I’m about ready to chew through a leather strap I am so ready for racing season to get started. Yeah, the nostalgia guys and girls got cranking last weekend in Phoenix but the door slammer crowd hits the ground running next weekend in Bradenton, Florida for the 2017 US Street Nationals. The place is going to be packed wall to wall with pro mods, heavy street cars, radial machines, Outlaw 632, and tons more. Here’s the info and race schedule –  In many ways this is the “Winternationals” of the door slammer world. New cars will debut and old cars that have been updated will get their first hacks at the track. So awesome.

The race has become famous for quick elapsed times as well as crazy action and one of the craziest things that has ever happened at Bradenton can be seen in the video below. Racer Ken Cruz suffered a stuck throttle in his pro mod car and took it off the end of the track at speeds some claim as high as 250mph. You will see it from the starting line angle and you know something is wrong pretty quick because these guys are running eighth mile but his car had other ideas. Accelerating like it has a rocket strapped to it, you will see Cruz get on the brakes, throw the parachute and then disappear in a cloud of flying parts, dust, and whatever else he mowed down.

Amazingly he was OK but this is incredible to watch. It had to have been terrifying in the car.

Along with the starting line view of the crash we have also included a dash-cam video that shows the rescue team responding to the calamity. The amazing thing is how far the car traveled off the end of the course, giving an indication of just how fast it was going when it left the racing surface. The car was very torn up but amazingly Cruz was OK and he continues to race today. The scariest part and the thing that illustrates his speed the most is the dust cloud that is generated by the disintegrating car ripping through the dirt!

Check both videos below and come see us at the US Street Nationals –