With the 2018 NHRA Winternationals little more than a month away, the drag racing organization took the last week to look back over stuff that happened during the 2017 campaign. While there were a load of memorable moments over the course of the year, the stuff contained in this video is pretty nuts. The NHRA’s widest ride 2017 looks back over the season in sequence at the moments where there were mechanical failures, where drivers were along for the ride, or when things went nuclear levels of wrong.
Like with anything, some of these moment stick out more than others in my mind. Courtney Force’s Epping top end explosion was one of the most violent I have ever seen. The slow motion replay of it in the video shows the car being launched up in the air by the combined concussive force and the tires rebounding after the blast. That same weekend Las Vegas top fuel winner Terry McMillen had one of the most violent engine failures of the year in his top fuel car, blowing the entire top of the engine off. It was gnarly.
Then there’s Robert Hight’s Pomona experience. The guy lived 10 lives over the course of a weekend that ultimately saw him become a champion for the second time. The trip into the dirt disco at speed after killing an engine in qualifying was tough to watch but the team rebounded to capture a championship for the 2017 season.
Lots of wounded parts but no hurt drivers in this one. That’s the name of the game in the sport of drag racing and while we don’t root for people to break stuff, we alway root for them to come out the other end in one piece.
C’amon Pomona, we want to get this year started right.
