Photos by Marc Gewertz, NHRA Photographic

Mountain View Racing driver Vinnie Deceglie emerged unhurt following a high-speed accident during Pro Stock qualifying at this weekend’s NHRA Arizona Nationals in Phoenix.

Deceglie was in the left lane, attempting to better an earlier 6.66-second run, when the team’s Dodge Avenger lost traction and made contact with the left retaining wall. The car turned over and slid across the finish line on its roof before coming to a stop in the shutdown area. Deceglie was able to get out of the car under his own power. He was checked by trackside medical personnel and released. After a detailed inspection, the team has determined that its two-race-old Avenger is likely not salvageable.

"I had no warning at all; no indication that anything was wrong," Deceglie said. "The car was on a rail. We even had the second-best half-track time of the session, but when I put the car in 5th gear, all hell broke loose. The next thing I knew, the rear end came around and hit the left wall, and then it turned over and slid on the roof for several hundred feet. I hit the wall pretty hard, but all of the safety equipment did what it was designed to do. Other than being a little sore, I’m OK. I just hate that we crashed a brand-new race car."

Once initial concerns for Deceglie’s safety had been addressed, the team quickly set about evaluating its options for the remainder of the weekend and the upcoming Full Throttle events. Deceglie is qualified 14th for the Phoenix field and is scheduled to race Rodger Brogdon in Sunday's opening round of eliminations.

"We have last year’s Dodge Stratus sitting in our shop in California and had a plan to get it here and have it together in time for tomorrow’s race, but we ultimately decided against it," said team manager Chris Mitsos. "I’m sure we could have pulled it off, but after talking it over with Vinnie and my father [team owner Nick Mitsos], we felt the best thing to do would be return home and regroup. Our plan now is to race our Stratus in Gainesville while [chassis builder] Rick Jones builds a new Avenger."

Deceglie has been racing in the Pro Stock class for three seasons. He is ranked 11th in the NHRA Full Throttle Pro Stock standings.