Phil Hobbs had a long and decorated drag racing career that spanned from US Nationals glory in the 1960s all the way into top fuel during the 1980s. Ironically, the place that provided Hobbs the most electrifying moments in his career, Indianapolis Raceway Park also provided his most terrifying during the 1984 US Nationals. Not only was this an incredibly scary moment for Hobbs himself but it was also scary for everyone at the track because the car Hobbs was driving jumped the wall and was hung at wide open throttle with the only thing keeping it out of the crowd being luck and momentum.
As you will see, almost immediately into a run, the dragster Hobbs was driving shoots to the right, mashes the guardrail, and then scales it. The car hangs at full throttle as it repeatedly smashed the hell out of itself into the backside of the wall. The car is completely decimated and it continues to hit in a way that had to have beaten the daylights of out Hobbs who had no way to control the car and was likely hanging on for dear life inside the thing.
One of the other takeaways from this video is the fact that a blown, nitro burning engine will run until it runs out of a fuel supply. This thing is eating rocks, dirt, wood, pieces of the dragster, and it is humming away like some sort of hell bound jack hammer. The wreck is shown in multiple angles so you really get a sense of how bad it was. Dave McClelland provides the color commentary on this one and it is done in his usual awesome style. That deep voice driving away at every word making the whole scene more intense…as if that is possible for what is going on.
1984 was a crazy year at Indy. Don Garlits showed up for the first time in five years and actually won the whole shooting match. Top Fuel was a class that people claimed was dying or on the way to dead. The car counts were down, there was no excitement, it was going the way of the dodo. Lots of people place Don Garlits and his partnering with Art Malone to come back as the spark that lit the fire back under top fuel. It must have really burned everyone’s ass when he showed up after half a decade and won, right?
We’re thinking that Phil Hobbs was just really happy to be alive at the end of the weekend let along pissed at Garlits. This is one horrid wreck that could have been exponentially worse.
