Longtime jet car racer Al “Zee” Zukauskas died Saturday in a fiery crash while performing at the Quaker City Motorsports Park’s “Night of Fire” event. The Mahoning County coroner confirmed the fatality, but did not immediately release the driver’s name. However, an outpouring of support and messages began to spread across social media for Zukauskas and his family, including his son who was in attendance, in the moments following the incident.

Zukauskas, driving his “Hot Blade” dragster built by the legendary Bill Mattio, was match racing with Russ Glover Saturday afternoon; Zukauskas left the starting line several seconds ahead of Glover and streaked across the finish line at 286 mph. While the official cause of the incident remains under police investigation, eyewitness video footage appears to show the nose of the dragster lift off the racing surface, as is common with jet cars, as the big parachutes hit. A split second later, the car struck a turnout opening in the guardrail, sending a shower of debris across the racing surface and a fireball and dark plume of smoke high into the Salem, Ohio sky.