Drag racing lost a young and talented driver today. Eric we will miss you.

What a terrible loss. It happened after the Gator Nationals in Florida last week. The track was a beast the whole weekend and 3 drivers tagged the concrete barriers during finals; Cruz Pedregon, Eric Medlen and rookie Ashley Force. Luckily, no one was hurt during the show.

John Force Racing, as many teams do, stayed behind to do some testing on the track the Monday after the race.  During a run Medlen blew a tire and ran straight into the concrete barrier that only a day before witnessed so much paint.

My heart goes out to the Medlen family.

Update (Sunday, April 1st 2007):

After watching the Houston race today I wanted to post part of John Forces touching eulogy.

“He was the son I never had,” Force said in an emotional eulogy. “He was the leader of my Next Generation of drivers at John Force Racing. He loved his crew — you guys will never know love like that again — and he loved his mom and Martha, and, God, he loved his dad.”

“One time Eric had girl troubles, and he came to me. I walked him out in the shop and said, ‘Look at that car, Eric. That car will always love you. It’ll fix you when you need fixing. I said it will always protect you, and I was wrong. For that, I’m sorry, Eric.”