Puerto Rico International Speedway was born from the remains of a US Army base that was constructed in 1940. In 1975 the track opened up as a drag strip and outside of a couple years in the 1980s it has been running ever since. Now comprised of a couple road courses, a go kart track, as well as an eighth AND a quarter mile drag strip, the facility is one of the biggest and most well appointed on the island of Puerto Rico. It is also more fodder for the idea that there are few places on Earth where organized drag racing in some form does not exist. We’re giving you some background on the track because it is the place where this absolutely horrendous wreck happened about a year ago. We had never seen it until reader Dave Schmidt emailed it and then our jaws hit the floor.
There are LOTS of serious doorslammers down in Puerto Rico. Four bangers, six bangers, and rotary engines make up the majority of the powerplants that you’ll see in serious cars down there. Many of the guys float their stuff to the states and compete in Florida and along the eastern seaboard. There are races like the World Cup at MIR, the old Orlando World Street Nationals and more than bring these dudes in. Six second laps out of little rotary cars are not unheard of and the racers are as hardcore as you’ll find anywhere.
In this video an RX-7 and and RX-8 square off and the results are complete disaster. Both of these cars look to be tube chassis full on racers which is a good thing for what happens to them but ultimately it seems to us like this was an avoidable wreck. How? Watch the guy in the RX-8 get way to committed to driving that car back into the groove when he should have lifted. You will see the car get WAY outside the groove and the guy driving keeps his foot planted and tries for the hero move of catching and passing his competitor despite all the driving. It doesn’t work for either of them. Tangling drag cars at the top end always result in cringeworthy photos and video.
Next time you are at the strip and your stuff gets way out of the groove, remember what this guy did and how it panned out for him. Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor.
PRESS PLAY BELOW TO SEE A HORRIBLE WRECK FROM PUERTO RICO INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
Must have been a chupacabra!
Hahaha. Holy Cow what a wreck
ok im going to tell the truth about this track n the day of this race they started the race at 5pm n didn’t finish the race in till the next day at 6am this race track is way out dated the owner never puts a any money in to the track all they care about is making $$$ n that’s it. the stands are way out of date they need to be fix but the owner never douse it the track n everything that gouse with it is from the 70s n never has been up dated this track is a nhra track n god knows how that happn because at the end of the track there is a brick wall that is at the end if you don’t stop you will hit n get killd like one has already this track is really un safe at any speeds on the day of this race one was kill n one was put in to the ecu in really bad shape …..
Write much, retard?
He’s probably Mexican and speaks Spanish only. Retard.
A spectator died from this wreck
Where’s the footage of the cars after the accident?
Why stay in it… Lift and save the car and some lives! The impact made me cringe… I have never drivin a car that fast down the strip, but i do know when to let off… Wow, Im amazed
this is what happens when a-holes don’t know when to lift.. fools.
Why didn’t the idiot let off? Is it really that important to win that the moron was willing to risk his life?
I hope everyone was OK! But on the the bright side, there’s two less tuners in the world.
Unfortunly ONE Person Died, Two driver Injured and Camara men Injured. Thanks God the injures are been operate and they are recovered. HOP FROM THIS WE CAN GET SOME POSITIVE FOR THE BENEFIT OF ALL.
Stupid beaner.
maybe you should get the huge erection out of your ass already. nobody is impressed with your levels of douchebaggery.
Right on Chad!
Person who died was a driver who was watching the race from top end.
And yes should have lifted.This driver has crashed before not lifting.
And safety barrier(or gate) not sealed at top end.Most NHRA tracks walls
extend to shutdown.Open walls or gate in shutdown has over the years
caused injurys or death.
He whom fights and runs away….lives to fight another day !!!….Roy Hill told me that once….
Drag cars are evil things in the hands of brave or foolish idiots…..
This clown should never be allowed to walk through the gates of a racetrack much less drive a car. He was outa control before the 60′ clock!
This is what happens when they step out of 150whp Hondas and into a more powerful car, Idiot. I hope got charged with vehicular homicide.
When the car went towards the centre I thought he should get off it, then it went towards the wall and still not lifting.
Then it goes back towards the centre and the other car and it looks like its still under full power.
Things happen quick when your doing these times – but he had plenty of opportunity to abort that run.
In hindsight is a great saying – he should have lifted and everyone goes home safe.
IMO he’s gone from hero to zero in a matter of seconds because he didn’t lift.
Explain that to the deceased mans family – don’t think they will get it either.
I/we understand its dangerous but we all like to go home, lucky no one else was killed.
I drive a 14sec mustang and don’t have that much seat time at the track, but I’d like to think that I would lift if my car got out of shape that badly and that quickly. My auto-cross buddies think drag racing is easy cause it’s in a straight line…not at those horesepower levels
I live here in Puerto Rico and this why I don’t like seeing these events being run in the evening. They started qualifying at 5PM and eliminations were held that same night with this unfortunate final being run at 6:30 AM on Thanksgiving Day. Hopefully this will be a wakeup call for them to run these races during the day and I hope they fix the track because it has a pretty nasty bump at the top end. Last time I was there I saw two accidents occur in the same exact spot at the top end.
Man, this accident had nothing to do with the track. He was out of control from the hit ! He should have lifted before the 60′ clock.
archie wah wah
Thank you chadb for telling Huge G Racist to shut his trap.
Yea, I’ll abandon this site if this crap keeps up. It’s about cars, not calling people offensive names.
I’ve been drag racing since I turned 16 way back in 1962. I’ve run cars from 14.5 to 9 flat. My current car is an 11.2 Demon.
The one thing I’ve learned from being involved in drag racing is it doesn’t matter what kind ET your car runs. If it gets out of shape, ya lift.
All that and not a single piston hurt