On Saturday, April 2, 2005, Michelle "Shelly" Howard was doing an exhibition run at the Tulsa Raceway Park in Tulsa, OK. Her Alcholol dragster went out of control and went into a blow over (all four wheels leave the racing surface) then flipped over and then went back toward the starting line. The dragster then struck the teams chase truck in which her son Brian Howard was a passenger.

The Tulsa police department estimate that the dragster was going almost 250 MPH when it struck the truck. Neither Shelly or Brian had a chance of surviving the accident.

Shelly had won the NHRA Division 4 Top Alchohol Dragster championships in 2001 and 2003.

The family has asked in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Racers For Christ in memory of Shelly and Special Olympics in memory of Brian.