Chevy Nova Crashes at New Drag Strip, "Dirty 30" Rolls and Bursts into Flames

The quarter-mile community already heard about the fate of "Dirty 30", which crashed hard about a month ago. This is the best footage of the events, as well as some of the other cool drag racers that nearly hit the barriers.

As you probably know, one of the biggest advantages a drag strip has over racing on the street is traction. However, that doesn't come right out of the box, so the organizers called everybody over to put down some rubber. Lots of cars turned up, boasting hundreds or even thousands of horses.

The events show plenty of purpose-built speed machines with radials. You've got the usual contenders, including lots of Fox Body Mustangs with turbos sucking up air through the bumper, a couple of Blazers, some 3rd-gen Camaros, a couple of Corvettes, and some oddball cars.

But the first car to crash that day was an interesting late-1960s Chevy Nova. It hits the barrier and rips its front end to bits. However, while the driver of the pony is licking his wounds and loading up his car, a horrible second crash occurs.

The ratty speed demon known as Dirty 30 smashes into the barrier and rolls over. The driver has just seconds to escape the fireball and save his life. He sustains minor scratches and some burns to his hands but probably considers himself lucky.

Dirty 30 is a 1930 Plymouth 4-door sedan that the owner, Nick Plewniak, dug out of a barn and turned into a race car. It looked like a pile of junk but was fully race-ready thanks to a twin-turbo 1,200 horsepower engine. Thankfully, it also featured a full roll cage that probably saved Plewniak from further injuries.