There was a time when riding out a speeding bonfire was just a part of piloting a fuel-burning Funny Car. These days, such rides — like those that made John Force famous in the early 1990s — are few and far between thanks to improved fire suppression systems, but drivers today have traded what were once raging infernos for incidents that are best described as sitting inside of a military-grade bomb.

And on Saturday, Jack Beckman escaped from one of the biggest boomers yet, as his Infinite Hero Dodge Charger exploded in breathtaking fashion, tearing the carbon fiber body apart like a toy and sending parts and pieces scattering all over the New England Dragway.

As the team confirmed, the car broke the camshaft clean in half, in turn sticking the valves wide open, igniting the fuel and completely blowing out six of the eight intake ports in the billet aluminum cylinder heads. The damage was so severe that it peeled the supercharger case apart like a banana, and also damaged the framerails of the chassis, forcing the team to revert to a backup car for the remainder of the weekend. A buckle from one of the supercharger restraint straps also became a projectile, piercing through the side of an RV in the spectator area (which Beckman later autographed for the unlucky fan).

“It was moving around some. This racetrack can be exciting for a driver because the groove can get tight,” said Beckman. “I pulled it back some, and it just started to spin the tires. That’s one of those times where you wish you had a tenth of a second earlier to get off the throttle.

“It was a big explosion, one of the biggest ever. The worst was I had oil all over my visor and couldn’t see. Fortunately, I had time to reach up with my glove and wipe it off. Until then I couldn’t see, and it’s just nice to know you’re not going into the wall.”

Beckman’s team, already well into the field with a 3.895-second lap from Friday, elected to sit out the final qualifying session to evaluate the chassis and prepare the backup car.