Tim Wilkerson had an engine explosion in his LRS-backed Mustang at around 600-700 feet that shredded the carbon fiber body and reportedly sent some of the pieces into the grandstands. (Michael Fischbeck photo)

NHRA pros at Atlanta

Was this all really necessary?

Words by Kay Burk
Photos by Michael Fischbeck, Ron Lewis and Wayne Ulmer

Record breaking speeds and ETs, combined with crashes, fires and car body blow-offs, marked a truly incredible weekend at Atlanta for the teams at the NHRA Southern Nationals. There were only 16 cars each in the Pro Stock and Top Fuel classes and 17 in the Funny Car ranks to start the event.

Friday, May 16

Just as Antron Brown was entering the speed trap on a 3.788/318.69-mph lap, his engine exploded sending shrapnel into a rear tire causing an immediate left turn into the guard wall, then shooting across track into the other wall, eventually grinding to a stop.   

The 2012 Top Fuel world champion, under the protection of the Don Schumacher Racing-designed enclosed driver cell/cockpit canopy, got out of the smoldering still burning wreck under his own power and within a few minutes addressed the crowd at Atlanta Dragway.

"We don't know what happened. The most important thing is the good Lord kept us safe and everything worked on that car like it was supposed to," said Antron. "We'll be alright. It was running fine until I shut it off. We just have to see what happened and get to the bottom of it. I want to thank all of the fans for supporting us. We're alright, it's OK.

"Kudos to all the boys at the shop for the way they built this car," he said, "and the canopy worked good."

Brown's dragster was destroyed, so crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald with team manager Brad Mason led the team in vigilantly working on their back-up car.

Wilkerson, who has a reputation for not exploding his engines and always finishing, was able to repair the supercharger damage and put in his spare body and return to qualifying on Saturday. In a TV interview on ESPN Wilkerson explained that all the teams were having problems, which they thought might be a result of the intake manifolds needing to be improved and made stronger.