Thanks once again to YouTuber victoryredcolorado, we have some intense video of Tim Cullinan’s front-engine dragster dang near losing it at the Route 66 Raceway. This video, featuring some excellent slow-motion footage of the scariest moments, shows Cullinan fighting the powerful digger, beginning around the 300-foot mark and not really settling back down until past the quarter-mile stripe.
The nostalgia dragster, likely capable of elapsed times well into the five-second zone at speeds topping 250 mph on a full pass under power, still manages to clip the clocks at 7.41-seconds at “just” 142 mph–hardly an run to be taken lightly.
There are no readily apparent indicators of the cause of the loss of traction, though a number of factors could have caused, or contributed to, the lack of bite. Be it a cold, green test-n-tune track surface, some type of mechanical failure or improper adjustment on the car, or perhaps just overpowering the track that kept the car fighting to grab ahold of the asphalt, Cullinan did a masterful job of keeping the shiny side up when things really got hairy on the top end.
As you can see, especially in the slow-motion segment, the car comes within mere inches of tipping over, not once, but twice, as it skates wildly from left to right nearing the speed traps. The driver manages to dial up just enough input to the steering wheel to return the car to earth without overcorrecting and sending it rolling over the other direction. It is certainly better to share this footage than a clip of the car had Cullinan missed even a small amount on his steering! This clip was just uploaded a few days ago, so hopefully the next clip we see will show the car making a full, STRAIGHT pass with much less drama coming from those small rear tires.