At this time a week ago we were discussing the plight of carbon fiber Funny Car bodies this season after another pair of big boomers at the Chicago race, but this week, it’s the hood scoops that have had a rough go of it.

During the opening round of qualifying for the NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series on Friday at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Jim Laurita and Dan Stevenson were lined up side-by-side in their nitrous injected Camaros — one a first-gen and the other a other a fifth-gen — when both suffered backfires through the intake manifold that sent their respective hood scoops and other debris scattering all over the race track.

Laurita’s Switzer Dynamics-backed machine was the first to let go, popping at around the 330-foot mark. Then Stevenson, just before reaching the mile per hour block at the finish line, had his Reher Morrison powerplant pop the intake with authority, also sending the scoop and assorted shrapnel sailing into the air at the conclusion of his 6.15-second, 221 mile per hour run. 

For Stevenson, the destructive lap was insult to injury after a rough couple of months of racing. If you’ll recall, the Illinois native found himself slapping both walls at the Atlanta event in May, and had only just recently repainted beautiful race car. If you look closely at the video after the explosion, you can see what appears to be a splinter in the hood of the now hood scoop-less machine. 

Both drivers and their teams were able to make the needed repairs and return for the subsequent rounds of qualifying, but neither made the race day field — Laurita ending up 17th with a 6.12 and Stevenson resting on his 6.15 that was only good for 21st in the order.

Video courtesy ESPN/NHRA