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This just in: Last weekend was the NHRA's 2007 Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida. After the event, Eric Medlen, a Funny Car driver with John Force Racing, elected to remain at Gainesville Raceway to conduct a routine test session.
According to the National Hot Rod Association, on Monday, March 19, Medlen struck a guardwall (the retaining barrier between the track and the stands) during a full-power pass. He received a "severe traumatic brain injury with diffuse axonal injury," a diagnosis with a low survival rate. He was flown to the University of Florida Medical Center.
On Tuesday, March 20, doctors at the medical center removed the front part of Medlen's skull. On Friday, doctors noted uncontrollable intracranial pressures (this in a man with the front of his skull removed, remember) and that Medlen's body had lost the ability to manage its electrolyte and fluid levels. His family made the decision to terminate life support at that time.
Medlen, described by boss John Force as "the son I never had," began work at John Force Racing in 1996. In 1997, he was assigned to work on John Force's own car. As first a supercharger specialist and then a clutch specialist, Medlen helped John Force achieve 50 final-round wins (whoever wins the final round at a drag race is proclaimed the event winner) and six championships in seven seasons. In 2004, Force chose Medlen to replace Tony Pedregon in his organization's second car. In three seasons of racing he earned six final-round wins and finished in the top five all three seasons.
Now we get strange: Medlen's crew chief was John Medlin, his own father. When a drag racer makes a pass, his crew chief stands in the middle of the track behind the car, so he can watch how it ran. They say no parent should have to bury his own child; how much worse it must be when your only son goes out and gets killed literally right in front of you.
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