**Correction, Eric Medlen was killed due to a tire shake, not a tire faliure in his crash at Gainseville. Sorry for the misinformation. Still learning more about this sport as I go.

Also John Forces crash was at Dallas, not Houston.

As time went on into the 1990s and into the early 2000s, the speeds became quicker. A car making a pass in 5.9 seconds would be seen as an astonishing feat of speed and talent in 1979. In 1999, that wouldn’t qualify you for the event all together. The cars were becoming quicker, the tuning and engineering of the cars improved, and the limits of these cars were found to obtain the fastest times possible. Because of these astonishing feats of speed and engineering, the danger aspect of these races became more and more of a concern. As the clock turned over into the new millennium, the viciousness of the wrecks continued to increase. And on June 21, 2008 in Englishtown, New Jersey. It reached a point where it couldn't be ignored.

Special thanks to the r/NHRA community with helping me understand more about this wreck and supporting my work!

Articles Used:
Why an NHRA Drag Strip is 1,000 Feet: https://www.autoweek.com/racing/nhra/...

NHRA Indeed Mulling Return To 1/4Mile Nitro Racing: https://www.dragzine.com/news/nhrain...

NHRA reduces distance of Top, Fuel, Funny Car races to 1,000 feet: https://www.espn.com/racing/racing/nh...

NHRA debate rages on 1,000 vs. traditional 1,320 feet: https://www.dailynews.com/2013/11/09/...

NHRA: Blaine Johnson’s racing death 20 years ago still haunts, inspires brother Alan Johnson: https://motorsports.nbcsports.com/201...

Darrell Russell Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darrell...)

Eric Medlen Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Me...

Scott Kalitta: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_K...

Video Credits:
NHRA, ESPN, Fox Sports, Goodyear,
loudpedal, BigBee TV, Jonathan Harder,
Eastern Explorer, Rookie Raceway, Dave W,
TBK.FAMEFLAME.DK.5, Attack, FatalMotorsportChannel,
JayJayLetho3, Pulling Reference Rewind,
jpyt845, nhra1784, JoeyHaasTF.

Photo Credits:
NHRA, MotorTrend
Wikipedia, John Force Racing
Racer Magazine, Seth Owen (sdowen)
New Jersey State Police

Music Credit:
Lisenced through epidemic sound.
Apparent Solution Brendon Moeller
Bahamas Brendon Moeller
Fun While It Lasted Emil Axelsson