New York state native Joe Albrecht was unhurt in a violent accident at the Midwest Drag Racing Series season opener at Xtreme Raceway Park in Ferris, Texas last weekend. Albrecht, a veteran of the drag-radial and Pro Mod ranks, was tabbed by Philadelphia Eagles (NFL) defensive tackle Fletcher Cox to drive his supercharged Chevrolet Camaro in Pro Modified at the event. In the third qualifier, Albrecht was marching to what became his quickest run of the weekend to that point, a 3.770, when debris from a yet-undetermined parts failure pierced the passenger-side rear slick, shredding the body apart and leaving Albrecht but a mere passenger. In the footage captured by Straight Line Media’s Kyle Christ, small flashes of debris can be seen exiting the car in the milliseconds prior to the explosion. The car ultimately nosed into the wall — very fortunately away from and not into opponent Stan Shelton — and turned onto its roof, sliding to a stop in the shutdown area ahead of a litany of parts and prices torn from the car in the melee.

“The Cox Racing team took a hit this past weekend as we went to run another series’ race after years of not running a series and only picking a few races to run. After struggling during [the first and second qualifier] we finally figured out was was wrong with the racecar,” said Cox in a social media statement. “We knew we had to compete with the best teams. We headed into Q3 not qualified; the car was on a very good run to qualify in the top half of the field [but] after parts failure it resulted in something we never want to see as a team. Joe Albrecht did an amazing job of driving all week/weekend [and] walked away with not even a scratch. No matter how much you have or don’t, seeing this result on a car that you’ve worked so hard to get to the front of competition is gut wrenching. The safety gear in this car and what the driver had on did it’s job. As of now we are taking a step back to [analyze] what really went wrong and how we can prevent this from happening in the future. To everyone involved I’d like to say thank you for always supporting #teamcox. The car is fixable but I think we are going to strip down and figure out options. Maybe build a new one.”

“Someone was watching over me for sure, because I don’t have one single scratch on me,” Albrecht said. “I just wanted to thank Fletcher Cox for giving me the opportunity to drive a badass, but most importantly, a very safe, well-built car. The car, and all my safety equipment did its job 100-percent and I was able to walk away. We all sometimes take for granted how fast these cars are, things can break and go wrong in a split second. So tighten up those belts and wear all the proper equipment, because you never know when it can happen to you.”