It’s always important to remember how quickly things can go sour on a day at the track. When the red mist descends, or the driver gets carried away and starts to think they’re Michael Schumacher, is when the incidents usually happen. Oddly enough, most wrecks I’ve observed happen later in the day, during the last few precious minutes of a session—I suppose they’re trying to squeeze the track day for all it’s worth.

That might’ve been the case in the above footage, which will make any classic car fan cringe. Karl Chicca took this well-tuned Camaro to Thunderhill with a Donovan 396 under the hood, sticky tires, and a cage. Fortunately, that cage helped in keeping Chicca safe after he lost the rear end after exiting Turn Fifteen onto the front straight.

Photo credit: Life’s Good Racing

Chicca carries a neat and flowing line out of Turn Fourteen up into Fifteen, but carries just a few too many miles an hour in. Here, he might’ve benefited from a confidence lift; that Camaro is quite heavy and Fifteen does seem to tighten more than the entry would suggest.

That mild understeer pushes Chicca wide, and a dropped tire, a little steering angle, and a  heavy right foot makes the Camaro dart violently into the pit wall. Throughout the entire crash, the vehicle’s weight is obvious—from the way it pops up briefly before landing harshly and coming to a stop; this is no welterweight. An accident like that might encourage some drivers to hang up their helmets, but Chicca’s made of stronger stuff—he took the opportunity to rebuild the Camaro and go chase Ferraris.