What goes up, must come down. Neal Smith of Carthage, Mississippi learned this the hard way a few weeks ago at a grudge race being held at Hub City Dragway in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. As his fourth-generation Camaro left the line, the small 275 Drag Radials grabbed hold of the concrete racing surface and what happened next was not planned.

Smith’s hot rod climbed the ring gear and the radials were firmly planted to the ground, propelling the nose of the Camaro toward the blue skies above the Mississippi-based facility.

Smith, not quite ready for this, kept his foot planted on the loud pedal and around the 70 foot mark had all four wheels off the ground and the bumper dragging on the concrete! With all four tires off the ground, the Camaro lost momentum, gained wheel speed and as soon as the rear tires came back to earth, slammed the front end down so hard that it bounced back in the air after smashing the oil pan and the car began billowing smoke from the undercarriage.

Soon after, Smith got in his own fluids and began to go into an uncontrollable slide, heading towards the opposite side of the racetrack, in front of his opponent. Smith was able to get a hand full of the steering wheel and slide the car in the opposite direction back into his lane, taking out the 330-foot cone before he coasted over near the retaining guardrail around the eighth-mile mark. Dodging Smith’s debris and a fallen muffler, his opponent slowed and navigated through the area slowly before moving on down the track to go get ready for another run.

We must say that Smith did one great driving job to keep his wheelstanding Camaro off of the guardrails and, most importantly, off his opponent so both drivers are able to race another day after some repairs.

Video Credit: Nitro Art Video