I’m sure that Terry Haddock would have a hard time laughing tonight, even if you did tell him he was the hottest man in drag racing during this pass down the famed 1320 at Pomona for the NHRA World Finals. Haddock had just made a side by side run when both cars hurt the engines. Haddock’s car started mixing up cylinders right at the 1/8th mile and then began eating cylinder head from there. It may in fact have pushed a head gasket or two out of it, and based on the trail of oil behind it I’m pretty sure some of the spinning bits found there way out as well. By the time it went through the finish line fire was beginning to spill out from under the left front wheel opening and the hole in the hood. It got worse and worse by the second, but Terry handled in perfectly.
Given his limited visibility, fluids that were pouring out from under the car, and a situation that must have been getting pretty hot in that cockpit, Terry slowed it down and went into the sand traps perfectly straight. It couldn’t have been more textbook.
Watch the video to see what Terry had to say about it.
