As usual, the 2019 NHRA drag racing season provided plenty of nitro-fueled excitement and drama. Here are your edge-of-the-seat moments.
The stellar media crew at the National Hot Rod Association have an interesting little tradition that’s been going on for oh, we don’t know how many seasons now. Every year, they gather up the most memorable and insane moments and put together a short video they call Wild Rides. Sure: Mix up some nitromethane with the inexhaustible, all-consuming will to win and there are bound to be some crazy happenings on the quarter-mile, and the NHRA guys are wizards at capturing them, as the videos demonstrate.
As always, we’re thankful that, thanks to the NHRA’s obsessive safety policies and regulations, no one was seriously injured in any of these mishaps, as wild and as downright frightening as they can appear at times. Here’s to another safe and ultra-competitive year of NHRA drag racing. Video follows.
Scary stuff. I believe we are going to see more Pro Stocks getting loose and taking off on the top end this year. The cars are right out on the ragged edge.
Things have sure changed since the days when ‘Funny Cars’ were steel with the front ends lifted and a straight tube axle. I seldom saw an engine completely grenade. Now it seems commonplace. Dangerous but still pleases the crowd…
Well, to be clear, some of these crashes are from years ago and are added to schmaltz up the video.. By watching this, you’d think every run is catastrophic, but it’s not that way. Fact is, aside from blown motors, this doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it’s big bucks. Bodies @$50g’s, engines, over $100g’s, it’s costly. Not only that, these crashes usually shut the track down for a long time. Simply amazes me where the money comes from.
NHRA safe? Lucky is more the case. Dragsters that break in half being driven as intended.
Funnycars that blow the bodies off regularly. Real safe if it ends in the crowd!
Yes the rollcages are ok, but cars without effective brakes from Dragsters down to local level hot street classes.
Way too much reliance on parachutes which actually unload the cars often.
Ban nitro, methanol only and functional brakes. Not BMX rotors with super light weight callipers.
Probably limit tyre size as well and most defenitly for remotely production style cars bigger front tyres that will actually take braking loads.
Drag race engineering is often totally dangerous.
I agree to a certain extent. It does seem that they spend more effort on the driver surviving the catastrophe, then preventing it in the first place. And it seems it’s only the driver that gets the attention. Why and how _*all of the other*_ people get severely injured, is beyond me. Too many people milling around the start line for my comfort level.
I felt safer in the flagstand at Talladega the number of times I worked there, then I felt working _*once*_ helping on start line clean up crew at a big event at a strip.