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Watch these videos of an NHRA racer's bodywork blowing off into a crowd

Just a few months ago, fan safety at racetracks was a hot topic following the last-lap NASCAR Nationwide Series crash at Daytona that sent large pieces of racecars into the grandstands injuring 33 fans. Now, a freak incident at a National Hot Rod Association event resulted in a drag racer's bodywork flying into the crowd at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in Charlotte over the weekend. The carbon-fiber body of Robert Hight's Ford Mustang funny car blew off toward the end of a run when his engine exploded, but fortunately, the two fans evaluated after the incident were later released without serious injury.
As you can see in the image above, the body flew high into the air before landing on a walkway in front of the grandstands, a bit of happenstance that likely gave most fans enough time and space to move out of the way. Scroll down to watch a couple of videos showing what happened, including one from a fan's perspective that also reveals what appears to be part of the body's metal bracing landing dangerously close to the crowd.

Ford ready to install GE Wattstations at 60 locations in North America

Upper-level Ford executives are sending mixed messages about the power of plug-in vehicles, but in the companies parking lots across North America, at least, the signal is clear: come on and charge your EV. Today, Ford and GE announced that the Blue Oval will be installing Wattstation chargers at its Dearborn HQ and will then add units at more than 60 locations across the US and Canada, including "offices, product development campuses and manufacturing facilities." If you're a Ford employee, then you get four hours of free charging a day. That should be plenty to top off any of the company's plug-in vehicles, even the Focus Electric, and the time limit encourages drivers to swap cars at lunch, because Ford wants to encourage charging station sharing and get more employees to plug in. Ford doesn't mention the DOE's Workplace Charging Challenge by name in the release (available below), but we suspect these Wattstations are part of that project. Ford was one of the founding members, joining the Workplace Charging Challenge on January 31, 2013. On that date, the Ford Motor Company and Ford dealers had over 1,750 charging stations installed on company/dealer property. Ford, GE WattStation Chargers Support Employee Electric Vehicle Charging Network Ford to install its first employee electric vehicle charging station network in Dearborn, Mich.; facilities across the United States and Canada to follow Ford will work with GE as its network provider and supplier of electric vehicle charging stations; networked stations will help Ford understand charging usage and plan for future installations Ford electrified vehicles have logged an estimated 65 million electric miles over the last 18 months. Ford now offers six electrified vehicles, including Focus Electric, C-MAX Energi and Fusion Energi plug-in hybrids, and C-MAX and Fusion hybrid vehicles Ford Motor Company in conjunction with GE, will supply vehicle charging stations at Ford facilities nationwide, beginning with facilities in and around its headquarters. The announcement continues the innovative cooperation begun more than 100 years ago between Henry Ford and Thomas Edison, co-founder of GE. This month, Ford will begin installing GE WattStation™ charging stations across its North American campuses, developing a workplace charging network at nearly every Ford facility in the United States and Canada.

Ford finds flex-fuel engine design plays big role in emissions output

How bad is ethanol for your engine? There's been a lot of debate on this issue as the US considers upping the biofuel content in the national gasoline supply from 10 percent (E10) to 15 percent (E15). The ethanol industry and some scientists say higher ethanol blends show no "meaningful differences" in new engines while the oil industry says ethanol creates health risks. Researchers working at the Ford Research and Innovation Center decided to take a closer look at how a wide range of gas-ethanol blends - E0, E10, E20, E30, E40, E55 and E80 - affected the emissions coming out of a flex-fuel 2006 Mercury Grand Marquis. To see the full report, printed in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, requires payment, but there is an abstract and Green Car Congress has some more details. The gist is that, "with increasing ethanol content in the fuel, the tailpipe emissions of ethanol, acetaldehyde, formaldehyde, methane, and ammonia increased." At least NOx and NMHC emissions decreased. The researchers say that the effects are due to the fuel and "are expected for all FFVs," but that the way that a manufacturer calibrates the engine will affect NOx, THC, and NMOG emissions. It's this last bit that's important, since the researchers found, "Higher ethanol content in gasoline affects several fundamental fuel properties that can impact emissions. ... These changes can have positive or negative effects that can depend on engine design, hardware, and control strategy. In addition to direct emissions impacts, higher ethanol content fuel can also provide more efficient combustion and overall engine operation under part-load conditions and under knock-limited higher-load conditions." So, as we head towards more ethanol in our fuel supply (maybe), manufacturers are going to need to learn how to burn it most efficiently.