Daniel Wilkerson escaped injury after a violent engine explosion Friday night split his Mustang Funny Car body in half, leaving him unable to see as he brought the car to a stop. Wilkerson said NHRA-mandated body tethers, which kept the back half of the body attached, prevented him from seeing the track.
“I can tell you I’d feel a lot more comfortable if it would’ve fallen off,” Wilkerson said. “There’s a few rules in place that keep it from falling off right now … but I can tell you now, I’ve had three of those and two of them, I felt like I was in real danger.”
Wilkerson said he understands the rule exists to protect spectators from debris. “You can’t have stuff flying into the stands. I get it,” he said. “But on the same hand, I can tell you as soon as I got out, I wished it was definitely sitting on their side of the wall.”
The explosion left Wilkerson blind to his surroundings. “All I could think about was running over into Chad’s lane because I had no idea where I was … I could just all I could think of was, ‘Don’t get over there and get hit. Don’t go hit your buddy. Stay in your own lane,’” he said.
Wilkerson said he would not have been surprised if the car had crossed the track entirely. “If you would’ve told me … you were on the return road, I would’ve said, ‘Maybe. I don’t know,’” he said.
On Saturday, Buddy Hull suffered a similar incident when his Funny Car exploded and blocked his vision, marking the second straight day a driver experienced the same issue.
Wilkerson said the situation is dangerous for drivers already dealing with fire during an engine failure. “You can’t see through the fire … and then you got the body obstructing your view,” he said.
He said NHRA officials met with him shortly after the incident to discuss possible solutions. “The great part about NHRA is … we’ve already talked about it,” Wilkerson said. “We’re looking at all kinds of options.”
Wilkerson did not offer a specific fix but said the current system needs to be re-evaluated. “I wish I had the magic answer to fix all the problems. I just know the problem,” Wilkerson said. “I feel like the current situation puts drivers in danger.”
