If there’s one golden rule in drag racing (there’s actually a laundry list of golden rules, but for the sake of this piece, we’ll forgo mentioning those), it’s that once you dump the clutch, release the transbrake, swap feet, or other method of launching a race car that once chooses to utilize, there’s no way of knowing what’s going to happen next. It could be good, or it could be bad; but that element of risk and reward is part of what brings us back.

On Saturday evening, heads-up racer Tim Kincaid experienced the risk side of the coin at the I-40 Dragway in Tennessee, when his turbocharged, big block Ford-powered Fox body Mustang launched into a wheelstand while competing in the September Bounty Race event that wouldn’t result in a positive ending.

With the nose high in the air and showing no sign of return to the atmosphere, Kincaid gave the car a quick slap of the pedal at the 60-foot mark and two more pedal jobs in succession thereafter in an effort to keep the wheelstand at a manageable altitude and set the nose down nice and easy. Unfortunately, Kincaid’s Mustang was on a collision course with the guardrail, and the result was a rare meeting of the underside of the race car with the topside of the unforgiving steel Armco barrier, causing considerable damage to the race car but most importantly, leaving Kincaid unscathed.

According to reports from the track and evidenced by photos of the aftermath, the impact with the top of the barrier broke the left front control arm, sending the entire wheel, brake, and strut assembly flying off the race car. Fortunately, no one was injured by the flying debris that made it’s way into or near the pit and spectator area.