Original subtitles

A new breed of super machine is evolving.

Bigger.

Faster.

Smarter.

Built to tackle near impossible feats.

Among them, the world's ultimate dragster.

This missile on wheels rockets to phenomenal speed.

Going 325 miles an hour, mishaps happen.

In a blast of flame and thunder, the fastest accelerating vehicle on the

attempts a record -breaking win.

That's not good.

It could end up hurting Sean very bad.

When something happens at that speed, you're just along for the ride.

Flowing this phenomenal $400 ,000 missile apart,

we'll discover its technological secret.

from a super -tough steel frame and an air -blasting supercharger that

feeds an engine with the pulling power of two freight trains to an ingenious

braking system.

We'll reveal how this extraordinary top -fuel dragster evolved to rise

above all other machines.

Pomona, California.

Home to the National Hot Rod Association Final, the supreme contest for the

fastest racing cars on the planet.

Over the next four days, 18 elite category top fuel dragsters will battle

the world championship.

The prize?

the coveted champion's trophy, and half a million dollars.

There can only be one winner.

I started when I was 12 years old racing the junior dragster category.

The biggest race of my career is this weekend.

Sean Langdon is leading the championship table.

This is my first shot at a top -field world championship.

A lot of nervous energy right now, but I'm excited for it.

To clinch the championship prize, Sean needs to keep his lead for the next four

races.

We're here.

This is it. Pomona Raceway. The big weekend.

To win, Sean has to beat this man.

His closest rival.

One of the fastest drivers on the circuit and the reigning world champion,

Antron Brown.

We just want to come out here and do what we do.

Sean's got a lot of points right now, so we're just going to make it hard on

him. We just don't want to give it to him.

I'm ready to go right now.

A couple hours, man, a couple hours.

We know it's not going to be easy.

That guy's a fighter.

We know he's going to give everything that he's got.

To beat Antron and claim the top prize, Sean needs the fastest car in the

competition.

And this is it.

The Allen Abbey Top Fuel Dragster.

A 25 -foot missile on wheels.

Multi -million dollar funding makes sure that this unique one -ton car

incorporates the ultimate technological innovation.

It has a super light carbon fiber shell to cut through the air.

Inside the nose, a tank full of powerful nitromethane fuel.

Behind the driver's seat,

An 8 ,000 horsepower engine.

Connected to tires that can run over 300 miles per hour.

These innovations make this dragster the fastest accelerating machine on land.

Well, good morning, race fans. It is race day, my absolute favorite day of

week here at the Autoflug Raceway Pomona.

We want to put a different motor in it, so we're going to take this short block

out. We're going to put a new one in.

It's two hours before Sean's first race.

In the pits, the team's mechanics start building the engine.

It's almost like synchronized swimming.

One's going in, the other's coming out, and they really work well together.

They leave the engine build as late as possible.

so it can be set up for the weather conditions at the time of the race.

They can disassemble a whole car, motor, plug, blower, everything, put it back

together, and we can fire it up in less than 40 minutes.

The engine settings are decided by the tuner.

We'll come in here three hours before we run and start monitoring our weather.

Sean's team manager, Alan Johnson, tunes the car's engine.

Well, we might have to change this to 40 and a half.

Changes in air temperature and humidity affect the engine and the performance of

the dragster.

Alan decides the car's settings just 60 minutes before the race.

We'll put the engine together, and hopefully we've made all the correct

calculations and decisions, and we'll make a great qualifying run.

20 minutes to race time.

The team tows the car out to the staging lanes.

The mechanics are anxious they've done their job correctly.

Obviously, we grew up and did something to lead to Sean getting hurt, you know?

You really put your life in their hands. They have to prepare the car properly,

and they have to put the pieces together properly every single time because one

little mistake.

It can mean everything.

Drag racing is a dangerous pursuit.

Crashes happen every season.

Last time Sean raced here, his rival, Antron Brown, had a narrow escape.

