Canadian restaurateur and Pro Mod ace Raymond Commisso suffered a massive crash at the ADRL Spring Drags in 2012 contested on the famous Maple Grove Raceway drag strip. You’ll see the car launch and start to haze the tires. At about 150-200 feet down the strip the car makes a dead left and Raymond is unable to do anything but tuck and prepare for impact. That impact was bad enough to literally break through the concrete wall that runs along the side of the track.
Blown Pro Mods run on methanol, so you may be wondering what the big orange fire ball comes from when the car strikes the wall, since methanol burns in a basically invisible manner. Mounted right next to the fuel cell where the alky lives is the oil tank and when both of them ruptured upon impact the oil and the alky ignited. That orange fire you are seeing is the oil igniting and burning.
Raymond was fine, and suffered no injuries in the wreck. Once again, the rigid safety and chassis building specs that these cars are crafted with helped another driver walk away. That’s good stuff.
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Sure is gonna suck for him to do the same exact thing next year, ” suffered a massive crash at the ADRL Spring Drags in 2015 “.
If it was me, I would skip next years race.
bad accident-good outcome due to a car built to good saftey specs. what really bothers me is the “gaurd rail” WTF basicly it’s just Jersy Barrier turned around to put the flat side to the track. it just sits on the track and each section is hooked to the next one. What would happen if that had been a Top Fuel car ? gone through the barrier and headed to the stands ?? or get half way through and fold up against the gaurd rail (shades of Blain Johnson at Indy) I think the Track Owner/Manager shpuld take a good look at this and do proper poured,with footings–gaurd rail. I know this is expensive, but what is a life woth ?
Its supposed to give away partly, if it doesnt it imparts all of its energy into the car and you WILL have fatalities in the cars. It slows the car down and deflects it but doesnt stop it, its not supposed to. Its the reason in NASCAR they put in safer barriers which are just foam covered barriers because the concrete barriers where getting drivers killed because they just didnt budge.