Minnesota Top Sportsman racer Michael Freischel had his sights set on a respectable showing at his home race, the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals, before his 2002 Pontiac Firebird took an immediate turn into the Christmas tree during the first Top Sportsman qualifying session. As shown in a video with over half a million views on NHRA’ s Facebook page, Freischel’ s DDS Racing entry took a sharp turn just fractions of a second after the release of the trans brake, sending the starting line crew into a frenzy. A replacement tree was pulled out of storage, and Top Sportsman qualifying action resumed – minus one 2002 Firebird.

PHOTOGRAPH BY ROGER RICHARDS Brainerd International Raceway | Brainerd, Minnesota | Friday, August 19, 2016

CAUGHT!

52 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated. com Issue 115