When Baker crossed the finish line in the left lane, his parachutes didn't open and after a sudden turn to the right, his Summit Racing Cougar began barrel rolling down the Rockingham shutdown lanes. It came to rest on its wheels and after a couple of minutes Baker emerged unscathed from the battered wreck.

"I can remember it all and my first thought was that the track is plenty long enough to stop," Baker said later from the comfort of his motorhome. "Then it just took off to the right--I don't think it hit the wall--and it felt like something lifted the back end right up. I thought the chutes had got tangled up in the wheelie bars, but it turns out they didn't even open."

An IHRA technical inspector said it appeared the pneumatic chute trigger failed and suggested when Baker couldn't reach the mechanical back-up lever, he over-applied the brakes and lost control.

Not so, the driver claimed. Baker theorized a bump in the track may have upset his car enough to make it crash. He insists he "barely touched the brakes." Baker pointed out this was his first accident in a race car after spending more than 30 years in the sport.

It's hard to believe that less than an hour before the photo was taken, this man snap rolled his car several times at about 200 mph.

Although thankful to escape with little more than a headache, Baker said, "it just pisses me off that I ruined a good car."

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