am not sure of what hospital mark is at ,but he needs everyone to say a prayer that he survives this ordeal.

 

i hope mark is ok.please let us know if we can help
tom

 

My thoughts & prayers go out to Mark and his family

 

Latest report from NHRA.com...

"The latest report we have on his condition is that he suffered burns on his legs, hands, and face and is in stable condition at the hospital's burn center."

Hope he gets better real soon.

 

Praying for the family and that he gets well soon.

 

I wish that was all that is wrong. trust me he needs everyones thoughts.

 

My Thoughts are with Mark and his Family.

 

Get well soon from all @ the Dutch..Baldwin, PA

My heart and prayers are with the entire Albert family... Mark is a passionate about racing as I've heard him preach on many of occasions. All who know him are praying for a fast recovery. The Dutch club has its prayers and thoughts devoted to the Albert family, and if any help is needed you know it's there.
Cheers to a fast recovery and prayers for the entire family..
Cori Jo

 

Get Well Mark

Its A Tragedy That Something Like That Had To Happen.. Would Have Thought The Plug Would Have Been Pulled On That Session After We (tafc) Could Not Get Down That Skating Rink. At That Hour Of The Night. We All Complained But I Guess For Not.. Get Well Mark, Our Thoughts And Prayers To You, Your Family And Team..
Scott And The Gill Crew.

 

get well soon

Me and my familys prayers are with the entire Mark Albert family.

 

Get well Mark

On behalf of Terenzio Racing, our thoughts and prayers go out to Mark for a speedy recovery and to his family & crew.

 

All of us at Follow a Dream Racing want to wish Mark a quick, and complete recovery from this unfortunate accident. Mark you're a class act and a good driver,this wasn't your fault. Like Scott (Panman) said this never should have happened! Let us know if there is anything at all we can do.

 

I go along with PANMAN & D.Palmer,it never should have happened.Hang in there MARK,we here at LOURIE RACING are behind you.Get well SOON.

CHUCK

 

Never want to see anyone hurt, get well and race again. You will be in our prayers. Michael

 

Our prayers go out to Mark and the entire Albert family.We hope for a full and speedy recovery.The Welsch family.

 

On behalf of Mark Albert’s Family and Crew, we would like to thank everyone for their prayers and good wishes. As some of you may already know, Mark was in a severe accident during the Friday night qualifying session at Maple Grove. At this time we would not like to speculate on the cause of the accident, however at this point there is no evidence of driver error or car failure. The car was on a clean pass and at approximately 1000ft made a hard right. It then went up on its left side, and spun a little more than 180 degrees. The rear end of the car made contact with the wall, and erupted into a fireball. The car broke in two pieces, just as it was designed to do and continued to slide another ¼ mile or so. The fuel line came apart right behind the cockpit and sprayed fuel into the driver’s compartment as the car was sliding backwards down the track on fire. The safety safari was on the scene before the car even stopped moving. We were there as he was being pulled from the car. Mark was conscious and fully aware of what was taking place. He was able to stand, with help of the safety safari, as his feet were burned. He was talking to his crew and the safety safari. As they were putting him on the stretcher he commented, “Guys I’m alright, I’m just burned up.” He was then airlifted to an area hospital, where he is in stable condition and being treated for severe burns to his hands, feet, and face. Mark is expected to make a full recovery, however it will be a long and painful process.

The family and crew would like to thank the safety safari, EMT’s, and the NHRA staff for their quick response to the accident scene. Their training and professionalism undoubtedly saved his life. We would also like to especially thank the NHRA doctor {whose name was forgotten during that night’s chaos} who was leaving the track and returned to accident and ultimately made the call to have the medi-vac helicopter return to the track. Simpson safety equipment, Impact seatbelts, Diversatech helmet shrouds, and Butler built products for the helmet bar pads all contributed to Mark surviving the accident.

We are also thankful that Bill Riechert was uninjured as this terrible incident could have affected another great racing family.

It is imperative that we all learn a very important lesson from Mark’s accident about fire safety in our class. Mark had all the safety equipment that is required for the top alcohol dragster class; however we learned the hard way that it was not enough. We need to have mandatory fire suppression systems for the driver’s compartment in the top alcohol dragster class. Mark was conscious and aware and would have been able to activate this system manually if there had been one. There are also higher grade fire suits, gloves, and boots that are available but not required for our class. Also nomex socks, glove liners, and undergarments are available but not required. Had these extra precautions been taken, the severity of his injuries may have been decreased. We strongly urge our fellow racers to use all safety options available at their highest level to ensure the safety of their drivers. Marks accident is a wake up call for the class that a fire is not only a possibility but now has and may again occur in an alcohol dragster. Please learn from this terrible incident and better protect yourselves. The hardest part for us is that had he not been burned, he would have walked away from the accident unharmed.

Your continued prayers, support and well wishes are greatly appreciated and will aid in Mark’s recovery.

Mark JR and Craig Albert

 

Mark Jr. & Craig,
Thank you for the post on Mark's condition. It's good to hear that he'll make a full recovery, under the circumstances.
If it will help any to figure out the cause of the accident: We were one of the last pairs of funny cars to go down the track before the dragsters went down (we were coming back from the scales when the accident happened). When we downloaded the data from the racepack, it showed several spikes in RPM, driveshaft speed, and blower pressure toward the end of the run, as if Frank was peddling the car at the top end (he said he had his foot in it all the way). The car was also wet with dew after the pass. We felt that the car may have been unloading the tires at the top end, possibly due to the moisture in the air and on the track.
Please keep us informed on Mark's progress during his healing period.
Thanks.

 

Funny Car Session

We Also Had The Same Situation But We Were Probabaly The 3rd Pair Out. The Car Left Real Well But At About 900 Ft. Paul Made A Hard
Turn To The Centerline. He Thought At First It Was The Car But
Missing The First Run He Kept His Foot In It And Went 5.69
@only 230?? Does Not Compute. Graph Showed It Was Spinning The Tires Big Time .we Got Real Lucky.. It Just Got Worse And Worse
Each Pair Down. Like I Said Earlier Everyone Complained But Nothing Was Done.. We Were Just Getting The Covers Off And I Was Saying To My Team Mate Hope The Dragsters Will Be Ok And Then Well You No What.. What A Shame!!

 

Get well soon from city carting racing Mickey Ferro / Anthony Terenzio and crew