If you want to win a big heads-up event you’d better be ready to put in some work. The McCain Racing team, headed up by brothers Ryan and DJ McCain, brought the “Black Plague” Mustang to No Mercy 12 with the intentions of winning in Limited Drag Radial (LDR), but they had no idea how much work doing so would be. Their efforts paid off with an LDR record and a win after a crash that would have caused many teams to give up.

DJ made it very clear during the early rounds of qualifying for No Mercy and the Magic 8 that he was ready to win behind the wheel of Black Plague. The Mustang that Ryan tunes was laying down impressive runs and found itself on top of the qualifying sheets going into the third round of qualifying — that’s when things took an unexpected turn. Black Plague launched into an awe-inspiring wheelstand that stretched all the way to the 1/8-mile, came back down to Earth hard, and ended up in the wall.

The crash left Black Plague in a crumpled heap with numerous broken parts that included a demolished wishbone, anti-roll bar, front strut, steering arm, tie rod, brake rotors, wheels, headers, and much more. After the car was delivered back to its pit, the McCain team got to work sourcing parts and repairing the Mustang. Several LDR competitors provided the McCain’s with parts and assistance to get the car running again. The effort paid off as DJ was able to make the call for the first round of the Magic 8 shootout, however, another wheelstand forced him to abort the run.

When eliminations began on Saturday there were still a lot of questions as to how Black Plague would perform, and those questions would be answered in a hurry. DJ and Black Plague went on to terrorize the LDR field, set the class record with a 3.91, and ultimately won the event. Check out these videos from Flo Racing that show DJ’s wild ride and final round victory at No Mercy 12.