Steve Harker is one of the best guys who has ever strapped a helmet on his head and climbed into an alcohol funny car. Unfortunately, even the best are not immune to bad days at the drag strip and the 2014 NHRA alcohol funny car world champion had one of his worst ever at Norwalk last weekend and it all happened on a run against John Headley.
As you will see, Harker’s Speed City Chevrolet Camaro was off like a shot, streaking away from Headley at the drop of the tree. You will see the car start to smoke the tires shortly after the run starts and then between the 330′ block and the eighth mile block it careens across the track and crashes into the wall with incredible force. Speaking of incredible, the fact that Headley’s car was soft off the starting line and had only begun to get its legs under it meant that Harker missed being T-boned by what looks to be a few inches…or less.
The force was bad enough to necessitate Harker be transported to the hospital where it was discovered that he had a collapsed lung. Awake the whole time, Harker is recovering from his injuries and we’re hoping that he’s back as soon as he can be.
Alcohol funny cars are very difficult to drive and even the guys like Harker who have a zillion laps in them will tell you that you always have to respect the car. While it is not explicitly shared in the caption for the video, we think that Harker’s car got into some one his own oil or other fluid and that is when things went bad for him.
This video shows the impact and loss of traction from a bunch of different angles so you can check it out from basically every spot. Tough break for Harker but we’re glad to hear he is OK.
It is a damn good thing the other guy was asleep at the light, or it would have been a two car crash a lot worse than it was.