Racers that strap into a AA/Fuel Altered are equal parts driver, passenger, and alligator wrestler, because these fire breathing beasts are more than a handful. Longtime Funny Car and Fuel Altered pilot Bobby Marriott can handle the unpredictable cars with the best of them, but he went for a terrifying ride in his “Shockwave” machine after it popped the motor at half-track at North Star Dragway  last weekend and almost fully collected fellow racer Doyle Smith in the process.

Smith had a front row seat for Marriott’s scary ride as the car erupted into flames near mid-track. “We left about the same time, but he was out on me by a car length at the 330-foot cone when I saw the flames. It put oil all over the track and me, so I started to get crossed up when the left rear pushed me towards the centerline. I lifted and that’s when he got out of shape, crossed the line and we hit,” Doyle says.

That was just the start of Doyle’s problems, because the contact, albeit light, ruptured his fuel tank and dry sump tank, covering him in fuel and oil. Doyle then saw Marriott shoot back across the track, but realized he had to bring his car to a stop in a hurry.

“I got on the brakes and started to pump them after the chutes were pulled but the car started to skate. I had the choice to go through the net or make the turn, so I made the turn as best I could. The car dug into the dirt and started to go up on its side about two feet, but the Funny Car header stopped it,” Doyle tells of his scary stop. Doyle quickly got out of his car to go check on Marriot, who was still unconscious from the violent wreck.

When it comes down to it, Doyle sums it up the best: “We both got lucky … this could have been a lot worse.” Marriot was taken to the hospital to be checked out and is expected to be okay after his wild ride.

Check out the crazy sequence of events on this video from MaxCacklePhotos that has a mixture of Bobby Marriott’s onboard camera, and a chilling still photo sequence by Wes Ramsey and Steve Scott.