Drag racer breaks in half...........

Chee-to · Mar 14, 2015

Larry Dixon walks away from a spectacular crash in Gainesville

As you can hear the announcer say in the video, Dixon's car was likely traveling at speeds in excess of 200 mph when his car broke in half and left the ground. We are certainly happy to hear he walked away from this.

CoastRange57 · Mar 14, 2015

I do not want to be the frame builder in that case. I was involved in helping work on a top fuel dragster 30 some years ago, and the frames were expensive and strong then.

Caveman Jim · Mar 14, 2015

Did anyone else pinch their chair seat like I did???

clearconscience · Mar 14, 2015

I really don't get these. Those cars are so bloody expensive and I can't imgaine being the guy with the wallet on those and seeing that live.

CreepingDeath · Mar 14, 2015

Member 5605 · Mar 14, 2015

Caveman Jim said:
Did anyone else pinch their chair seat like I did???

What chair. Mine disappeared....

CoastRange57 · Mar 14, 2015

clearconscience said:
I really don't get these. Those cars are so bloody expensive and I can't imgaine being the guy with the wallet on those and seeing that live.

It takes about 3 to 5 million a year to run one car like that. You need to win to keep your sponsors flowing the cash. A frame failure to pretty catastrophic to your season. Engines are always going, I imagine a frame is 200K. 30 years ago guys with business's to bury the costs in were running these cars as privateers, not any more.

Tbucket · Mar 15, 2015

Everything is pushed to its very max boundary and sometimes exceeded, as in this case. The frames are made to flex a certain amount and fatigue or any flaw in the metallurgy can have catastrophic consequences. They say they are making 10,000 horsepower now which will find any flaw in a big hurry. Amazing they can walk away from that.

CoastRange57 · Mar 15, 2015

Exactly. These cars are simply at the top end of what you can do with shaped metal, harmonics, torque and that much horsepower. This is pretty much as fast as they are going to be able to go.

NoFlinch · Mar 16, 2015

CoastRange57 said:
. This is pretty much as fast as they are going to be able to go.

Ya, I remember when it was impossible to get one of these things to go sub 6 seconds................................

CoastRange57 · Mar 16, 2015

Yeah, I know, sure as I posted that I was probably wrong. But the laws of physics have to catch up to these guys eventually, the Bonneville cars are pretty much maxed out, Nascars are pretty much maxed out aerodynamically anyway, the violence of drag racing has to have a limit.

I crewed a drag boat back in the late 70's, it was pretty wild then, we were not up in the top fuel ranks, but ran in the same race series, and were only running about 110 in the quarter mile, I made one run as driver and was glad to go back to wrench turner.

Only the rich will survive.

NoFlinch · Mar 16, 2015

CoastRange57 said:
I made one run as driver and was glad to go back to wrench turner.

Sgt Nambu · Mar 16, 2015

Wow! Spectacular is right!
As to topping out at +/- 300, I remember when folks said they would never reach 200. We were pretty impressed with 500/550 HP then.

John H · Mar 17, 2015

Sgt Nambu said:
Wow! Spectacular is right!
As to topping out at +/- 300, I remember when folks said they would never reach 200. We were pretty impressed with 500/550 HP then.

Yeah I think the top speed is something like 332 for Top Fuel and 324 for Funny Car.

And these was done in a 1000 feet ,not in a quarter mile.

They have come a long ways.

Fast Eddie · Mar 17, 2015

It'll buff out...

coyotecaller · Mar 18, 2015

He can certainly thank his Maker for letting him go on and continue to breathe

Tbucket · Mar 18, 2015

While I agree that his maker had a hand in it, the safety put into these new dragsters is stellar. The cage, pored in seat, Han's device, foam padding around the cage at the drivers head and the fact that the frame is designed with a monocoque to save the drivers legs is really what saved him. Amazing safety built into these cars.

Caveman Jim · Mar 18, 2015

Yeah they shortened the track after a crash that killed a popular driver a few years ago (can't think of his name right now).
When I lived in Florida it was a ritual with some of the street racers I hung with to go to the Gator Nationals. I lived just 8 miles from where Don Garlits opened his race car museum in Bellevue, Fl.

NoFlinch · Mar 18, 2015

I used to drag race a Dodge Coronet

426 Hemi/Auto

SS/BA

Mid 10's..............

...............THAT WAS QUICK!!!!!

I also ran a '66 Chevy Nova

327/4 sp.

MID 11's..........

...THAT WAS QUICK!!!!!!!!

Today, subtract 4 seconds, and there you are........

Nickb · Mar 18, 2015

That isn't the first time a chassis has failed like that. The important part is the driver is safe.
We are running in the high 9s around 140mph, and it's pretty damn fast. Our chassis is certified to 8.50. We will get down there next year with a new motor. Not sure if we will build a new chassis to go faster after that. It gets a lot more expensive. Right now we use about .75 of a gallon per pass, at $16/gallon, we should able to run a motor for a full season without any major rebuilds.