In this video you are going to see Aeromotive’s Steve Matusek take a wild ride in his NHRA Pro Mod at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals. The racing was hot and heavy at Norwalk this year, especially in the insanely tough pro mod category that draws dozens of cars to each race. Matusek was racing Ricky Smith when his car went into severe tire shake and rotated at high speed, causing it to mash the wall with the nose and then spin, climbing the wall with the rear of the car. The best news is that Steve walked away unharmed. He was certainly frustrated and unhappy but physically he was OK. If you can believe it, we’re going to give you the silver lining to this situation.
Firstly the damage is not as bad as it looks with the majority of it being cosmetic. Yes, there are some front suspension pieces that need replacing but the chassis is (visually) OK and while the repair bill will be more than a respray at the local Maaco, the car is not a write-off. Secondly the timing of this deal is fortuitous if only because the NHRA pro mod series goes on their “summer break” and does not emerge again until the Chevrolet Performance US Nationals in late August. That means there’s time to fix the car and test it before leaping back into competition.
The video below shows the run in real time and in slow motion. We think that the wheelie bar helped keep the car from being more severely damaged as it prevented the chassis from mashing down on top of the wall.
Steve is one of the good guys in the high performance aftermarket as the founder of Aeromotive and he’s also a guy that Chad and I know really well. We were beyond relieved when he climbed out of the car and was intact after this rough ride.
