Pedregon suffered second-degree burns on his hand when his car exploded during a first-round race at Ponoma Raceway.

Tony Pedregon is recovering after a vicicous crash Sunday at the 48th Carquest Auto Parts Winternationals at Ponoma Raceway.

Pedregon was unaware he had red-lighted the start of his first-round race against John Force and kept his foot in the throttle. His car exploded about midway through the run but still crossed the line only 18 inches behind Force. The explosion distracted Pedregon and he was late deploying his chutes. He hit the wall doing about 290 mph and ended up the sand runoff.

Pedregon was able to walk away from the fiery crash with but had second-degree burns on his right hand. He was transportted to Pomona Valley Medical Center and returned to the track later that day with his hand bandaged.

For more details, check out coverage from the LA Times at:
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-spw-dragcrash11feb11,1,3088292.story? ctrack=1&cset=true