Engine Covered in Fuel Causes Mustang to Light Up in Flames!

Generally speaking, when you see a car launch at the drag strip and almost immediately erupt into flames, it’s a really bad sign. However, this is one exception to the rule, despite being just as spectacular as any actual engine explosion we’ve ever seen. When Jason Wells’ fox body Mustang launched hard off the Orlando Speed World starting line, it looked like he was on a great run against “Granny”, a patina-wrapped four door family hauler.

However, about a second or so into the run, a massive fireball from Jason’s Mustang lit up the nighttime sky at the first annual Come Lay-N-Play in Florida event. Conventional wisdom would have you thinking the engine had grenaded, but that wasn’t what caused the flames at all. Instead, it turns out the cap on the fuel cell, which resides out in front of the engine, had come loose, dousing the hot engine in gasoline and causing the blinding fireball. Jason promptly brought the car to a halt on the track, jumped out and killed the power to the car. This is an excellent instinctive move on Jason’s part because in many cases, fires like this are caused by a leaking or broken fuel line that will continue to spray fuel into the engine bay until the power is cut.

There was no significant damage to the car and the driver was obviously uninjured, so this ended as well as it possibly could have given the size and intensity of the wall of flames that came pouring out from under the hood of Wells’ hotrod. To give you a glimpse of just how ruthless these grudge racers can be, Granny’s driver, who had to have seen the fireball considering it lit up the side of his car around 60′, finished his run by “hossin the gas”, patting the gas to make sure the world knows he got the win. These guys have zero chill!