MESA, Ariz. — Tony Stewart did it the right way.
When he took a keen interest in NHRA drag racing, he was respectful of the professionals who spin their magic at it every day of the year. He stayed out of everyone’s way in the pits and at the shop but observed the myriad details intently.
When it was appropriate, he asked questions. And when each question prompted another question, he methodically sorted it all out. And when it came time to sit in the car and then to make a test pass, he had a healthy fear of the power of the race car. He took baby steps before he crawled and crawled before walked. And when he ran, he understood how to run.
Not everyone has the instincts Stewart has. They come more readily with experience. But often racers seeking crossover thrills or celebrities who are smitten by the sheer coolness, the raw power, or the dangerously risk-taking buzz of racing don’t recognize just how hard it is to master a race car.
The latest to learn his lesson the hard way is retired MMA legend Randy Couture. He had fallen in love with drag racing and struck a deal with Elite Motorsports and one of its premier sponsors, SCAG Power Equipment, to race a Pro Modified entry.
And to his credit, Couture, who likely considered himself to be combat-ready for such an undertaking, did receive some instruction at Frank Hawley’s Drag Racing School.
What he might have overlooked is the reality that a Pro Mod race car is nothing like a floor-model beauty to take out for a test drive. These little monsters have the double-whammy of being short-wheelbase surface-to-surface missiles with roguish power, making them one of the most unpredictable cars to handle. They’re ill-mannered and not polite to veteran racers, let alone newcomers.
Couture, 62, who’s used to body blows and vicious kicks, got knocked out July 8 just about 300 feet into his first Pro Mod licensing pass at the Flying H Drag Strip at Odessa, Mo.
He lost control of the car and hit the guardwall, puncturing the fuel tank and igniting a fire. With burns on his hands and smoke inhalation, Couture was airlifted to a Kansas City trauma center. He spent the night there, then flew home to Las Vegas the next afternoon.
Crew chief Jim Maroney, who most recently has been a Top Fuel racer, said Couture was conscious throughout the ordeal and that he was transported from the race track by helicopter not for the severity of his burns but rather because it was much faster than fighting rush-hour traffic by ambulance and because that was track protocol in such circumstances.
Couture hasn’t said whether he plans to continue to pursue drag racing.
Couture’s rather rude welcome to drag racing underscores the naïveté of even accomplished athletes and other gifted professionals who expect to slide into a race car of any kind without any experience and be competitive.
He isn’t the first to find out that neither money nor notoriety and neither passion nor success at previous enterprises can guarantee victories or even safety.
And likely he won’t be the last. Race cars simply are no respecters of status.
That’s not to say a celebrity, if you will, shouldn’t learn to race. It’s exciting when someone famous wants to join the racing community. It brings attention to the sport.
It just pays to start the learning slowly and gradually catch up to the car – and remember what Top Fuel legend “Big Daddy” Don Garlits declared: “There are two kinds of racers: ones who have crashed and ones who are going to crash.”
