Professional drag racing is one of the most exciting motorsports ever. Yeah, for some it may look simple to point the car north and smash the gas for a quarter mile, but there are a lot of things you need to take care along with the fear you might crash and burn.
Most drag cars have no driving aids; just a huge engine and fat tires at the back to put the power down while the front might be fitted with skinny wheels to minimize rolling resistance and make the car steer a bit.
And here comes the hard part. Steering the dragster down the lane is a key element in these types of races, along with the way you launch from the Christmas tree and shift through your gears.
You might not consider steering that important in a street race (which you should’t attend anyway) but drag cars need to be constantly steered to roll their tires on the rubber layer formed on the track. Miss that sweet spot where traction is maximum and the rear wheels can slip violently and turn you sideways in no time.
Chitown’s KOTXI drag strip seems to miss a lot of that rubber layer on the asphalt, giving drivers a hard time putting power down and maintaining a straight line. You can see in the video bellow their struggle. Unfortunately, driver Shannon Butler failed to keep her Procharger F2 SBF powered Mustang Fox Body under control and hit both safety walls, hardly damaging the car and breaking three vertebras in her back.
Fortunately, Shannon is fine and will recover soon, while the car probably needs a whole new front end. Even the GoPro camera made it after it flew off with the windshield it was mounted on. Those are some strong suction cups, right?
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