Drag race pass with a dead car on the track?

I went to the fuel altered nationals at Eddyville Raceway Saturday. In two separate instances, a car died at the and of the burnout. They left the cars sitting there at half track and sent the other car down on a pass. I've never seen that before. I thought it seemed dangerous. Is that normal?

I wouldn't think that NHRA would allow that but some small time track might do it. It is very dangerous and creates a liability for the track owner.

We had a case in law school where a car hit a cylinder head that was laying in the track and the driver was injured. He sued the track owner and won. The case didn't explain how a cylinder head was laying on the track. I always thought that was a weird case. How could a cylinder head end up on the track without anyone seeing it?

It seems a very bad idea. But they did just that in the FC final round at Pomona Finals, November 2019. Hight did a long burnout and the car died, he bailed out over the wall and Jack Beckman made a full passs. I would have just idled down there.

Another BS deal from team force. Hight won the championship by 8 points, if he ran it that round and crossed the centerline Or oiled down he would have lost the championship. So he wimped out and parked the car on the track. Which could have killed the driver in the other lane, very slim chance. Why didn’t R hight drive it all the way down and off the track. That would have been the move to make in that situation. But he had to climb out of the car over the wall and wave to the fans. Another public relations gig.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCStory.asp?ID=359152&Filter=Year2019#indextop

That Hight deal bothered me and all of my racer buddies; especially with it being FC.
And i sure wouldn't make a ballzout pass in the other lane if I was directed to run.
I've tempted fate quite enough already, and have the scars to prove it.

NHRA rules does not allow any of the Pro cars without starter on the motors to restart if they die after leaving the burn out box
I've seen more than one blown fuel Pro car die behind the starting line after the burn out, they got push away

I would guess someone was using it for ballast and it fell out.

I was making a pass at Havana on my bike and came upon a driveshaft laying in the trap. I missed it, stopped, turned around and started flashing my headlight at the starting line, and heard them launch 2 more cars.

I've seen cars die after the burnout and then they leave them there while the other guy makes a pass. Car is over by the wall and not too far past the tree so the odds of something bad happening are slim, but still.

Years ago our track used to run motorcycle or snowmobile vs car for the last race of the day - a king on the hill race is what thy called it. I thought that was dangerous for the guy on the bike to be out there with a car in the other lane. If they tangle the bike guy is finished.