(Photos by Mark Rebilas) – It is a span of minutes that I will not forget for the rest of my earthly days. Watching Larry Dixon’s top fuel dragster fold up and embark on a sickening journey through the skies above Gainesville Raceway was terrifying and I was just a dude standing there and watching it. You have likely seen the video of the disaster that made the national news and every website in the known universe over the last couple days but we are betting that you have not seen the amazing photos that Mark Rebilas captured of the entire calamity.

As bad as it looked in real time video, as bad as it looked in slow motion video, neither of those mediums hold a candle to how horrific the whole thing looks in these action photos as captured by Mark Rebilas. The reality is that the crash was a 10-second (ok, less than that) affair from front to back but when you get to see it as Mark captured it in photos it takes on an entirely different feel and gravitas. When you see the destroyed car landing with Dixon holding onto the butterfly steering wheel, grabbing the brake out of pure instinct, and finally resting on the ground, it will have you wondering aloud how he lived.

I saw it happen in front of me at Gainesville and for those few second while the car was flittering through the air I didn’t think it was a situation that could be survived. Flat out, it was the worst wreck that I may ever see, and that would be fine. These photos (of which we have sampled a couple of below) tell the tale in more depth and dynamism than video or your imagination ever will, truly enforce how flipping nuts this scene was.

Larry Dixon walked away. How? We can’t even begin to guess.

Mark’s full photo sequence is linked right here. Failure to check this out is reason to turn in your BangShift card.

CLICK HERE TO SEE EVERY EXCRUCIATING PHOTO OF THE LARRY DIXON WRECK SEQUENCE