Dixon's lucky to walk away from this one...

[herr_oberst]

Now we see the violence inherent in the system!

[ckelly78z]

Probably had the clutch lock up (like it's suppose to) and rather than spinning the tires it got traction and lifted the front end at 300 MPH....catastrophic frame failure.

[flatbutt]

incredible that it landed right side up!

[Red88Carrera]

No wheel lift. Catastrophic chassis failure. Front end went to the right and the rest went a different direction.

[Baz]

Wow - he was riding a wild bronc there for a few seconds!

[Jeff Higgins]

When did he come back to the U.S.? The NHRA had blackballed him for supposedly "racist" comments a few years ago, and he went to race in Australia. I didn't know he was back.

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

When did he come back to the U.S.? The NHRA had blackballed him for supposedly "racist" comments a few years ago, and he went to race in Australia. I didn't know he was back.

You're thinking of Spencer Massey.

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

You're thinking of Spencer Massey.

Oh, o.k. - he did race in Australia, though, didn't he?

[sugarwood]

I had no idea drag racing was still a thing.

[herr_oberst]

[QUOTE=Jeff Higgins;8530886]Oh, o.k. - he did race in Australia, though, didn't he?[/QUOTE

Possibly.
Dixon's luck changed when he jumped ship from the Snakes' Miller Lite car to the all Al Anabi car 8 or ten years ago. He didn't mesh well with the new team, got canned and has only had a handful of partial rides with poorly funded teams since.
It's too bad, really. He's a good driver, won 3 championships with Prudhomme, and from all indications he seems like a decent person. In retrospect, leaving the Snake was a mistake, and the bad blood continues to this day between them.

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by sugarwood

I had no idea drag racing was still a thing.

Realistically, in the Pro ranks it is on life support, but there are still scads of weekend warriors filling up the staging lanes at strips around the country.
It's a way for all walks of life to get a blast of adrenalin.

[diverdan]

Flawed build. Poor inspection.

[David]

It would be interesting to see the root cause analysis. I think those frames are 4130 chrome moly and they are not allowed to paint them so they can inspect them. Perhaps it missed an inspection.

[Baz]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

Realistically, in the Pro ranks it is on life support, but there are still scads of weekend warriors filling up the staging lanes at strips around the country.
It's a way for all walks of life to get a blast of adrenalin.

Yup. My 11 months older brother and his rail on a recent run:



By day he's an electrical engineer with FPL....

[herr_oberst]

^

That looks like a blast! Nice clean run, too!

[Baz]

It's not MY thing but my brother obviously loves it. He's owned a few funny cars before getting into rails so it's his main hobby.

I got track stuff out of my system with a few years of PCA driver's ed. For me it actually got boring once you got past that turn.

I get a bigger kick out of fooling around with plants now....as odd as that sounds. I have a Rock Lily in bloom right now that takes my breath away. Crazy, huh?

[VINMAN]

Originally Posted by Baz

By day he's an electrical engineer with FPL....

Being an electrical engineer ( retired..) myself, I like his night job much better!

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally Posted by sugarwood

I had no idea drag racing was still a thing.

While we are doing well to fill out the whole roster (60-80 cars depending on the venue) for any given PCA track day at our local tracks, the two local drag strips continue to pack them in. I quite honestly cannot figure out how they get everyone down the track with the numbers that show up; Pacific Raceways reportedly topped something like 3,000 cars one day a couple of years ago.

Granted, at the highest level, like every other professional motorsport, the money required to compete has gotten so completely out of control that the fields get smaller every year. The three pro classes - Pro Stock, Funny Car, and Top Fuel - are now only run at national events. When I was a kid, even into my early 20's, we had an active Division 6 circuit that featured those classes; guys running just the Pacific Northwest with those classes of cars. There is simply no way anyone can afford a top Fuel effort at that kind of "local" level these days.

[ckelly78z]

At Norwalk Raceway (Summit Motorsports Park) in Ohio, every Friday night is test-n-tune at the track for $12 you get in to race your car, just walk around with full acces to the pits, or sit in the stands. On an early Summer night, there is easily 500-1000 cars running everything from diesel pickups, imports, muscle cars and up to alcohol and nitro burning wheel standers.

Last time my son and I went, I ran down the track 5 times and watched a bunch of other cars race.....good cheap entertainment