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Hot Rod Magazine had a great article back when Kenny Bernstein first broke 300 in the quarter mile back in '92. Because computer control was forbidden, and because his whip made around 4500 horsepower, they needed to come up with a complex set of hydraulic logic gates to control clutch slip to get the power to the road because it isn't really something humans can do. There's an impressive amount of corner-case physics in top fuel.Nitro methane burns yellow. The spectacular white flame seen above the stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, dissociated from atmospheric water vapor by the searing exhaust gases.