Ralph and Dale
JD SEE SCRIPT.
McDuffie was involved in an accident in the opening laps of the 1991 Bud at the Glen race at Watkins Glen International Raceway. On the long back stretch, at 170 mph, JD (70 car) and Jimmy Means (52 car) touched wheels. As a result, the driver's side outer tie rod end dropped from the front wheel spindle. With no tie rod end, there was no control of the position of the right side tire/wheel. The uncontrolled spindle/tire/wheel assembly was ripped from the upper and lower control arms. At that time a single master cylinder was used; the loss of the front wheel resulted in total brake loss. He was unable to steer or slow down the car at all, and with an absence of a gravel trap, McDuffie skidded across the grass and slammed with tremendous speed into the tire barrier and catch fence outside the high speed right-hander. Jimmy Means who was also involved in the accident, crashed underneath him. Means was able to slow his car down substantially before crashing and avoid injury, but the sheer violence of McDuffie's impact with the tires rolled the car in the air as the 52 of Means passed underneath. McDuffie was pronounced dead at the scene.
McDuffie's fatal crash was similar to a serious injury to Tommy Kendall six weeks earlier in the Camel Continental VIII, as well as a severe crash by Geoff Bodine. In 1989 with two laps to go, McDuffie led to a new bus stop chicane shortly before Turn 5 (now turn 9) to slow down cars entering the turn.
