Like every other racer that rolled into the gates at this weekend’s PDRA Summer Shootout at the Virginia Motorsports Park, Pro Nitrous competitor John DeCerbo hoped to get off a hot start in testing and in qualifying. And he did…just not exactly in the manner he envisioned it.

During Thursday afternoon’s test session at the Dinwiddie, Virginia facility, a o-ring in the oil system failed, sending him careening out control virtually right at the hit, at which time his Camaro nosed into the wall and burst into flames. With the quick help of the VMP and PDRA safety team, DeCerbo got out of the car safely and the fire was extinguished, but not before it singed the front of his beautiful machine. Fortunately, the damage wasn’t worse, like it was the last time DeCerbo encountered a blaze of this magnitude when he lost control of his Camaro at an ADRL race in Rockingham in 2013 and struck the wall at early 200 mph.

No doubt the DeCerbo Construction gang will be back, good as new.

Shoutout to Kyle Christ at Straight Line Media for capturing the ordeal.