Fire inside an engine, specifically inside its combustion chambers, is an important part of what makes a car go. Fire outside an engine makes for a hairy situation, however. A drag racer in Texas got a lesson in just how bad an engine fire can be last week at TX2k16 when his Mustang burned to the ground at the starting line. Footage of the incident was captured by YouTube user BigKleib34, and shows just how quickly a fire can get out of control.
During pre-stage at the Royal Purple Raceway in Houston, an unnamed racer rolled his modified, fifth-generation Mustang GT up to the line to get ready for a run. As he came to a stop, a small fire started in the engine bay. The driver of the silver Mustang popped the hood while flames flickered out of the seam between the hood and driver side fender. The driver bailed out the car post haste, and starting line officials with hand extinguishers moved in to put out the fire.
As the officials worked to get the fire under control, a nitrous line ruptured and what was a small fire turned quickly into a large and exceedingly dangerous one. A stiff breeze blowing directly down the drag strip only made matters worse, and soon the entire front of the car was in flames. The officials did what they could, but their smaller extinguishers were no match for the size and intensity of the blaze.
Eventually, track's fire crew showed up and put the fire out. Thankfully, the driver escaped unscathed and no raceway crew was hurt, but the car was a total loss.
During pre-stage at the Royal Purple Raceway in Houston, an unnamed racer rolled his modified, fifth-generation Mustang GT up to the line to get ready for a run. As he came to a stop, a small fire started in the engine bay. The driver of the silver Mustang popped the hood while flames flickered out of the seam between the hood and driver side fender. The driver bailed out the car post haste, and starting line officials with hand extinguishers moved in to put out the fire.
As the officials worked to get the fire under control, a nitrous line ruptured and what was a small fire turned quickly into a large and exceedingly dangerous one. A stiff breeze blowing directly down the drag strip only made matters worse, and soon the entire front of the car was in flames. The officials did what they could, but their smaller extinguishers were no match for the size and intensity of the blaze.
Eventually, track's fire crew showed up and put the fire out. Thankfully, the driver escaped unscathed and no raceway crew was hurt, but the car was a total loss.
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