Despite a laundry list of dangerous elements that naturally go along with their racing hobby and/or livelihood behind the wheel, virtually any race car driver of an genre in the world will tell you their biggest fear is fire. And in nitrous-aided race cars, this becomes even more of an ever-present scenario, and large scale fires have gotten even the best, most-prepared teams out there at one time or another.
During the Super Chevy Show meet at the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on April 29-May 1, the Pacific Street Car Association’s Pro Street racers were featured in a points-paying event, and one in which racer Joe Alsworth would just as soon forget.
After an earlier nitrous backfire in his Pro Street Willy’s earlier in the day, Alsworth brought his mount back to the line for another shot. Following the burnout, while Alsworth is clearing out the engine prior to staging, the nitrous once again backfires, only this time erupting instantly into a full-scale blaze. Making matters worse in this situation is the stiff headwind blowing right down the track toward Alsworth’s fully engulfed race car, sending the flames and billowing black smoke over the back of the car, right where the power switch to the fuel pumps, nitrous, and other systems.
The result is a fire that simply won’t go out, thanks to the continued presence of fuel in the engine and in the lines and unspent nitrous oxide just feeding the flames. Fortunately, Alsworth was able to crawl out of the car within 15 seconds of ignition and make it to safety., which is the most important thing here.
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