Drag Racing is a fairly exact science especially at its top levels. If you want to go the fastest you need everything well sorted, the right amount of fuel, correct aerodynamics etc. There’s so much to think about it must be easy to overlook the more simple details. Want proof? Just ask American drag racer Parker Russ who had the scariest ride of his life recently when his steering wheel came off in his hands just after launch in his big power dragster.

Perhaps it was Russ who didn’t attach it properly after seating himself, perhaps he slept with the girlfriend of a vengeful pit crew member, who knows. But the video below shows the terror that comes with losing the only means of controlling a machine that’s on its way to a ferocious speed in a narrow drag strip.

Russ hits the wall but lives to tell the tale. However, the condition of his racing overalls may be dubious. Check out the short clip below.