Veteran NHRA Funny Car driver Gary Densham has been hurtling down drag strips for more than 30 years.
Saturday, the 69-year-old Densham had the best day of his career -- and one of the worst, at the same time.
The Southern California native was making a qualifying run during the season-opening Circle K Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, Calif.
The good news for Densham: he ran a career-best 4.050 seconds in his Dodge Charger, qualifying 11th in the 16-car field for Sunday’s eliminations.
The bad news: the parachutes on his Funny Car failed to deploy and Densham ran head-on into a catchfence at the end of Auto Club Raceway’s short runoff area. While Densham’s car was destroyed, he walked away uninjured.
And that’s the best news of all.
Check out the video and then some tweets about the incident and the day, including visits by former IndyCar champion Dario Franchitti and Tommy Lee of rock group Motley Crue:
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Scary run for Gary Densham as his chutes failed to deploy, He walked away uninjured tune in @FS1 1AM ET #NHRAonFOX pic.twitter.com/fFdsWA0Atj
— NHRA (@NHRA) February 13, 2016
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Great to have @IndyCar Champ @dariofranchitti out to experience the power of Nitro w/ @HeadRacing1 #NHRA pic.twitter.com/CZ28GbEAci
— NHRA (@NHRA) February 13, 2016
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.@MrTommyLand rocked the nitro with us today! Hangin' w/@AlexisDejoria @RonCapps28 @johnpauldejoria #NHRA pic.twitter.com/GOPBM9FBQQ
— NHRA (@NHRA) February 14, 2016
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