The NHRA Midwest Nationals at Worldwide Technology Raceway, just across the river from downtown St. Louis., Missouri, seems to deliver highlight reel moments season after season, from Pro Stock and Pro Modified crashes (like this one, or this one, in recent memory), to Leah Pruett’s wild Top Fuel chassis failure. And the 2022 edition, well…it was no exception, although things didn’t get wild until raceday.
In the opening round of Pro Modified, veteran Khalid alBalooshi was paired with Mike Castellana in a matchup of roots-blown Camaros. alBalooshi got out of the gate first by a slim .001 seconds, but Castellana and his Frank Manzo-tuned entry were out of the race early, unbeknownst to alBalooshi, who kept with the run despite drifting dangerously out of the groove. Near the stripe, alBalooshi tried to collect the car back up, but his valiant efforts proved unfruitful, as his Bahrain 1-backed machine hooked left and turned hard into the wall in the shutdown area. alBalooshi, who won the round with a 5.90 at a slowing 213 mph, climbed from the car uninjured.
Later, Australian drag racing standout turned NHRA Competition Eliminator racer Jason Grima lost control of his 2007 Ford Mustang B/Altered on a semifinal competition bye, in the very same lane as alBalooshi, and shot across the racetrack, striking the wall nose-first. The car then flipped onto its roof and slid to a stop, the engine compartment ablaze. Grima was, likewise, unhurt, climbing from the wreckage under his own power.
Earlier in the day, Clay Millican and a resurgent Antron Brown locked horns in the most exciting drag race of the weekend in the opening round of Top Fuel. While no cars were harmed in this one (save perhaps for a couple of cooked sets of big Goodyear Eagles), Millican came from way behind to chase down an idling Brown in a wild affair, 5.82 at 200 mph to 6.51 at 89 mph.
