Pro 275 racer Roger Holder was unhurt in a wild, aerobatic crash Thursday evening at the fourth edition of DuckX Productions’ Sweet 16 at South Georgia Motorsports Park.

Holder, in his visually stunning twin-turbocharged 1968 Chevrolet Nova, was taking a crack at qualifying in the marathon home-run derby event when the car nosed up and took flight near half track. After briefly leaving the racing surface, the Nova crashed back down perhaps harder than any previous airborne incidents at SGMP, causing Holder to lose control and nose hard into the wall. That secondary impact led to a fire in the engine compartment.

The Bakersfield, California native had clocked a best of 3.806 the run prior, and tweaked the traction control system to keep the ignition timing in the car through the middle of the run in an effort to improve in the qualifying order.

“It started to wheelie and I got out of it, but I think with the headwind, I got out of it obviously too late,” Holder recounts. “There’s just no in between…as soon as it started to come up I got out of it, because I knew the run was over. The wind got underneath it and I was along for the ride.”

“My ribs are beat up and I can barely move, but we’ll make it. We’ll come back,” he added.

Holder later stated via social media: “The good Lord had his hands on me once again and kept me safe. The safety crew did an amazing job as well being there almost before I got stopped, I’m pretty banged up, the car is banged up, as well. I’ll get it apart, assess the damage and get it fixed.”