At 300 miles per hour, his engine exploded.

Going 330 miles an hour, when something happens at that speed, there's nothing

you can do as a driver. You're just along for the ride.

Fifteen minutes before the race, Sean makes his final preparations.

I'll have my 20 -layer driving suit, my helmet. Obviously, we have protective

gloves. We have protective shoes.

Hans' device keeps his neck, the head and neck.

Keep this from rolling around.

We'll get him out, kiddo.

Once we get in the car, I'm just in there kind of mentally envisioning the

In the first race, Sean is seated to run head -to -head against his closest

rival, Antron Brown, in the Matco car.

If Sean can hold on to his points lead for the next four races, he will become

the top fuel world champion.

Sean's mother, Debbie, has come to watch him race.

I do get nervous sometimes, but he's doing what he loves and he gets to enjoy

it.

There will be four races over the next three days.

Race one.

Sean is in the near lane, Antron in the far lane. If Antron Brown can pick up

points here, he can put himself back in the thick of this championship battle.

When he heads down the track, Sean depends on a critical safety device.

Under the dragster's skin, there's a safety cage that wraps around the

It's built on ancient technology, designed to climb high.

When Chinese builders wanted to construct tall towers, they used

made of bamboo.

Bamboo's tubular shape gives it immense strength.

It's three times stronger than wood. It's also hollow, making it light.

This helped the Chinese to reach for the sky.

Inspired by this idea, Sean's dragster has 180 feet of aircraft -grade steel

cubits welded into his body to make it ultra -thick.

It's lighter than a family car, but in a 300 -mile -per -hour impact, helps

protect the driver.

giving Sean the confidence to go like the bat out of hell.

Except right now. Let's see how it plays out.

It's the National Hot Rod Association Finals, the world championship of drag

racing.

Sean Langdon in his super -fast top -fuel dragster is leading the

But to beat the reigning champion, Antron Brown, Sean must hold on to his

for the next three races.

Race one.

Sean is in the near lane.

And the lead extends by one point.

Yes! That went awesome. Number one.

Awesome. We've got a car coming in, guys.

Sean beats Antron by a hundredth of a second.

He's run the fastest time of the day and reached a top speed of 322 miles per

hour. Floor is ready.

Sean gives it full marks.

That was definitely an A -plus for the whole team.

377 at 322 miles an hour.

For Sean and his team, it's a promising start to the competition.

Day two, 9 a .m.

Sean is anxious about today's race.

You just never know what's going to happen in the sport of drag racing.

Anything can happen at any given time.

I know how Antron is, and there's something about certain competitors that

of go into Superman mode.

We know that he's got the capability for doing that.

Sean has every reason to worry.

After yesterday's run, Antron knows his dragster can go faster.

It was a really good start for race weekend.

We're pushing trying to go home with the number one spot.

Our car was a little soft on the start line, but it ran exceptionally well

everywhere else.

When Antron's car hit the finish line, it was actually traveling faster than

Sean.

Going into today, we're just going to push a little harder to get our car to

better early, go a little bit quicker, which we're shooting for.

To keep Sean ahead of Antron in the competition, Alan must improve on

yesterday's run.

A key decision is to select the right size of tire for the conditions on the

track.

Our race car tires develop a tremendous amount of traction, but that traction is

based on a rubber -to -rubber interaction.

The tires rub against a layer of rubber laid down on the track.

To choose tires for today's run, Alan relies on information collected during

first race.

During a run, a network of sensors charts the dragster's vital signs.

From magnetic sensors detecting wheel speed to thermocouples measuring the

temperature of the engine exhaust.

The sensors measure everything from fuel flow to air pressure.

This way, Alan can tune this machine to perfection.

We measure the temperature of the tires with infrared sensors so we can see when

the tires get hot.

If the tires get too hot, they will slip on the track and smoke.

If he smokes the tires, Sean will lose the race.

275, 280.

