Russell Mills’ quest for back to back Australian Pro Alcohol championships won’t eventuate with the current PDRC Championship leader unfortunately not – but not from a lack of trying – able to secure a replacement drive for this weekend’s Nitro Champs.
Mills suffered a heavy top end crash at round two of the PDRC Pro Alcohol Championship at Dragway At The Bend back in February when his unique streamlined front engine dragster exploded a tyre at over 260mph, sending it hurtling into the concrete wall. Heavily concussed, Mills was extracted from the wreck and transported to hospital for assessment.
Despite the accident, Mills still is leading the PDRC Pro Alcohol Championship over Jake Donnelly.
“It has been nearly 12 weeks since my major accident at The Bend Dragway,” said Mills, who providing an update on Facebook today. “My main injuries were concussion, left side broken rib, bruised sternum, badly bruised left hip – which pushed the tin work out – plus various bruises, the strong drivers area did its job well.
“The accident was caused by a delaminating, then exploding, rear left tyre, which happened just after the finish line at 263 mph. At this stage it is not known what caused the tyre to start throwing pieces off it just before the finish line. With the tyre gone, the car turned hard left – fortunately the chutes were already starting to come out – and was destroyed when it hit the wall.”
“I would like to thank everyone who helped following the accident including, but not limited to Shane and Britney Olive who were the first to get to me and talked me thru what had just happened, and helped get me out of the car. All the staff at The Bend, the ANDRA Officials, the ambulance staff, all my crew who did a great job getting a very bent car into the trailer – after cutting 2 metres off the front!
“A special mention to my opposition on that run, Cameron Ambesi, who walked me to the ambulance and convinced – told! – me to get in. Cameron’s car unfortunately sustained some damage from some of the flying pieces of tyre and carbon fibre body parts.
“A big thank you to Nasser Matta, his family, and the A-Civil crew who helped with the packing up and loading, and supplying food and drinks to everyone helping. One of the A-Civil crew, Asaad, even drove my truck and trailer back to Sydney. A similar big thank you to the Reed Racing team for helping, and also supplying food and drinks. My apologies if I missed anybody, I was in hospital for 24 hours and missed all the aftermath of the accident.
“I am still leading the Pro Alcohol Championship, but even though I tried hard to beg, borrow, buy or steal a car to run the remaining two meetings, I am not going to be able to compete. However, with big, quality fields in all the categories at the Nitro Champs, it will be a fantastic meeting. Good luck to all my fellow competitors!”
