Randy “The Natural” Couture has made a career out of walking into danger with a calm mind and a clenched jaw – 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.
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 ’37 Chevy, dubbed “Al Capone,” 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.
In a candid livestream posted after returning home, Couture shared details of the crash and the days that followed.
“I did a great burnout, staged, launched – and the car immediately went left,” Couture recalled. “I overcorrected, and that shot me straight into the right wall. Probably at about 200 miles per hour.”
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 “one good hand, one good finger.”
“I was halfway out when the first EMT arrived,” he said. “He helped get me the rest of the way out and got my helmet off. I didn’t even realize at the time that I was burned.”
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’s 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 – a major step forward in his recovery.
“Sunday was a big day in the OR,” Couture said. “They cleaned all the burn wounds, got them covered, and everything’s healing really well. Thankfully avoided a graft – so far, no grafting necessary. That’s good news.”
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.
“This is a new way to tickle that competitive spirit that I’ve had most of my life,” Couture said in a previous interview. “I’ll bring all the things I developed as a wrestler and martial artist into this realm and see what we can do.”
Whether or not Couture will return to the driver’s seat this season remains to be seen. He’s taking things one step at a time, with another follow-up appointment scheduled for next week.
“I’m headed in the right direction,” he said. “I can’t thank everyone enough for reaching out. The love has been overwhelming.”
From the cage to the big screen and now to the drag strip, Couture’s story has always been about reinvention – and refusing to be counted out. It’s a recovery road now, not a race track, but the mindset is the same.
As he put it, simply: “We’ll keep rolling.”
This story was originally published on July 22, 2025. 