That's the threshold. There's no turning back after that. We've lost the run.

Knowing how hot the tires got

yesterday helps Alan choose the set for today.

10 degrees warmer.

On a hot track, large diameter tires work best.

They give more grip.

You know what? Put a 3 -H on there.

Bigger tires are the way to go, yeah.

Yeah, that's fine.

Just make an entire change to compensate for the track temperature.

The tires that we ended up putting on it are about a quarter inch larger than

the tires that we had on it previously.

It's a small change, but if it prevents the tire from smoking, it will be

critical.

3 .30 p .m. Engine rebuilt.

Tires ready to roll.

Antron's team heads to the start line.

Moments later, Sean's dragster rolls out of the pit.

Hop in and we'll go.

Once again, the two teams are racing head -to -head.

We're going to get a run against Antron again.

That's pretty cool.

It's a nervous time for Sean's mom.

And Antron Brown, mathematically, he could catch Sean Lanker.

Before the race, Sean must prepare the tires by completing a short run, known

the burnout.

We have a specific time that we like to do the burnout.

So I'll basically try to keep that consistent, same length burnout every

time.

The burnout removes dust and debris from the surface of the tires, increasing

their grip.

As soon as I feel the tire start to hook, I'll push the clutch pedal in, and

it'll come to a stop.

The tires are now hotter and ready to stick to the track.

But when Sean hits the throttle, the tires must also stay on the rims.

Traveling at top speed, the wheels will spin 45 times a second, creating more g

-force than a rocket on takeoff.

To stop the tires from ripping away, the dragster's design takes inspiration

from an old bicycle.

Early bike tires were fastened with strips of canvas.

A real pain to replace.

That's until a British engineer invented the clincher tire.

He folded beads of steel into the rubber, so the air pressure hooked them

tightly onto the rim.

The dragster supersizes the bicycle's tire beading.

470 feet of high -strength steel wire.

wraps into a 50 -pound tire.

Plates clamp the steel bead onto the rim to hold the

tires on the wheel, even at full throttle.

Sean must put his trust in this technology as he launches off the line.

Sean Langdon is close to winning the top fuel final, Drag Racing's World

Championship.

Race two, Sean lines up against the man he needs to beat, Antron Brown.

Sean is in the far lane.

In a flash, Sean is traveling over 300 miles per hour.

At this speed, in five seconds, he will hit the end of his track.

To slow down the dragster, it has an ingenious braking system.

It evolved 20 million years ago.

The flying squirrel has a built -in air brake.

When it leaps from a tree, it spreads its limbs to deploy a thin membrane.

This slows down the fall.

so it can land without breaking its bone.

Like the flying squirrel, the dragster has an advanced air brake.

20 pounds of nylon are primed to explode into two 75 -square -foot

parachutes.

Each parachute is crammed into a spade the size of a football.

Waiting for the moment, Sean reaches the finish line.

He's doing his job. The team's doing their job.

It's all right on track. It's going to happen.

Sean wins the race in the fastest time of the day.

The last run was a great run for the Allen Hobby team. We went 375 .0 at 327

miles an hour. He kept us in the number one qualifying position.

Antron is second again, but still has a chance of holding on to his title.

We attack the track.

And we grow from each run. That's our main focus that we do every run. We go

after it every time.

We're a hard team to beat.

Sean's team manager, Alan, is delighted with the results.

I give it a straight A. Today was a good run.

As soon as Sean's car arrives back in the pit, the mechanics start stripping

down the engine, looking for signs of damage.

Good.

The mechanics are doing well. Everything so far, no issues.

The engine looks really well. We're not beating it up.

The only problem is that Sean's tires are gripping the track too well.

The racetrack's so good, it's pulling chunks out of the tire.

That's not good.

You don't want to run that.

You could end up blowing a tire and hurting Sean very bad.

It's junk, man. No good.

Unlike the tires, Sean reuses his parachute.

