This is some wild stuff! As if driving a Funny Car isn’t tough enough, this video shows a dude trying to turn the trick with no steering wheel! We’ve seen more than our fair share of racers lose their steering wheels on the way down the track, but the view has always been from the announcing deck where we normally see the rudderless car whack the wall. This video gives us the inside scoop on what the driver does when it all goes to crap.
As you’ll see it looks like someone forgot the bolt or pin that locks the shaft that the butterfly wheel is bolted to onto the steering shaft. That dude it probably jobless now because the car does kiss the wall in a sideswipping manner. Seeing the driver fumble with the disconnected tiller is freakin’ surreal!
(Tony Turk is the only person we know who had a steering wheel come off in her hands, at Bonneville, at more than 200mph, and managed to jam it back on (only one spline off from perfect!) successfully. It ain’t easy, as this video shows!)
There’s a Depends moment for ya’!
Definitely, were that me, someone would be getting their walking papers. Right after a mouthful of knuckle sandwich.
I thought the shaft broke.
The release can be seen just behind/below the wheel flange.
definite broken shaft – release is up close to the steering wheel on the hex portion of the shaft.
A friend of mine had the same thing happen to him. It was an A/Gas car. He got it back on before any thing happened. Blew his mind though!!