Michigan-area Dragzine reader Justin Richards sent us this wild footage video from onboard his classic Ford F100 pickup as he raced at the Milan Dragway on Sunday, where a seemingly ordinary and uneventful test and tune pass down the quarter mile took a surprising turn when his opponent lost control of his car and got a little up close and personal near the finish line.

In the video from inside Richards’ pickup, everything is going rather smoothly to the eighth-mile mark when, out of nowhere comes the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution (commonly referred to in car circles as the Evo) driven by Scott Frazho. According to Richards, his truck spun the tires off the starting line and was wel off its usual pace to sixty-feet, which as you’ll see, becomes a blessing in disguise, as it puts him in a position to avoid what’s about to happen beside him and in front of him in mere seconds.

Frazho’s Evo, traveling at an estimated 120 mph at the 1,000-foot mark, suddenly loses the freeze plug in the engine as it charges toward the finish line, dumping coolant out under the tires and onto the racing surface beneath it, sending him spinning sideways almost instantaneously across the finish line, collecting the foam timing blocks as he crosses over into Richards’ lane. Miraculously, Frazho, despite being a virtual passenger at a very high rate of speed, manages to keep his car from striking anything, and in all truth, well away from striking either guardrail. Richards, meanwhile, got a front row seat as the entire incident unfolded, allowing him to react and slow to avoid striking the quick Mitsubishi sliding through his lane.

This is a prime example of why you’ve got to be ready for anything at the track, because you can never predict what’s going to happen from one split second to the next. Of course, it also illustrates just how great of an asset luck can be.