RELATED STORY: ALEX LAUGHLIN PERFECTS THE ART OF NITRO SHAMING

Travis Pastrana didn’t leave with a license to race a nitro-burning Top Fuel dragster. The X-Games superstar and noted adrenaline connoisseur instead left with an experience of a lifetime.

“I hit the gas, and it felt like my butt was way up the track and my brain wasn’t functioning; it was way still way back there,” Pastrana told Lee Craft of the Monday Morning Racer Show. “It was amazing.

“I got off [the throttle] in my second run, felt like we were wheelie-ing over towards the wall. I haven’t been so nervous going in a straight line in all of my life. I gotta come back one day and try get a full pull. This is amazing and such a great opportunity. “

Pastrana was at zMax Dragway on the Monday following the NHRA Carolina Nationals, making licensing runs behind the wheel of Scott Palmer’s Top Fuel dragster. What remains to be seen is whether the outing was a bucket list item, a genuine attempt to race Top Fuel, or the result of nitro shaming by NHRA racer Alex Laughlin.

Laughlin had reached out to Pastrana last year via a friend and challenged Pastrana in not so many words, “If you’re going to have nitro in your show name [Nitro Circus], you ought to at least race something with nitro.”

Pastrana accepted the challenge, and though it was supposed to happen last October, because of scheduling conflicts finally took place on Monday.

Pastrana had an audience comprised of NASCAR icon Tony Stewart, Top Fuel driver Leah Pruett and Pro Modified fan-favorite Lyle Barnett were among those on hand to witness the process. Noted nitro tuner Aaron Brooks also joined the Scott Palmer team for the experience.

In the end, Pastrana made two runs, and the impression Top Fuel drag racing left on him will likely last a lifetime.

“Scott and Alex went so far out of the way to give me the best possible experience to have as much fun as I possibly could to experience a Top Fuel dragster. I need to at least come back and watch these races. I’m hooked and this is amazing. It’s a great sport.”