(Photos by Wes Allison) – If you watched the coverage of the 2018 Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals you may have noticed the fact that top fuel cars were exploding in the first round like few of us had seen in years. Just about every pair down the track contained some sort of massive boomer. So….why? Blame the water! Seriously. As the top fuel crews were in the staging lanes before the race began, the air rapidly changed and the water grains that were present all but disappeared. Because of the water in the air the crew chiefs had the engines leaned out and when that water, and their tuning cushion disappeared, you had cars that were going dead lean before the finish line, making massive power, smoking the tires, and blowing themselves to smithereens.

The funny car guys had time to adjust and their session did not have the carnage of the top fuel round. It was an explosive and expensive start to 2018 for those guys!

Click the images below to expand them and then scroll on to see them all –