Video: Drag Racer Pedregon's Car Explodes

Geoffrey MillerPosted Feb 11th 2008 4:52PM by Geoffrey Miller
Filed under: Other Racing Series

Here's some incredible footage away from sandy beaches of Daytona Beach, Florida that NASCAR is currently calling home.

Tony Pedregon, last year's NHRA Funny Car champion, didn't exactly start off his season on the right foot. Racing against former team-owner John Force (who had an incredible crash of his own last season), Pedregon's car suffered a little more than a wardrobe malfunction.

Just past half track during the first round of eliminations for the Winternationals, something went terribly wrong in Pedregon's motor and caused the nearly 8,000 horsespower beast to erupt in a ball of fire with Pedregon sitting in the middle of it.

Luckily, for a sport that saw the death of a very popular driver just one season ago, Pedregon emerged from the destroyed car with only second-degree burns on his hand and some aches and pains from hitting the wall at nearly 300mph.

Force likely avoided more carnage by forgetting to pull his parachute until he was too far down the track because he was so taken back by the flames coming from the lane next to him.

YouTube - TONY PEDREGON BLOWS UP CAR & ON FIRE