A RISING STAR

Eric Medlen Aug. 13, 1973- Mar. 23, 2007

Eric Medlen was a rising star in the world of drag racing. In his short career in the NHRA, racing for John Force Racing, he accumulated 6 wins and was a finalist for Automobile Club of Southern California Road to the Future Award, naming the top rookies in the NHRA POWERade Series and the funny car division. He finished 5 th in driver points his rookie year. In 2005 he became just the 6 th driver to break the 4.70-second barrier with a career best 4.698 in qualifying for the O'Reilly Fall Nationals at Dallas. Unfortunately, on March 19, 2007, during test session at Gainesville Raceway in Gainesville, Florida was critically injured when his funny car lost control and struck the guard wall after the most severe tire shake ever recorded in a Funny Car cause a rear tire to burst. He was rushed to the hospital. After surviving a three-hour craniotomy procedure to relieve pressure and hemorrhaging, he was taken of life support and died on March 23, 2007. His became only the first death in the NHRA since the death of Top Fuel driver Darrell Russell in 2004.

Information Provided by: WIKIpedia.com, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Medlen