Video Captures 145 mph 'Drag Race' Explosion at Gas Station

From NBC New York:

Authorities arrested two men they say were drag racing down the Long Island Expressway at 145 mph just after midnight.

Both cars crashed right after exiting the expressway.  One hit a gas pump and burst into flames.  The other hit a fence.

One person suffered minor injuries.

A Suffolk sheriff's officer used a laser speed gun to clock the cars as they sped on the westbound side at about exit 59.

New York's CBS 2 adds the people in the exploding care are lucky to be alive:

“Car starting fire – that’s two seconds to get out of the car,” Kilinc told CBS 2′s Sean Hennessey. “One more second, maybe death.”

The other car, with a driver and a passenger, crashed to a halt in a Hooters parking lot across the road. Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department chief Michael Sharkey said his officer tagged the cars doing 145 mph. Every one, he said, got out alive.

“The others escaped without any serious injury. Any small change in circumstance could have resulted in a total disaster,” Chief Sharkey said.

The driver of the yellow Mitsubishi Lancer that stopped at Hooters was 21-year-old Jeff Browne. The driver of the car that crashed and started the fire was 20-year-old Joseph Skalka. He was held on $75,000 cash bail. His angry family and friends stormed out of the courtroom.

There were five friends involved in the scary incident, but only one minor injury – a concussion.