One should note here that an engine explosion in Top Fuel racing is not an unusual occurrence. Further, one could even go so far as to say in nitromethane racing, it's a fact of life that nitro motors sometimes blow.

To quote Joey Sternotti, a veteran Top Fuel Harley racer, "If you're not ready to blow the heads off a Top Fuel bike, don't start it. Don't even take the bike out of the trailer. This is nitro racing; you're going to have things break and blow up, it's part of nitro racing."

So to encapsulate things here, it's not unusual for Top Fuel bike motors to blow up badly; it's a usual happenstance really. But what happened after the motor blew was indeed unusual.