Even the first day that I went to do it myself, it was terrifying. I mean, if I hadn't been around it all summer last year and then went to Hawley's. So it’s completely understandable that Stewart said, “Oh, it was for me too. Observant racers would say it’s terrifiying. Danny Ongais and the late John Andretti were the only multi-motorsport drivers who had any measure of success in the NHRA. The only way I can describe it was I just felt totally violated." Ind圜ar racer Ryan Briscoe said, "To me, it looks like they're just wrapping their legs around a bomb, basically.” Don “The Snake” Prudhomme’s pal Marco Andretti, who won a race this summer in Stewart’s short-track, all-star SRX series, said “no way” to trying a Top Fuel dragster. I can’t imagine what it’s like sitting inside. It’s utterly terrifying, and I have no desire to do it again. They had me stand in the middle of the lanes when they launched." And, he said, "I never felt so violated in my life. He told Competition Plus, “They brought me out to a drag race. Drag racing is thrilling, for sure, but it also is extreme, expensive, and hazardous.įormer Ind圜ar Series driver Townsend Bell is a friend of drag-racing brothers Ron and Jon Capps. Drag racers compute their fuel in gallons per mile, not miles per gallon – and Top Fuel dragsters and Funny Cars consume nearly five gallons of fuel on a pass, which equates to almost 20 gallons per mile, again, not miles per gallon. Just one – just one – of the eight cylinders of a Top Fuel dragster or Funny Car produces 1250 horsepower, the entire output of a NASCAR engine. They run on nitromethane, which is an unholy chemical reaction between nitric acid and propane. They blast from zero to nearly 340 mph in less than four seconds. But Stewart isn’t the only accomplished open-wheel or circle-track driver to voice trepidation about getting in a Top Fuel dragster or Funny Car. After all, he was cut from the same cloth as his racing hero, A.J. You never know,” Stewart said with a chuckle. So if I don't show my worthiness, she might go to the stronger male in the pack here. “I guess to a certain degree, I had to grow a set of balls because I'm going to marry this girl and she runs a lot faster than I do. Receiving instruction from Hawley, the NHRA’s back-to-back Funny Car champion in 1982-83, simply was imperative if he intended to learn anything in-depth about this new world of quick, fast, gut-churning, ear-splitting, smoky-smazy, eye-watering, nitromethane-burning auto racing that has captured the fancy for 25 years of his fiancée, Top Fuel title contender Leah Pritchett. Stewart even referred to himself in his drag-racing process as “a professional race car driver with no goal in mind.” ![]() But the truth is that’s not likely to happen, at least not anytime soon. So the drag-racing world has been abuzz with the delirious vision of this motorsports megastar rocketing the sport back into the popularity stratosphere because he has methodically learned to drive Super Comp, Top Alcohol, and Top Fuel dragsters. I mean, I wouldn't have done this if I hadn't gone to Frank Hawley's twice.” Yeah, let's get it lined up sometime.’ And thank God we never got it arranged and organized, because that would have been the dumbest thing I ever did. ![]() Stewart said, “I thought, ‘Man, that'd be great. In the course of the conversation, multi-car NHRA team owner Don Schumacher said, "Hey, we'll get you in a car and get you over 300 miles an hour." Tony Stewart was adding to his motorsports empire in 2009, starting Stewart-Haas Racing, when he had the chance to visit with another giant in the business sector of the industry.
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