Longtime Super Stock racer and NHRA national event winner Bucky Hess is well-known throughout the racing community for his stunning Barracuda race cars, with the current ride – the King Kuda II – the fourth ‘Cuda he’s run in his career in the NHRA. 

This past weekend, at the Lucas Oil Drag Racing series event held at Maple Grove Raceway in Mohnton, PA, Bucky went for a wild ride in the King Kuda II. Coming down from a hard-charging wheelstand, the car quickly got out of the groove to the left, wiggled back and forth in the lane, then snapped across the track and went head-first into the wall. 

He narrowly escaped much, much worse damage as his opponent was merely inches away from T-boning the Hemi, which would have likely destroyed both cars.

Tagging the nose of the car straight into the wall, bouncing off, and riding the right side of the car down the wall shows that the King Kuda is likely going to need major repairs. We have no doubt that repairing the body will be right up their alley, as Bucky and his son Travis run Bucky’s Ltd., a body and restoration facility in Bunker Hill, West Virginia, where the car’s killer paint scheme was applied with lettering done by Nelson Grimes.

But nobody likes to see a racer into the wall, least of all one with sheetmetal that’s hard to find. The King Kuda II’s 25.5 chassis was built by Phil Mandella at PMR Racecars, the same guy who most recently built the chassis for Drgazine’s Project BlownZ. Under the hood of the King Kuda II is a serious 426 cubic inch Elephant put together by Jason and Lance Line  – yes, that Jason Line, he of Pro Stock fame. 

This crash could have been much worse, and it’s only an amazing driving job by both Hess and opponent Eddie Bolton that kept the King Kuda off its roof, and Bolton’s machine intact. They’ll both get to race another day, and that’s what’s most important.

Thanks to Robzneed4speed for the video.