Race after race.

When it kind of settles down a little bit, I will come in there and then I'll

start packing the parachutes.

You know, their kind of joke is, hey, we don't want to touch that. That's a

driver thing. Nobody else wants a responsibility if it doesn't come out.

You have to make sure the parachutes come out.

The parachutes are Sean's main braking system.

But if they fail, he has a backup, high -tech disc brake.

Four high -friction carbon fiber pads clamp onto two carbon discs

with more pressure than a biting tiger.

Within seconds, the brakes are as hot as a volcano, but bring

Sean to a stop safely.

It's been a successful day.

But as Sean's team packs up for the night, they know that tomorrow is make

break.

Yesterday, Sean made the best run and extended his lead.

Antron needs to cut into it right here.

Day three of the finals.

Today's two races will be the most important of Sean's life.

If he can hold on to his lead until the end of the day, he will win the

championship trophy and half a million dollars.

Today's a big day for the Allen Aubrey team because we should be able to clinch

the championship.

So it would be my first title in the top field category.

I'm very excited, but I'm trying not to think about it too much. A lot of

nervous energy, but I'm ready to get out on the racetrack.

60 minutes to race time.

All right.

Alan needs to decide what settings to run with on the car.

Both runs we've made so far this weekend, the track was 93 degrees.

Today, it's probably going to be more like 100 or 103 degrees, so it'll be 10

degrees hotter.

The hot track makes it more likely the car's wheels will slip, smoking the

But Alan is determined to push it as fast as before.

There's been more cars that have run down the racetrack. It has, you know, a

better coating of rubber on it. So I suspect even though it's a little

we should be able to run close to what we ran yesterday afternoon.

Alan sets the car up to push to the limit.

It's a critical decision.

If he's wrong, it could cost Sean the championship.

12 .30 p .m. With two races this afternoon, Sean Langdon is within sight

beating reigning champion Antron Brown.

One hour until the next race.

Sean's crew fuels up.

The nitromethane, when you smell it, it'll make you cry. I don't know what it

about it.

Nitromethane's not like your average gasoline.

It's pretty both.

An engine running on nitromethane produces over twice the power of one

on gasoline.

But the car still needs a lot of it to travel 1 ,000 feet.

One run, like, uh...

13 gallons, probably average.

The problems with nitromethane don't stop there. The power it produces

with the weather.

Nitromethane is extremely sensitive to humidity. So the water that's

in the air affects our tuna.

has set the car up for the humidity he predicts will be in the air at the time

of the race.

He must hope the weather doesn't change.

Once again, Sean is racing against Antron Brown.

But as the two teams line up in the staging lanes, there's a delay.

A dragster has spilled oil on the track.

While the race crew cleans it up, time takes by.

The air grows more humid, playing havoc with Alan's engine setting.

Twenty minutes later than scheduled, Sean and Antron reach the start line.

Race three.

Sean is in the near lane.

It's all on the line here. Let's see how it plays out.

To give the engine maximum power in the humid air, the dragster has a mighty

supercharger, an engine booster with roots in the Industrial Revolution.

In the mid -19th century, iron production is slow.

Traditional bellows can't supply enough air to melt large quantities of iron

ore.

So two American brothers invent a unique air pump.

Two three -foot -tall rotors trap masses of air and blast it into the furnace.

This pushes up the heat to produce iron on an industrial scale.

The dragster ramps up this air pump.

The two rotors in the supercharger spin at 12 ,000 RPM.

pushing over 400 gallons of air into the engine every second.

They boost the dragster's top speed to more than 300 miles per hour.

Sean and Antron line up.

In drag racing, it only takes four seconds for the tables to turn.

Just smokes the tires and Antron is going to chip away at that point lead.

This championship is not over yet.

Just when the championship was within reach, Sean has lost a vital race.

Just smoked the tires.

Probably about 500 feet or so smoked the tires. But we'll be able to get it

fixed for the next run.

