A Chevy Camaro blew its lid in Texas earlier this month at a local drag racing event, but luckily, no one was injured.
The incident occurred at Yello Belly Drag Strip on April 10th. The catastrophic failure was caught on video by TSV Motorsports during a YouTube livestream.
The Chevy Camaro was apparently lined up to head down the strip alongside a white Ford Mustang moments before an explosion popped the hood off like a champagne cork. With the tree going green, we see the Mustang send it, but the Camaro stalls, leaving it stationary at the line.
Observers then notice a small fire under the hood, prompting crew members to rush to lift the hood. After the crew checks the engine and puts the hood back down, the driver attempts the restart the engine.
It’s at that moment that a powerful explosion sends a portion of the hood soaring into the air. Everyone in the immediate vicinity recoils at the blast, and the hood is transformed into a tangled mess of metal. As the camera pans, we see the missing hood section land near a few other bystanders several feet away.
Luckily, no one was injured in the explosion. The Chevy Camaro had apparently made at least one other run earlier in the day, and although it’s uncertain exactly what caused the engine to grenade in such spectacular fashion, some commentators suspect it was related to the nitrous system, which may have caused a build-up of some sort inside one of the cylinders.
Either way, the explosion is definitely dramatic, and the resulting damage is eye-raising, to say the least.
Of course, racers being racers, even something like this engine explosion won’t stop the crew from rebuilding and getting back on track. Maybe just double check the nitrous beforehand?
Check out the full nine-and-a-half-hour video stream below. The engine explosion occurs around the eight-hour, 35-minute mark:
Comments
Looks like he blew his top. But seriously, badass car, original or modded. Keep the sport/hobby alive! Good luck all.
Hopefully they had the AAA.
These have to be the dumbest damn people on the planet. Standing in the staging lanes in front of out-of-control cars.
Glad to see your comment. I’ve been to many drag strips and I’ve never seen people hanging around the starting line !
I wish we had more dragstrips . We seem at the same place as lets say the 1950s. A group of enthusiasts , to promote safety, traveled the country encouraging communities to create places for people to race their cars that were not on the street. That little group became NHRA. What we need are more safe places to show off our awesome cars, more places with safe sanctioned racing. For average home grown racers
Nitrous at the end, not at the beginning.
Saw a 69 Camaro do the same thing at Carlsbad Raceway. It screwed up more than the hood>
What happened.?
Wasn’t there a Dodge Cummins RAM that exploded to pieces (literally) at the dyno?
Wonder what the bleachers are for ?