Nitrous, nitrous oxide, NOS or NAWWWZ (for you Fast and the Furious fans), whatever you want to call it, nitrous is a potent power adder, albeit a sometimes dangerous one. Done right, nitrous is an affordable method of adding a hundred horsepower or more to an otherwise stock engine. Done wrong, it is a ticking time bomb, waiting to explode. Literally.

We’re not sure what went wrong in this next video, but the HEMI-powered Challenger in the near lane suffered a nasty nitrous explosion just as it left the starting line. Why it happened, we dunno, but it does make for an entertaining 34-second distraction.

With either the 6.1 liter or 6.4 liter HEMI V8 under the hood, this Challenger is already a formidable drag racer, albeit a heavy one. It appears to be an SRT model though judging from the huge front wheels and big red brakes, meaning it could have up to 470 horsepower on tap. Add to that a nitrous kit of any size, and you’re talking about a car that should easily be pulling 12s at the drag strip.

That is, if it didn’t explode in the first 60 feet. The nitrous backfire buckles the hood and engulfs the whole engine bay in flames, prompting the short-wearing driving to exit the Challenger without delay. The track crew puts the flames out quickly enough, but the Challenger is probably too far to be worth salvaging at this point. Fire has a tendency to completely roast the electronics in a car, and that jarring explosion doesn’t help matters.

As the saying goes, another one bites the dust.