Seasoned veteran Ken Kelley experienced a rare occurrence last Saturday at Paragon Speedway in Indiana. A driveshaft broke and went not only through the cockpit sheet metal, but also through the roof of his super stock.
“We were running pretty good,” Kelley, 55, of Poland, Indiana, said. “When I came off turn two, I started to feel a vibration. My immediate thought was, ‘Just give me two or three more laps — that’s all I need.’ Just when that thought occurred, I heard a big bang. The motor revved up, so I knew I had launched something in the driveline.”
Kelley did not realize the extent of the damage at first.
“I rolled it around turns three and four, up on the cushion, staying out of everybody’s way,” said Kelley. “Once everybody got clear, I drove down into the infield. The race director came over to the car on a quad and gave me a piece of the driveshaft. He kept telling me how lucky I was. I thought, ‘Man, I don’t feel lucky. I just blew a driveshaft out.’
“He finally pointed. I got my head around the containment [seat’s headrest] and looked over. I said, ‘I guess I was lucky.’”
Kelley’s driveshaft hoop, including its welds, remained intact. Afterwards, he determined what he felt caused the driveshaft failure.
“When we were pushing the car on trailer … I could feel it in the car,” Kelley said. “Something was wrong with the [nine-inch] rear end. [At the shop], I pulled the pig, and we were looking it over. In the center of the pinion, it knocked off several of the teeth off. The pieces were about an inch long. So, it picked up one of those pieces, tried to process it, and when it locked up the rear end, it snapped the driveshaft.”
Kelley added that this is his second center section this year.
“That center section was in another race car,” said Kelley. “It probably had two seasons on it. The nine-inches are generally so dependable.”
He has a theory on why he’s gone through two center sections in one season.
“These cars are getting hard on equipment,” Kelley said. “They’re getting hooked up and fast. Years ago, when I started, we would slide it in and spin the tires through the corner. These cars don’t really do that anymore. They run pretty tight to the racetrack. It puts a lot of load on everything.”
Overall, the experience has taught Ken Kelley to add one more thing to the maintenance checklist.
“We’re going to run five or six nights and check the free play and make sure that rear end is living well,” said Kelley. “It’s going to be something we keep an eye on.”
The Outside Groove Executive Editor has covered motorsports since 2000. His many awards include the 2019 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Jim Hunter Writer of the Year and the 2013 Russ Catlin Award for Excellence in Motorsports Journalism.
