Er, I think the engine's on fire... moment a drag racer's car exploded (and he walked away unscathed)

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This is the moment a drag racing car burst into a fireball in a race with an explosion that blew its top off the track. And amazingly the 61-year-old driver walked away relatively uninjured.
Drag racing veteran Jim Head was pushing his aptly-named Funny Car to the limits when it burst into flames at Heartland Park Topeka, Kansas.
The explosion blew the body of the car high into the air and over the retaining wall. A piece of debris reportedly grazed an unidentified fan, but he escaped with 'a minor scrape'.

The drag racer driven by veteran Jim Head turns into a fireball after an explosion at Heartland Park in Topeka, Kansas

Head, who has been a professional drag racer since 1980, kept what remained of his car off the wall of the track after the explosion, running into the back of his rival's car past the finish line.
Cool-headed Head told the Topeka-Capital Journal: 'It was pretty scary, it got my attention. I run my car pretty conservatively, and frankly that's the first time that's ever happened.
'I've had blower explosions before, but that blower explosion was significant enough that it blew the whole bottom of the manifold out.

Veteran racer Jim Head, who kept cool as his car disintegrated on the track

'That's a big bang, obviously. I've got several old-timers sitting in there, and they said that it was as big as they'd ever seen. I couldn't tell. I knew it wasn't good.'
Head told the Topeka-Capital Journal the explosion was the first hint of a problem the team had experienced all weekend.
'We didn't change anything, so it was a parts failure,' said Head, who owns his own drag-racing team.
'Unfortunately, I'm on enough of a budget that I probably run several parts a little longer than I should. It was all just smooth. I was winning the race.'
After the explosion Head said he couldn't see a thing and was just along for the ride.
'Zero vision,' he said.
'I thought the body was on the car, I had no idea. I thought the body was on the car, and I was really wishing the fire would go out. That was starting to get hot.
'Not a burn to me, not an injury to me. It's a real testament to these race cars.'
Head said he was glad he was driving the car when the incident occurred.
'I really don't like driving my car,' he said.
'I've been trying for two and a half years to get another driver in it, but I'll be honest with you, had I had another human being in there (during the explosion) we wouldn't be having this conversation. I would be literally suicidal.
'That would have bothered me to the point that I don't know that I could race any more if I ever hurt my driver.'

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Posted in: amazing