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Racer dies in crash at drap strip Stuck throttle might be cause By JULIE SWENSEN WHITE CITY -- A Gresham drag racer died Saturday afternoon after his car crashed at the Southern Oregon Dragway in front of about 1,500 spectators, including his wife and son. Mel Bresaw, 50, was pronounced dead on arrival at Rogue Valley Medical Center, where he was taken by helicopter after the crash. The accident occurred just before 2 p.m. at the Jackson County Sports Park. Spectators said Bresaw apparently didn't hit his brakes, said John Skinner, who leases the speedway from the county. "We don't know what happened," he said. Carole Lind, wife of Oregon Drag Racers Association president Gene Lind of Medford, said Bresaw had been driving in time trials with another car. She and her husband didn't witness the crash, but she said they were told that Bresaw's chute was open and his car was going full throttle, which meant he was traveling about 120 mph. Lind said the end of the drag strip is longer than at most other drag strips, and usually it's more than sufficient to stop. According to the dragway's Web site, the uphill "shutoff" runs three-fourths of a mile, with four turnouts. "But for some reason he kept going, and he went into the trees," said Lind, who said Bresaw's wife and son were at the dragway at the time. Lind said she and her husband were hit hard by the tragedy and went home. She described Bresaw as very personable and "one of the nicest men." "He was just a wonderful family man," she said. While most of the racers didn't want to continue to race, Bresaw's family asked track officials to let the event go on, so the racers continued out of respect for their wishes, she said. Racing continues today. Bresaw was driving a '33 Ford dragster in a time trial for the National Hot Rod Association Bracket Bash '99. It's the largest bracket purse payout on the West Coast, with more than $12,000 in prize money, according to the dragway's Web site. Bresaw wasn't a newcomer to the dragway. On May 8, he won the Quick 8 race there in the Sears Craftsman Series race number 1. The Quick 8 race consists of the fastest eight participants. Gene Lind said Bresaw was also a runner-up in the Super Pro race that day. The death was the second in the 20-year history of the dragway. In June 1994, Gene "Gino" Vecchio of Novato, Calif., died when his jet dragster flew off the end of the quarter-mile strip at more than 200 mph and struck a tree. Vecchio's parachutes didn't open and his brakes weren't applied, but investigators couldn't say why. National Hot Road Association officials concluded his safety equipment was functioning properly, and an autopsy ruled that the impact caused his death. "It's very, very seldom that anyone gets killed in drag racing," Carole Lind said. She said she asked people Saturday, "Given the fact that we all know that we're going to die, how would you feel if you were going down the track and you knew that was going to be the end? "And they all said that they'd rather go that way than probably any other way, because it's usually quick, number one, and number two, they're doing what they love to do," she said. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA