Just in case you’re skeptical about just how much work a drag racer’s parachutes do to slow down a speeding car, here’s an excellent demonstration.
This is a video of Pro Mod drag racer Mike Bowman’s parachute failing during a qualifying race in St. Louis.
As you can see, those chutes do a ton of the work of stopping a speeding race car. Without the drag those chutes provide, the car’s brakes simply can’t convert enough motion into heat to get the car stopped.
Thankfully, there’s a safety net at the end of the track that catches his ’69 Chevelle, and he’s able to walk away from the incident unharmed.
