Death
On March 19, 2007 during a test session at Auto-Plus Raceway at Gainesville in Gainesville, Florida, Medlen was critically injured when his Funny Car developed the most severe tire shake ever recorded in a Funny Car.. The side-to-side force of the shake caused his head to hit the roll bars around his head, causing severe head injuries. He became unconscious, causing the car to lose control and strike the wall.
After being cut free from the car by the NHRA Safety Safari and receiving emergency treatment at the track, Medlen was transferred by Alachua County Fire Rescue to Shands at the University of Florida where he was treated for four days for what doctors characterized as a severe closed head injury.
Medlen survived a delicate, three-hour craniectomy procedure to relieve pressure and hemorrhaging on March 20, 2007 but succumbed to complications of diffuse axonal injury three days later after being removed from life support in accordance with his own previously stated wishes.
According to auto racing safety expert John Medlen, Medlen was literally shaken to death in the incident. The deflating tire caused an 18-inch movement up and down, which then exerted a force of 40,000 or more pounds as it rotated.
He was the first NHRA fatality since 2004, when Top Fuel racer Darrell Russell lost his life in a race, and the first Funny Car driver to lose his life in 30 years. John Force Racing immediately began an investigation into Medlen's death, leading to the development of the Eric Medlen Chassis.
Read more about this topic: Eric Medlen
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That flesh is heir to—’tis a consummation
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For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil
Must give us pause.”
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