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<\/p>\nRandy \u201cThe Natural\u201d Couture has made a career out of walking into danger with a calm mind and a clenched jaw \u2013 from wrestling mats and combat zones to the bright lights of the UFC Octagon. But nothing in his storied career quite prepared him for what happened last week in a Pro Mod car.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, July 8, during a private test session at Flying H Dragstrip outside Kansas City, Couture was involved in a violent, high-speed crash while training for his NHRA Pro Mod debut. His SCAG Power Equipment-backed \u201937 Chevy, dubbed \u201cAl Capone,\u201d struck both walls after an on-track correction went wrong, igniting a fire and sending Couture on a harrowing journey through smoke, heat, and emergency care.<\/p>\n
In a candid livestream posted after returning home, Couture shared details of the crash and the days that followed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did a great burnout, staged, launched \u2013 and the car immediately went left,\u201d Couture recalled. \u201cI overcorrected, and that shot me straight into the right wall. Probably at about 200 miles per hour.\u201d<\/p>\n
The impact crushed the fuel tank and started a fire inside the car. Despite suffering first- and second-degree burns, along with broken ribs and smoke inhalation, Couture managed to unbuckle his harness and open the door with what he described as \u201cone good hand, one good finger.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was halfway out when the first EMT arrived,\u201d he said. \u201cHe helped get me the rest of the way out and got my helmet off. I didn\u2019t even realize at the time that I was burned.\u201d<\/p>\n
Couture was airlifted to a regional burn center in Kansas City, where doctors began treating his injuries before clearing him to return to Las Vegas for further care at UMC, Nevada\u2019s only verified burn center. After multiple rounds of debridement and a key operation on Sunday, doctors were able to avoid skin grafts, covering the burns with Supercell 100 \u2013 a major step forward in his recovery.<\/p>\n
\u201cSunday was a big day in the OR,\u201d Couture said. \u201cThey cleaned all the burn wounds, got them covered, and everything\u2019s healing really well. Thankfully avoided a graft \u2013 so far, no grafting necessary. That\u2019s good news.\u201d<\/p>\n
Couture, 62, has spent the past year chasing his NHRA Pro Mod license, preparing for what was expected to be his debut at the 2025 U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. His interest in drag racing goes back over a decade, when he first experienced nitro racing from the starting line at Pomona. A recent partnership with SCAG Power Equipment reignited that interest, and his plan to take on the brutal, unpredictable Pro Mod category had become one of the more intriguing storylines of the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a new way to tickle that competitive spirit that I\u2019ve had most of my life,\u201d Couture said in a previous interview. \u201cI\u2019ll bring all the things I developed as a wrestler and martial artist into this realm and see what we can do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whether or not Couture will return to the driver\u2019s seat this season remains to be seen. He\u2019s taking things one step at a time, with another follow-up appointment scheduled for next week.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m headed in the right direction,\u201d he said. \u201cI can\u2019t thank everyone enough for reaching out. The love has been overwhelming.\u201d<\/p>\n
From the cage to the big screen and now to the drag strip, Couture\u2019s story has always been about reinvention \u2013 and refusing to be counted out. It\u2019s a recovery road now, not a race track, but the mindset is the same.<\/p>\n
As he put it, simply: \u201cWe\u2019ll keep rolling.\u201d<\/p>\n
This story was originally published on July 22, 2025. <\/p>\n
The post \u201cStill in the Fight\u201d: Randy Couture Details Crash, Burn Recovery, and What Comes Next in Pro Mod Journey<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Randy \u201cThe Natural\u201d Couture has made a career out of walking into danger with a calm mind and a clenched jaw \u2013 from wrestling mats and combat zones to the bright lights of the UFC Octagon. But nothing in his storied career quite prepared him for what happened last week in a Pro Mod car. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101762\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}