One of the personal highlights for me at the 2015 US Nationals was seeing Tony Zizzo and his family running their top fuel dragster again. I know Tony from when he was a staple runner on the IHRA circuit while I was announcing races there and have always admired the family’s ability to do a lot with a little in nitro racing. The had inked a deal with Rustoleum paint to sponsor the car for the race and they were looking really good, having made a few 3.80 laps in a row. They were not the quickest car but consistency wins races and they had that part of the program down…until the run you are about to watch below.

In several seasons on the NHRA tour, I have seen some real big explosions in person and this one was beyond the pale. Normally the blower is sitting askew atop the engine and there is oil and gunk everywhere but this boomer goes so far past that. You are going to see the blower drive literally pass the car! You will also see chunks of block and other stuff flying after it gives up the ghost. A broken cam would cause a big one and that is exactly what happened here.

Mike Kearn who works on the car said this:

The camshaft broke. The block was in one piece as was the supercharger. The manifold is junk as are the heads which took the brunt of the explosion. All 8 pistons and rods were still connected to the crank. Some pistons were damaged due to hitting valves that had stopped opening in time with the crank. The supercharger is most likely unusable because the case has ballooned. The most amazing part of it all is there was no oil on the track an we did not receive an oildown penalty. There was minor damage to the injector from being bounced around with hoses attached to the barrel valve. The force of the explosion went straight up from the manifold which caused the blower snout to snap from the case. Also you will notice the car went straight down due to the same effect. All in all, it was not as bad as it appeared.

I interviewed Tony on the top and while surveying the car and he was actually kind of laughing about it. Why? What else are you going to do, sit there and cry? They stuck another motor in and continued with their weekend but this was one that I will never forget seeing in person.

PRESS PLAY BELOW TO SEE TONY ZIZZO ABSOLUTELY MANGLE A NITRO BURNING HEMI AT THE 60TH CHEVROLET PERFORMANCE NHRA US NATIONALS –