Beloved Diesel Nova Involved In Heartbreaking Crash At Lights Out 11

Drag Racing is a very dangerous sport. It doesn’t matter if you’re going 60, 70, or even 200-mph, it’s dangerous. Anything can happen in an instant. Over the last few years, “The Diesel Nova” has had us on the edge of our seats watching it compete with some of the toughest drag cars in the country. Coming back to the eleventh edition of the premiere Lights Out event by Duck X Productions, this time under new ownership, the new owners hoped to go farther into this race than ever before.

With their winter time upgrades and changes, owners Tyler Bradley and Daniel Pierce looked to hit Lights Out with a full head of steam. In a recent Facebook post, they thanked Wagler Competition Products for the cylinder head ready in a pinch, S&S Diesel Motorsport for the fuel system and tech support, and SunCoast Performance for the torque converter.

Had the rig loaded and ready to rock and roll with two of the three diesel's in attendance at Lights Out. The black Ford Lightning you may recognize as it is the Outlaw Diesel Super Series 5.90 Index Champion, Mindy Jackson. She was at Lights Out doing a little 6.00 Index racing.

This race was impacted by weather multiple times and this resulted in longer than expected nights. As the nights got later, the temperature continued to fall and people struggled to hook on the racing surface. This is true for the Nova too and unfortunately, on their last attempt to make the X275 field, something bad happened.

My guess is tire shake or a broken axle but it is still unsure what actually caused this beautiful Chevrolet Nova to nail the left lane wall just passed the 100-foot mark. After the impact, it destroyed most of the nose of the car and some driver fender and after sliding to a stop, it got into the other side of the car as well. I was devastated to watch this unfold live on the SpeedVideo livestream but the bad part is things like this happen.

You never expect it and you certainly don’t want it to but it did. Luckily, Pierce made it out of the crash unscathed. I spoke with him a day later and he said thanks for reaching out and that he was okay. One scary fact I saw too was on a post by Luke Langellier of S&S Diesel Motorsport where he had a photo of the data logger.

“It’s a good thing Daniel Pierce is a tough dude and had good safety equipment,” Langellier said. “He maxed out the G-force meter on the logger and walked away acting fine.”

I think we can all agree that we’re glad that Daniel is okay and we know that this crew is going to come back with something better than before. We’re excited to see what happens in the near future. For more event coverage and industry news, stay tuned to Diesel Army.

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Artie Maupin

Artie Maupin is from Southeast Missouri and has an extreme passion for anything diesel. He loves drag racing of all kinds, as well as sled pulling competitions.
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