[masraum]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

Something went wrong with the onboard fire suppression. These things have enough of that to save a sinking aircraft carrier. You'll notice that the announcer mentioned several times how unusual it was to have such prolonged fire onboard of one of these cars. The fuel, unlike gasoline, will not burn in an unconfined space. It's actually pretty darn hard to light the stuff. The cars can't even start on it. When you see the guy squirting fuel into the throttles to start the motor, that is actually gasoline. It has to run on that to build some heat before it will run on the nitro mix. That had to be oil that was sprayed around when the top of the motor popped off. When that happened, the car should have been engulfed in suppressant. It wasn't. Might be part of why he was so angry.

Right. For these insane vehicles, their fuel is probably the equivalent of 500 octane. I've read those "top fuel dragster facts that will amaze you" things that say that part way down the track, they are basically running like a diesel due to heat and compression with no spark source.

I watched drag racing when I was much younger because dad did. I haven't watched it in decades, and am amazed when I hear the modern speeds and ETs.