Pro Mod racer Rick Hord walked away unhurt from a scary crash during the NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway Motorsports Park in St. Louis last weekend.
Hord was vying for one of the final spots in the E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod field at Gateway when his Pro Mod Camaro SS suddenly veered to the right and slammed into the outside retainer wall, flipping the car on its side. The fuel cell appears to have detached from the car due to the impact and bounced into the perimeter of the track, rolling in parallel with the dragstrip as gasoline leaked from it. Hord seems quite lucky that his car did not catch fire, though a fireball briefly appeared immediately after the impact with the wall.
Thankfully, Hord exited the car under his own power as he was assisted by the official NHRA safety team. The safety team was also tasked with flipping the wrecked car over back on its wheels after it ended up on its roof. The NHRA did not provide an official cause for the accident and its hard to tell from the video if Hord suffered some kind of suspension or tire failure, or if he simply lost control of the car.
Three-time Pro Mod world champion Rickie Smith won the Pro Mod class at Gateway, beating Stevie Jackson in the final round of the event with a fast pass of 5.768-seconds at 252.19 mph. The result was Smith’s 15th career victory – a class best for Pro Mod.
Check out the video of Hord’s wreck embedded below. The NHRA Pro Mod series will continue when the racers head the NTK NHRA Carolina Nationals at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte on October 11th.
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