At one point in drag racing’s history Pro Mods were seen as a “fad” that would never really take off or evolve much past their outlaw roots. Well, that prediction was proven dead wrong as the popularity of the class grows, so does the performance of the machines, and so does the chance for things to go wrong. Derrick Townes, a regular with the Northeast Outlaw Pro Mod Association, went for a scary ride as his blown Camaro got away from him at the top end going well over 200 mph.

Townes is an experienced racer that has wheeled fast door cars for a long time and even crewed for the likes of Scotty Cannon. The Vanishing Point Race Cars Camaro driven by Townes has been in the 5.90’s at over 243 mph and is always in the hunt on race day at NEOPMA events. In 2015, Townes is already in the top five in points, and has been showing some serious potential to win the NEOPMA title.

Saturday night Townes was paired up with Tyler Hard’s nitrous-fed Camaro with a trip to the finals on the line at Capital Raceway when things got harry for Townes. At almost the 1,000-foot mark Townes’ car drifted towards the wall and then made a huge move left before the stripe, crossing behind Hard’s car. Townes did everything he could to correct, even throwing the laundry to reel the car back in, but it was not enough. The Camaro made hard contact on the driver’s side and continued down the track.

Townes released a statement on the NEOPMA’s Facebook page saying: “The damage to the car was mostly body damage and the upper strut mount looks to be bent up a little. We will probably hang a new body on it and try to shed a few unwanted pounds and return to racing. This is going to be tough task because this clearly was not in our budget. As for me I came away with just a sprained ankle.”

Thankfully Townes’ injuries were minimal and he plans on getting back on the track. Check out the footage from TheRacingVids that shows how wild a ride this was for Townes.