I have seen those kinds of races when I was a kid. And have been to some drag races when I was a teen/early adult. My brother raced his car in drag races locally. And yes, they got beat up on the tracks and on the streets.
There’s a dirt track close to us and Hubby and his buddies raced there back in the day. Hubby has said many a time he wished he still had all the tri-5 Chevys he’d wrecked during those years.