To become the world’s quickest anything you have to be willing to run your machine on the ragged edge and push it harder than most. The downside to walking the thin line of the highest levels of performance is things can go wrong, and when they do it’s usually in a big way. Martin Blair’s eight-second SUV holds the title of quickest and fastest Jeep Cherokee, but took a nasty spill earlier this month at Cecil County Raceway that may derail his racing efforts for a while.

Blair’s Jeep has been putting down killer single digit passes for some time. Using a massive 500 cubic inch Mopar engine and multiple hits of nitrous, the Jeep has stopped the clocks with a 8.44 elapsed time at over 162 mph. Considering the XJ weights over 3,000 pounds, that’s very impressive.

Trying to wheel this beast of a race SUV is something Blair has been doing for a while, but on this particular pass things went bad really quick. As usual Blair let go of the transbrake at the drop of the tree and Jeep when up on the wheelie bars, but rather than heading straight, it began to push toward the centerline. Realizing his trajectory, Blair lifted and tried to correct the Jeep, but the SUV then made a big move to the right towards the wall. When Blair tried to correct the top-heavy Jeep it shot back across the track, turned onto its side, and slid all the way down to the scoreboards.

Fortunately, Blair wasn’t hurt in the accident but the Jeep was a little worse for wear. Luckily, the squared-off box have of the Jeep body prevented it from rolling as a car would, minimizing the damage to the side of the vehicle. Hopefully he’;l be able to repair the XJ and get it back on the track soon.