Lights Out 8 in South Georgia got off to quite a daunting start last Wednesday evening when veteran small-tire racer Ron Clark went for the ride of his life in the very first pair of Radial vs The World cars in the opening round of qualifying. The Georgia native is a regular face in the premier eliminator at Donald Long’s radial tire extravaganza’s behind the wheel of inarguably the most unique car in the class: a 1970 Volkswagen Beetle with a 355-inch small-block with an 8-71 roots blower.

Video credit: TheRacingVids

Clark was running opposite of Barry Mitchell, one of the favorites to win the Radial vs The World category, when he lost control of his machine known as “Bugzilla” after the conclusion of a 5.05-second, 137 mph pass and struck the wall nose-first, setting off a series of violent, fiery barrel rolls that ultimately ended with Clark in the grass outside of the confines of the shutdown area guardrail.

Photo: Caleb Clark/Facebook

Clark was transported via ambulance to a nearby medical facility for evaluation and was released without any major injuries, suffering damaged capillaries in his face and eyes. Clark and company returned home to Rockmart, Georgia with the heavily damaged Bugzilla over the weekend and deemed the machine a virtual total-loss; thankfully, however, the roll cage that Clark himself built did just the job he designed it to, allowing him to walk away.