NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Kenny Delco bounces back from St. Louis accident with a borrowed car (a Ford!)

It didn’t take Kenny Delco long to get back into the saddle after his first-round crash two weeks ago at the Mopar Express Lane NHRA Midwest Nationals. The longtime Chevy racer is back in action this weekend with a Mustang borrowed from engine customer Fernando Cuadra.
17 Oct 2020
Phil Burgess, NHRA National Dragster Editor
Feature
Kenny Delco

It didn’t take Kenny Delco long to get back into the saddle after his first-round crash two weeks ago at the Mopar Express Lane NHRA Midwest Nationals. He’s back in action this weekend with a Mustang borrowed from engine customer Fernando Cuadra.

The car, debuted by Cuadra at the first Indy race this year, only had two runs on it but Delco and team tested its blue partner on the Monday after the Midwest Nationals, so anxious was he to get back into the seat. It’s the first Ford that Delco has raced after a lifelong allegiance to Chevy.

Delco crashed at the top end of his first-round race at World Wide Technology Raceway when a gust of wind caught his Camaro and sent him out of control.

“I had just passed the grandstands and had my hand up on the parachute levers already,” he recalled. “The car was perfectly straight and just turned. It wasn’t shaking or anything. It just turned right with no warning. I got my other hand back on the wheel, but it was too late and it was in the wall.”

The crash is the second in 15 months for Delco, who also crashed at the top end at the 2019 Mile-High Nationals after an issue with the brakes and the parachutes.

Both the black car he lost in Denver and the car that crashed in St. Louis are fixable and will be back on the track, but Delco already has his eyes on a new car.