“Daddy Dave” Comstock, famous from the “Street Outlaws” television show, is recovering from a serious concussion after he lost control of his 1963 Chevy II at a no-prep drag race at Amarillo Dragway in Texas on August 1st, 2015. Shortly after the launch, the Nova got loose and went for the centerline, then went straight for the wall, hitting it hard and sending the car barrel-rolling down the strip before coming to rest on it’s wheels. Comstock was taken to a nearby hospital in an ambulance, where after a battery of tests they found that he suffered a serious concussion, a bruised lung, and gained a lot of new bruises and tender spots. Meanwhile, the Nova, which only debuted in July, is completely totaled. Comstock has been a racer for years and knew the risks every time he lined up, prepped or not. From the video, it looked like he fought like hell to get the car fixed before he figured out that it was pretty much over.
Brian note: The craziest/scariest parts of the video include what appears to be the nitrous bottle launching out of the car and the condition of the seat in the car after the wreck. It appears to have broken free and if that were the case, Comstock would have been flopping around inside the car through those rolls which are some of the most violent we have ever seen a drag race car suffer. The fact that a concussion was the worst of his injuries seems miraculous when watching the video a couple of times. We have nothing against no-prep racing and it is a niche but a growing one in the sport, but this is not the type of publicity that it needs.
From all of us at BangShift, we wish Dave a speedy recovery.
Stop with the stupid no-prep racing. Somebody is going to get killed before too long.
I agree 100%
No prep should not mean no tech inspections.
Properly welded chrome moly seat belt tabs should never tear or separate from the cage. His body would never be able to tear those tabs off the cage. Don’t know who built the cage but they absolutely botched the welding. They and he are lucky he’s alive.
Yep, the comment about “that tab ain’t big enough to f’n hold nothing” is a good one, but the welding there looks like somebody was, what…just learning their new Harbor Freight MIG machine? And, on a supposed-“race car” seat belt mount? Crap garbage. Appalling.
I know a guy who nearly killed his own kid by sending him out on a sand rail with the same exact problem. Lucky it was only broken bones that happened in that case as well.
>Stop with the stupid no-prep racing. Somebody is going to get killed before too long.
I’ve helped with a triple roll over on a full prepped track, one of those “good thing the car had a roll bar” deals. Guy was flying – 89 MPH. Had some cool old school cars at our track this weekend. Full race prep didn’t keep an altered from smacking the right wall, then the left. It’s not about prep, speed or power. Things can happen when you are racing and you should just be as prepared as possible.
Yes, but not having the track properly prepared only increases the chance of accidents.
Also, what failed on the NOS bottle clamps…I saw at least one of them spinning in the grass. Anyone know if it came through the drivers door? There’s a pick of the front of his helmet on FB….sheesh, he is lucky.
A lot of luck involved there because the engineering and assembly sure didn’t keep its end of the bargain. That was bad looking that just kept getting worse.
Hey – it’s Street Outlaws. What do you expect? You think any sanctioning body would allow any of those cars to race on a track? They would never pass tech inspection.
Maybe when they start killing themselves the producers of the show will abandon this bullshit. Oh wait – someone dies – that’s BIG
Given how cursory some tech inspection can be, even at NHRA owned tracks – I wouldn’t be surprised if that thing might have gotten through at a sanctioned event. “Um, yep, it’s got a cage, and the owner looks like he knows what he’s doing. Let’s let this one through.”
Lee we know you don’t like street outlaws. I read the car had a certified chassis. If that is true or not I don’t know as it’s all third party comments. If this was an NHRA or IHRA track they had to pass tech to race. Most of the cars that I have seen from the show have current chassis certification. This had nothing to do with the show yet you keep bashing it. Almost as bad as someone else on here with his rants. Just be glad no one was killed.
Hey – they made some progress! The race took place on a drag strip and not on the streets.If they keep it like that than I have no issues with the show. And if one of them kills themselves – it happens. Drag Racing at that level is dangerous.
he’s lucky to be alive after that bottle went. the tab breaking was minor stuff comparatively.
Looks like they where looking under the car,maybe a suspension failure. So lets count the possible failures,I count four. The seat mount the seat belt mount,bottle bracket and possibly rear suspension. Seeing as the first three did happen a rear suspension failure isn’t out of the question.
What kind of track owner would allow racers on his facility with no prep work and by the way the car came apart is there no tech inspections being done in drag racing anymore???
Looked like a typical too much motor in a short car crash to me.
Indeed.
A tech inspector with a lot to do in a day cannot look inside a weld, especially once it has paint on it. It comes down to, sooner-or-later you just have to expect that a shop hired to weld can indeed weld, and that the customer would do due-diligence and confirm that . We don’t have to search too far to see who did work there, maybe they didn’t know you can’t just mig-birdshit chrome moly like guys get away with mild steel, and they need to be run out of the business before they actually kill some fool who comes to them with his checkbook.
Geez, hope the guy who did some of the fab work on that car is looking for a new line of work.
No prep racing is for idiots.
No one made him race his car at a no prep? It is something he wanted to do. Things happen in racing. He is ok and that is the main thing here. All racing is dangerous and we know that going into it. Its about doing something you love to do. Hope for a speedy recovery dont quit doing what you love.
Call me crazy but does it look like an angel? Woman sitting on left side concrete barrier?
If that was a cert\’d chassis then the inspector needs to have his license revoked. That belt tab wasn\’t heavy enough to be legal on an 11.50 roll bar.
if you watch the video closely, it looks like he got out of the “groove”. My guess lack of track prep.
You are probably right, being as it was a NO-PREP race.
Nice welding on the mounts there……… about as much prep went into that weld as did the track surface. So stupid.