

Parts of Car Critically Damaged: Checkers's Car: The entire front end of the car was totaled. Meanwhile, Smith's car, having lost control, collided with the outer wall, where it proceeded to roll down to the inner wall of the track. The impact was so horrendous that Checkers most likely died instantly. At a speed of nearly 100 mph (160 kph), Smith slammed into the wall, his car bouncing into Checkers's car, shunting it down to the inside of the track in a slide where it collided with the divider wall between pit lane and the track. Unfortunately, Smith had no room to move away from the wall at the exit of the turn, with Checkers's car mere inches away. In a risky move that proved to be fatal, Smith chose to take the upper lane.

It was the final lap of the 100 lap Moonhawk Sport Exclusive as, side by side, Checkers and rookie racer Harrison Smith, both of whom had dominated the race, rounded the final turn. Jimmy bought a 6 cylinder Moonhawk with a seized engine from an old lady and transplanted his V8 into it, while selling the old shell to scrap.īoth are hesitant to go back to the track.Ĭrash Descript ion : Last Sunday during the 1974 Club Moonhawk Annual Festival of Muscle, tragedy struck with the death of Veteran Racer Johnny "Checkers" Benwood. Marvin parted out the car on the D Series entusiasts' forum. Marvin had mild whiplash and Jimmy broke his left thumb.

Moonhawk: Body and chassis destroyed, differential housing brokenīoth wore helmets. Marvin understeered into an inconviniently placed palm tree while Jimmy couldn't handle the tail-happy V8 and ended up flying up a steep bank and crashing to the ground.ĭ Series: Bent chassis, body damaged beyond repair He convinced his friend Jimmy to come along, who brought out his old Moonhawk from his garage and stripped it for track use.īoth were inexperienced and ended up crashing. Marvin bought a mild custom D Series with sports suspension and alloys and decided to take it to the track.
