It was one of the most carnage filled days of drag racing that I’ve ever personally witnessed. From Leah Pruett’s top fuel dragster breaking in half at 270+ mph to Alexis DeJoria suffering the worst funny car explosion in years, and Kenny Delco crashing a pro stocker, this was not your average Sunday at the drags. The videos below show the three incidents I listed above but there was other stuff like a sportsman dragster crash, Antron Brown leveling a top fuel engine, a couple more near-misses in pro stock and the insane conditions, this was just a non-stop barrage.
Oh, and the NHRA announced a new title sponsor scantly two weeks after Coca-Cola exited their partnership unexpectedly. That happened, too.
Leah’s incident which is hitting lead-off below was a very scary one the likes of which has been suffered by people like Tony Schumacher and Larry Dixon over the years. The car was traveling down the course and then right around the eighth mile mark the chassis broke off right at the foot box, the car took flight, and Leah was on the ride of her life. The parachute deployed and that helped keep the remains of the machine righted and also slowed it down.
The car landed on its wheels and then skidded to a stop in the shutdown area. The front end of the car flew at least 100 feet in the air. The whole thing was completely and utterly mental. She walked away.
For Alexis, it was holes out and then it was the massive concussive force of an engine backfire that shredded her body and put her driving skills to the test.
Kenny Delco’s pro stock crash was one of the reasons that pro stock eliminator was stopped early. The high winds, the low temperatures, and the fact that these cars were just hating life at the top end were reasons that the low downforce classes were shut off for the day. Pro Stock, Pro Mod, and Pro Stock Motorcycle were all stopped after the first round, with pro mod actually never getting on the track. It could have been bad with the way the day was shaping up.
This really was a nail-biter. Doug Kalitta and Tommy Johnson were the nitro powered winners and the season will resume in Dallas, Texas in two weeks. Hopefully with a little LESS excitement.
Press play below to see these videos of the craziness from NHRA St Louis –
What was that original slogan? That one from the 50’s…..Oh…..Yeah…..”Dedicated to Safety” Sounds about par for the course.
At least the Sportsman cars had the mandatory header collector tethers….Right?
”Dedicated to Safety” doesn’t mean “Nothing Bad is Ever Going to Happen”
Of course “Bad Things” are going to happen.
If they were actually “Dedicated to Safety” there wouldn’t be Top Fuel cars getting raced until the chassis breaks in half. Gotta’ follow the money…..Schumacher Racing….BIG Money…..in-house chassis….self certification….
How many runs did that chassis have on it? Were there non-standard construction techniques employed? Sure, the “capsule” did it’s job of protecting the “passenger”, but is it “Safe” to have the front-half of the chassis (with fuel tank and fire bottles) jumping the barrier and headed towards the crowd and other racers? Shouldn’t that car have been retired before a catastrophic failure? How many other cars in the Schumacher “fleet” are ticking time bombs? Shouldn’t the tech inspectors have noticed the potential for failure in that chassis design? Or, do they look the other way because NHRA already is handicapped without John Force Racing this season, and can’t afford to lose the Schumacher Fleet?
“Dedicated to Safety” doesn’t apply now, “Dedicated to Dollars” takes precident.
NHRA has been only listening to the money for far too long. If they were to just put on a good show. The fans would be there. That has been gone for quite a few years. They have shut down the track outside Chicago, What one is next? The ticket price is way too high. And the show isn’t as good as it was years ago. Heck, most weekends they cant fill a 16 car field in the fuel classes. Let them go away. Someone will step up.
Where did the front half go?
Landed near the gate that separates the crowd from the return road. If you are looking down the track, its off to the right behind the stands / scoreboards.
That car buckled before it broke completely apart. I think it became a circumstance accident, because side stresses from correction in steering.
Her car went for the centerline almost from the start. If you look at the replay and use the pause off and on, at 1:16 look closely at the front half of car. It looks like it is bowing back toward the right as she is correcting trying to straighten it out.
Wonder if it put a stress on the frame that it couldn’t handle. Gotta watch the video real close.
Almost looks like the car was sitting at an angle towards the centerline before launch
NHRA has been only listening to the money for far too long. If they were to just put on a good show. The fans would be there. That has been gone for quite a few years. They have shut down the track outside Chicago, What one is next? The ticket price is way too high. And the show isn’t as good as it was years ago. Heck, most weekends they cant fill a 16 car field in the fuel classes. Let them go away. Someone will step up.