(Video and stills: NHRA) Larry Dixon just walked away from one horrifying wreck during the first qualifying session at the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals earlier today. As he was charging towards the finish line his Top Fuel dragster structurally failed at about the midpoint of the wheelbase, which launched the dragster WAY up into the air.
As high as the car goes up, you know that the landing was going to be like a ton of bricks and proceeds to slide to a stop against the wall. He was checked out by NHRA medics and was released.
Looks a lot like the one he had years ago at Memphis. I saw that one in person and was sure he was dead. Safety first- no one gets hurt!
Side support broke from torsional( cocked front wing?)force which caused the frame to break to the right and buckle the rest is inertia glad he’s okay
Safety first it is. God forbid they make the chassis not flex, let’s make the track go to 750 ft. 1/4 mile is dangerous, guess 1000 ft is too.
Still safer than rush hour in Chicago, or New York, or LA, or Fort Wayne, or…
Incredible amount of study and implementation has gone into this sport!
Check out this frame-by-frame sequence (with analysis) by photographer Mark Rebilas. Freakin’ amazing:
http://markjrebilas.com/blog/?p=21971