Halfway down the track.

Sean spun the tires in a puff of smoke.

The car needed better grip, but the invention that should have provided it

didn't perform as well as they hoped.

To help the dragster grip, a precision -engineered wing supported

by a high -strength frame creates 5 ,400 pounds of downforce.

It pushes the wheels firmly onto the track.

The wings are a very, very important part of the car.

Running these speeds, you have to have that much downforce, otherwise you would

not be able to keep the car on the ground.

The crew can change the angle of the wing to create more or less downforce.

On the last run, they got the settings fractionally wrong.

It's a fine line between wheel spin and a win.

When it smokes the tires down the track, you don't want to stay in it because

you'll over -rev the motor and you'll blow the motor up. So at that point, I

lifted to save the parts, didn't want to blow anything up, give the guys more

work to do.

In the opposition pits, Antron Brown's team is delighted with their win.

Feels like a pretty good run.

Hopefully we can build on that for the run this evening. Hopefully it'll be a

little better conditions. Maybe we can take that number one spot.

This is definitely my passion of what I enjoy doing.

You put your heart and soul in it. And no matter how hard the times get, it

makes it that much easier to get through the hard times when you have a group

like we have.

And that's what it takes. You have to have a unique group of individuals to

what we have here special.

Antron could yet snatch victory.

For Sean's team, there's little time for a post -mortem. The next race is just

90 minutes away.

It's coming down to this last race of the day, and we stay number one.

We'll have the championship.

Shawn Langdon is now just one race away from winning the Top Fuel Drag Racing

World Championship.

Shawn's crew swings into action to rebuild the car for the final race of

day.

The dragster's 500 cubic inch V8 engine is at the heart of the team's success.

But getting the pulling power of two freight trains out of a block of metal

small isn't easy.

The job of creating this top fuel engine started long before the race season

began.

190 miles away in Santa Maria, California.

To ensure he has the best motor, Alan builds the engine components himself in

his factory.

To be successful in top fuel racing, your car has to perform absolutely at

utmost level. We're fighting for thousands of seconds on the racetrack,

has to start here on the ground floor as we start to produce parts.

The engine starts as a 350 -pound lump of forged aluminum alloy,

which is machined to make the engine block.

We generally machine everything to plus or minus five -tenths of a thousand,

which on this big of a part is very, very tight.

And it's really not that easy to do.

It takes 11 hours to produce the finished block.

At this stage, they're about 130 pounds.

I wouldn't want to lift that by myself.

It can take over 170 runs to win a championship.

So Alan needs to make a lot of engines.

We ask these engine blocks to do a tremendous amount of work. We're

over 8 ,000 horsepower.

And for an engine block of that size to be able to handle that kind of

horsepower, its longevity is in question.

And so what we try to do is we try to build a product here that will last, you

know, a minimum of eight runs.

Usually an inventory of about 18 blocks, and we manage to rotate those

throughout the year.

It's this precision engineering that gives Sean one of the best engines in

business.

At the Pomona racetrack, the mechanics finish rebuilding the engine.

It's almost kind of sad. This could be the last race of the season because the

car is running so well.

You're putting the tune -up in it, and it's just making good, clean runs on the

track, not hurting any parts.

Everything is really coming together. It's good.

There's just 50 minutes to the last critical race.

Before they head to the start, Sean's crew must check that all 500 components

the newly built engine work. This is what we call a starter dog.

We'll have a C12 racing gasoline just to kind of get it going on.

We'll just pull this trigger.

Once that starts turning and fuel starts coming into the engine, then it starts

the combustion of everything, and that's how you start the car.

Sean will test the engine by ramping up the ignition,

spinning magnets.

generate up to 50 ,000 volts, firing it into the cylinder spark plugs 50

,000 times per second.

This lights the dragster's nitromethane fuel and hopefully

powers it to victory.

The fumes are pretty bad.

