Thanks to all for the great pictures. It was a great weekend, unfortunately the engine is toast, as Jim said. The block has a 1" diameter hole and multiple cracks in the #7 cylinder wall, the connecting rod is in 3 pieces, and the bottom of the piston has metal missing. A lot of damage happens quickly at 6500! The good news is the top end of the engine appears to be fine, so we have something to use on a new build. We were really saddened by the loss, as Jim said, this engine has powered Wully Bully since it was built 20+ years ago. A shame to lose a good block/engine, especially one this good. This combination powered me to a 10.10 2 weeks ago! The scariest part of it all came immediately after it blew (which was @ 1100'), I coasted through the traps, into the shutdown area, and stopped along the side of the shutdown area when I realized I was dropping fluid (the entire cooling system, and most of the oil went on the track). Before I could get out of the car, I heard the next pair of cars leave the line. I immediately crawled out as fast as I could, started waving my red towel I always carry in the car, and fortunately, they saw me and avoided the slop on the track. One of the cars was Shan, who stopped on the track with me to see if he could help. At that point, we heard another pair leave the line! This continues two more times, a total of 4 pairs came down before they realized I was on the track yet! At that point, one of the track people came on the 4 wheeler to see why I was still there, they never realized I blew on the track! I will post pictures of the carnage as soon as I take some.
Steven