Standing up close and personal to the race cars seems to be the favorite thing to do, especially at the drag races.

What's cool might not be the safest procedure and staff photographer Roger Richard's photos might be the best illustration of what could have been an ugly experience on the inside and outside of the car.

Outlaw 632 racer Eric Tillman nailed the throttle during eliminations at the No Mercy 9 event only to experience a center-section failure in the Ford 9-inch rearend of his Chevy II. The failure sent pieces of the pinion through the side window like military-style shrapnel. Amazingly, neither Tillman, nor any of the onlookers standing on the starting line, were injured.

There have been times where people who carry the credentials to stand on the starting line have not been so fortunate. In 2008, Mitchell Scruggs, father and crew chief for eighth-mile doorslammer legend Jason Scruggs, was standing in the area behind the burnout box when debris was pitched from an Extreme 10.5 competitor's burnout and impacted him in the chest.

He was transported to a local hospital where he was fortunate to emerge with a non-life-threatening injury.

Just years earlier Top Alcohol Dragster driver Shelly Howard experienced a blowover and when her crashed car came to a stop facing the starting line it subsequently raced back to the starting line under power and struck a tow vehicle at an estimated 250 miles per hour, killing both her and a team member.

This time the drag racing community was fortunate that no one was injured.