If you didn't have one of these guys, you probably wouldn't be able to stand

around very long.

Just make it where we can be comfortable while we're checking everything on the

race car.

Going to warm it up real quick, make sure everything's good.

Before every run, John test fires the engine.

He will push the revs to full throttle to check the supercharger, engine, and

transmission. All run perfectly.

It's a little intimidating at times.

Sometimes it can be an uneasy feeling, but that's why you hire the best guys.

The engine is so loud, it's been measured at over three on the Richter

8 ,000 horsepower inside those motors, the feeling that you get in your body,

takes your breath away.

This noise is part of the attraction for racing fans.

Earplugs are essential.

Engine tested, Sean's team heads to the start.

In the rival pits, Antron's mechanics roll out their car.

This is the big one. The next race could decide who.

will be world champion.

4 .10.

30 minutes to the race that could win Sean the championship.

Excited, nervous.

Every run's important, but with the opportunity today, it's nerve -wracking.

Didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night.

Antron Brown, the reigning world champion, appears cool and confident.

Sean Langdon, within sight of his first championship, is raring to go.

Just trying to get down the track.

Hopefully we can get the championship clinched on the next round.

Both crews have adjusted the tires, the engine power, and the wing angle.

But one mission -critical component will make all the difference on this final

run. When it comes to winning races in Top Fuel, probably the most important

part is the clutch.

The clutch is Alan's secret weapon.

The more you know about the clutch and how it works, the better off you're

to be in the long run. So we focused predominantly most of our energy on the

clutch.

The dragster has no gear, so it uses its clutch to accelerate.

It connects the engine to the wheels and increases speed by using a

trick from an ancient war machine.

The Chinese rapid fire siege catapult.

A huge wheel spins bags of rocks at high speed.

A blade releases the missiles and hurls them towards the enemy, smashing their

defenses.

The dragster's spinning clutch also uses its rotation to throw out six levers.

These push against metal plates that lock together to

transmit the revs of the engine.

A plunger slides back to release 12 more levers, locking the clutch into full

throttle, pushing the dragster to a top speed that in the next four -second race

could decide the championship.

Race four. This is the critical race.

For Sean, it's his first chance to win the world championship.

For Antron to stay in the game, he needs to clinch this run.

Antron is in the near lane.

Sean on the far side.

They're staged up and ready. Is this the championship moment?

Yes,

it is.

Smoke the tires, and it is over.

Polo Navi wins championship number three, and Shawn Langdon wins his first

Top Fuel.

Shawn Langdon, ladies and gentlemen, your

2013 Top Fuel World Champion.

Shawn has won.

He can hardly believe it.

It's a great feeling, you know, something that I dreamed of as a kid.

There isn't a single word in the dictionary that can describe that

The greatest feeling in the world.

Incredible, incredible.

We're so happy.

We're very, very proud of him. He just got so well.

The action replay shows Antron in the near lane, smoked his tires just 150

down the track.

When he smoked the tires, you know, that's when I knew we had won.

Alan Johnson may be the best ever to shoot one of these cars.

Alan's skill and experience have paid off.

Race fans, let's hear it for your world champion, Sean Langdon.

Now the real film begins.

Drag racing is a tremendous amount of work.

And I obviously love it. And when you love something the way all the people on

this team do, that's when you really get good at it.

The Allen Abbey Dragster, a 25 -foot -long rocket on wheels,

is American engineering at its boldest and loudest.

The cars have done a great job.

This is by far the best car that we've ever had.

It's not a middle -of -the -pack car. It's a championship -caliber car.

The Allen Abbey Dragster is an extraordinary feat of engineering.

It's all thanks to high -speed tires that give phenomenal grip.

Spring -loaded parachutes that act as brakes.

An ingenious clutch that ramps up the speed.

A twin rotor supercharger that pumps up the power. And a tubular frame that

protects the driver.

It's these technological secrets that have helped this dragster evolve to rise

above all other machines.