Epic Staging Battle Ends with Instant Karma at Lights Out 8

Burndowns are one of the most exciting aspects of drag racing. With each driver locked into the pre-stage bulb but refusing to be the first to stage, a good burndown can run anywhere from 30 seconds to several minutes, and more often than not, the driver who caves and stages first finds himself on the losing end.

At Lights Out 8, Scott Coxwell bumped into the pre-stage beam in his nitrous-injected Camaro while Josh Klugger did the same in his Fiscus-Klugger Racing twin-turbocharged Mustang. And then… they waited.

And they waited.

And they waited some more.

Finally, Coxwell moved to stage his car, with the engine temp likely climbing into the uncomfortable range, and the unthinkable happened: the cars massive nitrous powerplant fell silent. As Coxwell say helpless, Klugger revved his boosted hotrod and bumped in, running an on-and-off the throttle 4.55 to take the win. I can only speculate that the lengthy idle time caused some type of fuel delivery issue with the Camaro in the near lane, leaving him to sit and watch as Klugger faded into the distance.