‘Literally just a bomb going off’: Inside the cockpit of a 290-mph crash

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You get up there and do the burnout, back up — the crew is checking everything out to make sure the car is good. We ran over 320 mph in qualifying, so I felt pretty confident that the car was going to repeat that and at least go 330 or something similar. 

I stepped on the gas and everything was normal. FOX Sports had what they call the visor cam on me, so I guess it’s good and bad for the fans that they were able to watch it after the fact — they got a feeling of what I went through. 

I’ve been through these explosions and fires before in a Funny Car, having driven them for almost 30 years. 

On this run, the car was about half-track, and at that point we were going about 290 mph — and then it was so quick and so sudden this time, that it was literally just a bomb going off before I knew it. 

I kind of felt daylight, so I knew the body had been blown off the car, but the car was on fire, and the fire — since I sit behind the engine — was pretty strong in my face and around my arms. I knew the car was out of control. I didn’t know where my opponent was on the track. I knew I was ahead of them at the point of the explosion, but I wasn’t sure where he was. I didn’t want to get into him or get in his way in his lane, but it escalated quickly. 

Ron Capps walked away unharmed from this fiery explosion at the NHRA Arizona Nationals.

My first thought was back to John Force’s accident last year, which was close to taking his life. We were the next car behind him when that accident happened in Virginia, so I had a firsthand look. As soon as I realized during this crash what was going on with my car, it started veering very hard to the left and I had no brakes or no steering and I was just picturing Force’s wreck in my brain, like this is going to be bad. I knew I was going to the wall pretty hard and before the impact, I just kind of told myself to brace, and I didn’t honestly think I’d be awake at the angle and the speed I was going after the hit. 

So once the hit happened, I was shocked that I was still awake. I naturally tried to get back on the brakes, they weren’t working very well, but the car finally came to a stop. The safety crew team was already at my car before it came to a rest. I didn’t know at the time but when I tried to get out, I couldn’t get my left leg up to hop out of cage, and I wanted to get out pretty quickly to wave to the cameras because I know my mom watches the broadcast live from home and my wife and my kids were in the grandstands, so something like that when I’ve seen those accidents from behind you don’t know whether the driver is hurt or killed, you just don’t know. So that’s the first thing I was trying to do, is let him know I’m okay. 

Once I got out of the car, the safety crew put the fire out and they brought me back over to look at the carnage. A piece of the engine had come through the side cockpit area down by my feet and that’s what was holding my left leg up. So watching the replay on TV that night and on social media, I could see myself trying to get out and my leg being caught, so I was pretty lucky that my leg wasn’t injured on top of everything else.

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When it comes to crashes as a Funny Car driver, it’s not I’m gonna have an accident or I’m gonna be on fire — it’s just how many times. 

It is just such a violent sport. 

They are the most exhilarating race cars in the world to drive. They’re exciting for fans to watch, but when you sit behind the engine like that — that’s part of the allure that, when I was a kid, made me want to be a Funny Car driver — seeing these drivers who were heroes of mine that would be on fire and then hop out of the car like no problem. So it’s a good and bad thing about driving a Funny Car. 

Ron Capps readies for his run at the NHRA Arizona Nationals. <!–>

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If you Google my name, I always tell people the first three or four things that pop up are big explosions. But this was definitely the worst accident for sure that I’ve had in my 30 years of driving a Funny Car. Again, with Force’s accident last year and this one — they were very eerily similar when you play the two side-by-side, how the impact and the angle and speed were. 

It’s ironic because in the offseason, NHRA had a big meeting with all the teams about making the head padding in the cockpit a little bit better, different ways to do things to make things a little bit safer, and our team went above and beyond that and re-did our seats and cockpit padding. Ironically, my daughter works for a dentist and she just had a mouthguard made for me a couple of months ago, and she’s been on my case about wearing it. I forgot to wear it a couple of times recently. Before this run, I actually forgot to put it in and I already had my helmet on, so it took me about five minutes to get it through my helmet to my mouth — otherwise I wouldn’t have worn it and I probably would have broken my teeth. 

A lot of things were very, very lucky, but that was definitely the worst crash of my career. 

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The dangers of drag racing are what makes our sport so exciting. It’s why the grandstands are packed. It’s why people turn the TV on. They want to see side-by-side 330-mph runs. My sponsors and our partners don’t want to sponsor a daredevil, they want to sponsor an exciting motorsport. Anytime we post something on social media with a visor cam or any in-car camera, it’s just amazing how many people, when they feel like they’re going 330 themselves, get immersed in this sport.

You have to remember: we go 0 to 100 mph in less than one second from a standing stop and 0 to 330 mph in 3.8 seconds with more G-Forces than anything on planet Earth except a fighter pilot — more than a space shuttle pilot — and then negative 8 or nine Gs when the parachutes pops. On this crash, we’ll get the black box reading and I’m sure it was upwards of 30 or 40 Gs on impact to the wall. 

With his 75 wins, Ron Capps is one of the most decorated Funny Car drivers in history. <!–>

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It’s an exciting sport and things do happen like John Force’s accident, like my accident, and I believe I’m alive because of the accidents that happened previously. I really think the advancements and gained knowledge on why these things happened can keep it from happening again. I know for sure I was walking around Pomona and racing again this past weekend because of the increased safety we had as a result of Force’s accident. 

I truly believe the sooner you can get back in the car following a bad crash, the better. I had to wait a week after this crash, and I’ve tried not to watch the replay, but it’s all over the place, and when I do see it, you kinda grit your teeth because it’s ugly to watch, especially when it’s yourself. The sooner you can get back in the cockpit, for me anyway, and just get that out of your head, because it doesn’t happen very often.

But I am very lucky, that’s for sure.

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