That fateful day in 2013

As this video has got a lot of views lately, and plenty of wacky and harebrained comments as to what people think happened (countless “bro pressed triangle on GTA“) I’ll add an explanation of what actually happened. Hope this helps folks. Firstly, about the title. For the 100th time, “fateful“ is not the same as “fatal“ or “fetal“ or “fatel“ that somebody queried last week, whatever that is. No he didn’t die. Sheesh - so many people skipped English class. Secondly, to those people who demand an explanation and then whinge that it’s too detailed and they can’t be bothered “TL:DR“... make up your mind. Some people are just born to complain. OK, so if you’re still with us - thank you - here’s what actually happened. This was June 2013, at Sydney Dragway. Top Fuel Bike round 3. The Nitro Voodoo bike is hardly a motorcyle at all, weighing over 500kg, with it’s long wheelbase and 17“ rear tyre. It’s a supercharged 1.5 litre motor, which sounds small capacity but on Nitro is makes around 1200-1500 deafening horsepower at about 50 pounds boost. Which is a lot. The rider is team owner and National champion Chris Matheson. So you can relate to the massive acceleration of this thing, it gets to 100mph within about 60 feet of the start, in around 1 second. The acceleration is stronger than astronauts experience at lift off. Back then in Chris’ capable hands the bike has already done half track (1/8 mile) in 3.8 secs at 205mph and 1/4 mile in 6.0 seconds at over 230mph. You will also notice that the bike carries the front wheel in the air for until almost 3/4 track. So the bike actually does zero to 200mph on just one wheel - for almost 1000 feet - with no steering available from the handlebars. Basically it goes wherever it wants to. Hopefully straight, but it rarely does. Right at the finish line of the 1/4 mile at Sydney Dragway there used to be a gentle rise and fall in the track. You’d hardly notice it, but at 350 km/h it is actually becomes a bit of a bump. Now Chris Matheson in 2013 was already one of the most successful and experienced Top Fuel bike racers around, having already won many national titles. So he knew what he was doing. On this particular pass, just as he lifted is two little fingers on his left hand to grab the brake lever this bump lifted his hand just a tiny amount. (It’s not like a normal bike layout, the brake is where the clutch normally is) and the wind got under these fingers. At that stage there was a fairing in front of the helmet and torso but no fairing in front of the hands. Now a 350km/h (230mph) wind has more than 10 times the force of a 100km/h wind, and even a strong person simply isn’t strong enough to get their hand back on the handlebar once the wind has blown it off. Hence the rotation and tumble. This was NOT a conscious decision to get off. He was NOT celebrating a victory. He just caught a little too much air under the palm of his hand and that was that! The last thing he wanted to do was get off. Chris’ left foot was badly broken and he had a number of quite severe burns wherever his triple-layer super heavy leathers touched the ground, as you can see by the puffs of smoke. Shoulders, elbows, hips, back. He always wears extremely high quality, super thick leathers. Chris was taken to hospital, not for the first time and not for the last. As you may know, Chris continued with the sport and although he came 2nd in 2013 he kept winning national titles in Top Bike - 8 in total by 2022. He holds the track record at every major drag racing facility in Australia, and also the national record with a second pass, set at Sydney in 2023. In his career so far he has run literally dozens of 6.0 passes at 220 mph speeds. The bike continued dead straight another 800 metres - right through the braking area, across the gravel trap, cut through the crash netting like a knife through butter, and hit the solid concrete wall at the end still doing almost 200 mph. The long forks of course took the impact, somesaulting the bike into the air with it landing on the embankment close to where the cameraman was shooting this long shot. Be aware that this head-on shot is from a camera more than 1/2 mile away from the finish line. Amazingly a lot of the bike was salvageable, including most of the motor and supercharger. Just the front end collapsing acted like a spring. Well, later that day from his hospital bed Chris, always the optimist, was asking the crew to prepare the spare bike (the “Jackhammer“, a Harley-based bike) for the next round. (That didn’t happen - one might suggest he was a bit zonked with pain killers at the time - but it shows the tough cookie you’re dealing with here). I was right there - I am briefly visible in this video - in an orange vest, beside the track just before the finish line. #topfuel #nitrobike #nitro #topfueldragster #nitrovoodoo #dragracing #nitrodrags #quartermile #nitromethane #dragonboard #winternationals #sydneydragway #nitrofail