The Lucas Oil NHRA Brainerd Nationals has gotten off to quite an auspicious start this weekend in Minnesota — beginning with a complete deluge of the Brainerd International Raceway that caused the cancellation of Thursday’s time trials and left portions of the sportsman pit area and the famed ‘Zoo’’ campground area standing in water.

And then came Friday morning.

During the opening session of Top Sportsman qualifying, Cottage Grove, Minnesota racer Michael Freischel lost control of his 2001 Pontiac Firebird at the instant he released the transbrake, as the car took an immediate turn into the upright boards between the lanes and, ultimately, into the christmas tree.

Freischel’s machine completely wiped out the LED tree in the melee, forcing a lengthy delay in the action to get the mess cleaned up and a new tree to be drug out of storage to get back to racing. Unfortunately for him, he’ll be remembered the rest of the weekend and perhaps for years to come in Brainerd as “that guy” that knocked the tree down.