1. Eric John Medlen was an American NHRA Fuel Funny Car driver.
11 Facts About Eric Medlen
1. 2.
Eric Medlen worked as a mechanic for John Force and past teammate Tony Pedregon for eight years until Pedregon left to join his brother Cruz's race team.
3.
Eric Medlen followed with three wins in 2005 and two wins in 2006.
4.
Eric Medlen was a champion calf roper in high school and considered a career as a professional team roper with his partner and mentor, World Champion Team Roper Jerold Camarillo.
5.
Eric Medlen loved to build custom motorcycles and paint his race helmets.
6.
On March 19,2007, during a test session at Gainesville Raceway in Gainesville, Florida, Eric Medlen was critically injured when his Funny Car developed the most severe tire shake ever recorded in a Funny Car.
7.
Eric Medlen became unconscious, causing the car to lose control and strike the wall.
8.
Eric 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.
9.
Eric Medlen 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.
10.
Eric Medlen mentioned that a person can never be unhappy when eating ice cream.
11.
One major legacy that was left behind by Eric Medlen happened after his death, the NHRA enacted a new safety requirement within the Funny Car division, that states that the roll bars within the car now have to be padded.