Watch two minutes of NHRA dragsters exploding in slow motion

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 7:33 p.m. ET

Samuel Reiman

Four seconds may not seem like much, but when you ask a machine to haul a couple thousand pounds of metal down a straight at 300 mph after starting from a standstill ... stuff can go wrong, no matter how short the timespan.

So, put on a firesuit and make sure you have a drink nearby, because things are about to heat up as we take a look back at some of the most spectacular mishaps of the first half of the 2014 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing season. And yes ... everyone was able to walk away O.K.