The boys on the crew of the Mr Boston nostalgia top fuel car had a rough go of it in Bakersfield during the 2013 March Meet. The car never did what they wanted it to do and ultimately they suffered a major league blower explosion that put a monkey wrench in their works. This video is cool because the camera position is perfect for illustrating what it is like to be the driver in one of these nitro burning slingshots when it all goes to hell with the engine.
At the time this explosion happened both Chad and I were up on the scaffolding broadcasting the top fuel session and we could feel the concussion from the explosion all the way up on our perch. Apparently, the explosion was so violent that the supercharger was broken almost literally in half. What’s really nuts to see is how coated driver Howard Haight’s helmet must have been with oil as the camera is totally dunked in the sauce.
You’ll see the engine put a couple of holes out and the header pipe pump some raw fuel and then BLAMO! There’s a big burst of fire and then an absolute shower of oil. While driving a rear engine top fuel car is no easy task, we think that the drivers of these front motor jobs are a special kind of crazy.
Mark Hovsepian who was on the crew of the car when this was shot told us this:
We set the car intentionally soft since this was our first time out with the 2-speed configuration. What killed the deal was a failure in the ignition. The firecracker fell of the mag at about .5 seconds into the run, then the car re-lit itself. Usually when nitro engines re-light they don’t pay much attention to valve timing or throttle position, and all you have to do to turn a perfectly good blower into a pile of metalic confetti is open an intake valve at the right (wrong) time.
The engine held together but parts of the blower may still be orbiting earth. It’s a shame the camera got watered during the burnout (I need camera tear-offs!) cuz the view would be clearer. That oil that dowsed the driver and camera came from the line that feeds the oil pressure gauge when it got stretched way past its happy point during “lift off.”
PRESS PLAY BELOW TO SEE THE MR BOSTON TOP FUEL DRAGSTER BLOWER EXPLOSION FROM THE DRIVER’S PERSPECTIVE!
