In my experience on the NHRA trail during the 2014 season, I have seen some crazy stuff. From the bone-chilling wreck Antron Brown had at Atlanta to the crazy explosions and wrecks out of the pro mod class, no one has been immune to the mechanical gods letting them down at the exact wrong time. This is a look at many of those moment in a video NHRA just released called Wild Rides Part One. The good news is that everyone, including Dale Creasy Jr, who is shown in the lead photo on fire, walked away from their respective mess.

I was on the mic for at least a couple of these, notably Dan Stevenson’s pro mod crash at Atlanta and Mike Castellana’s humongous nitrous explosion that you’ll see in the video. In slow motion you can see the entire top of the intake manifold launch into the air and it is both beautiful and stupefying. The nitro cars tend to dominate videos like these and this one is no different. From the amazing so motion shots where you can actually see combustion happening outside of a fuel motor that pushed a head gasket out to the ones where the driver nearly hits the windshield after the blower lifts off the top of the engine, all of this stuff showcases the mechanical extremes of pro level drag racing.

Buckle your seat belts and press play!

PRESS PLAY BELOW TO SEE SOME OF THE CRAZIEST STUFF THAT HAPPENED DURING THE FIRST HALF OF THE 2014 NHRA MELLO YELLO DRAG RACING SEASON –