Tony Stewart Confirms Comeback After NHRA Crash – Here's When He'll Race Again

Tony Stewart, a big name in many fields of motorsports including NASCAR and the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Top Fuel, was involved in a crash during an NHRA event on Sunday where he and fellow competitor Doug Kalitta collided at speeds of over 300 miles per hour. Both drivers, fortunately, walked away from the crash with only minor injuries. Stewart did, however, lose consciousness during the crash and reportedly does not have any recollection of what happened leading up to the accident or shortly after.

Despite what was surely a rattling event, Stewart hasn't seemed to be too shaken up about the ordeal. He still plans to be back in the cockpit for the NHRA 4-Wide Carolina Nationals event in Concord, North Carolina this weekend. The NHRA's site lists Stewart as number 14 in the Top Fuel Dragster event, and he is scheduled to be driving the Direct Connection/Dodge car. Alitta, the other driver and an NHRA champion in his own right, will also be competing with the number 2 Mac Tools/Toyota car.

The Top Fuel competitions in which Tony Stewart and Doug Alitta compete uses extremely specialized cars. The dragsters are touted by the NHRA to be "among the fastest-accelerating machines in the world." While the manufacturers of the engines differ for each team, specs for the race series all have a displacement of 500 cubic inches. The top speed of these vehicles is rated at around 330 miles per hour. Thanks to the fact that drag racers use nitromethane as fuel, these fuel dragster engines can make upwards of 11,000 horsepower. For comparison, that's close to 14 times more powerful than a Dodge Challenger Hellcat Redeye 6.2L supercharged HEMI engine. 

Considering how much power these vehicles can produce, safety is also taken extremely seriously. Although dragsters are very light at 2,330 pounds, they are made with a combination of chromoly steel and carbon fiber to keep the driver safe in case anything goes wrong. Additionally, the length of the vehicle at 25 feet gives the dragster a good crumple zone. In short, solid engineering and sharp skills behind the wheel kept Stewart and Alitta alive and ready to race again.