It’s an unspoken, unwritten rule amongst drag racers. It’s also common sense: Never stand directly behind a race car as it’s launching off the starting line. Or preparing to do a burnout. Or ever, really.

While it is rare, there’s always the odd chance of a race car — for whatever reason — launching backwards rather than the intended direction. This could be because the driver inadvertently hit the shifter and wasn’t aware of it, rolled too far into the beams, backed up, and forgot to put it in gear, or a variety of other circumstances … but it does happen, and it will happen again.

The only thing one can do to keep themselves safe is to never stand in the path of the car on the starting line, should something go awry. And let this video, captured a few years ago at the Southwestern International Raceway in Arizona, serve as an illustration of why you should heed that advice. As you’ll se at about the 1:43 mark, after what appears to be a fairly routine burnout and staging procedure, bracket/index racer Michael Hunt’s dragster lurches backwards at the drop of the tree. Caught offguard in a circumstance that few racers have ever experienced, Hunt reacted as quick as he could and got on the brakes to stop the car, but not before traveling 25-30 feet in reverse.

Fortunately, the cameraman was standing off to the side of the car, where all family and crew should be, and no one else was in the dragsters’ path. But as we see far too often, crew members crowd up onto their cars or track officials are sweeping the track behind the cars, right in harms way. This situation also presents a case for not even pulling your race car into the waterbox until the car in front of you has left the starting line — depending, of course, on how far the beams are from the burnout box.

This is definitely a lesson to be learned, caught on tape, that we hope more racers and their families and crew remember next time they’re at the track.