Top Fuel points leader Steve Torrence was uninjured in a 300 mph accident in the second round of eliminations today at the AAA Texas NHRA Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex in Ennis, Texas.

Torrence was racing alongside Richie Crampton when his Capco Contractors dragster cut its left rear slick and turned abruptly into the guardrail. The contact, at well over 300 mph, severed the chassis forward of the firewall, leaving the remains of the car, still fully intact from the foot-box on back, to slide to a stop in the shutdown.

“What I thought happened is exactly what happened — the left rear tire went down and as soon as it blew the car started going left and I tried to steer into it, but then I hit the wall and it was a ride from there,” he said. “I did all I could do. Thankfully Richie didn’t run over me. If you drive a Top Fuel car long enough, it’s going to happen and I’ve been very fortunate and very blessed to not have any of these problems up until now.”

“I hadn’t seen it, but I rode in it and it wasn’t that much fun,” Torrence told the NHRA’s Joe Castello. “I could feel it drop the tire and go left and I don’t know what happened.”

Despite the melee, Torrence won the round — on a holeshot, no less — 3.72 to a 3.71, crossing the finish line at 302.62 mph before striking the wall after the 1,000-foot finish stripe. Because newly-minted rules allowing the use of a second car during eliminations are in place, Torrence’s team can, if time permits, enter a backup car for their scheduled semi-final matchup with Brittany Force.

“It’s unbelievable. It just goes to show how dafe these things are. There’s been a lot of people who haven’t been able to come out through that but we’ve learned and NHRA and the Safety Safari and the tech officials and everybody, they give us the best that we can and that right there is a pretty dad’gum bad wreck and I’m able to stand up and get out of it and we’ll see if we can come out here and put on a good show for these people in Texas and keep racing.”