You might remember us saying time and again that top-end drag racing is serious business, as the cars develop a lot of power and are under immense stress.
When there are at least 5000 horses under your right foot, then you should expect things to go south every now and then, especially in a vehicle designed and built to defy our comprehension of speed.
That’s why most of the top fuel dragsters and funny cars are thoroughly conceived to ensure maximum safety standards, to make sure that when something, somewhere goes wrong, the driver inside the vehicle’s safety cell is protected from harm.
Not everybody can say they survived a 307 mph (494 Km/h) crash, but 69-year-old Gary Densham can add this to his resume (although this incident might not be his first one). During a round of Funny Car qualifying at the NHRA season opener in Pomona, the racing driver’s Dodge Charger went through the sand traps after his parachute failed to deploy (that must’ve been a terrifying experience).
Fortunately, the car was the only thing that sustained major damage, as Densham turned out to be fine. To top it off, the man registered a career-record 4.050 seconds at 307.3 mph (494 Km/h) in the same run.