We’re coming up on what used to be the most polarizing race of the NHRA season this weekend. It’s the NGK Spark Plugs Four Wide Nationals at the massive zMax Dragway in Concord, North Carolina. We say that this used to be the most polarizing race because the addition of the Las Vegas four wide event that we just had a couple of weeks ago supplanted it for people espousing their love/hate for the format. Old timers and traditionalists dislike it. Fans seems to enjoy it with multiple days of sold out seats in Vegas and a long history of big crowds in North Carolina coming up on 10 years in a row. We know one thing, when the first four wide race happened in 2010 many people did not know what to think about it and moments like the one you will see below are the reason why.
In this video you will see something that had never happened in the history of NHRA drag racing before. You are going to watch Jeff Arend and Matt Hagan blow their respective funny cars sky high on the same run. While they do that, Bob Tasca and Del Worsham go rip roaring down the course and attempt to evade them. Worsham and Hagan have a close shave as you can dream up without actually hitting each other.
What’s kind of interesting is that Paul Page catches Arend’s issues but totally misses Hagan’s. I really cannot blame the guy as it is a pretty big adjustment to pay attention to all of this stuff at once. With a few years at it myself it can still be a challenge and he was at it for the first time. Everyone walked away from this one and Hagan ended up making the finals that weekend.
I actually miss Mike Dunn doing the races.