Lots of drag strips pack it up for the winter but Hartsville, South Carolina’s Darlington Dragway isn’t one of them. The track seems to stay open for  business as long as the conditions are suitable and as you will se in this video, racers with heavy duty cars are show up to take advantage of the season’s coolest, most dense air and the performance gains they see from it. Unfortunately for the two racers shown in this video who were getting after it during the winter of 2013, things did not go as planned when they launched off the line at Darlington.

The Chevy Beretta in the near lane to the camera comes of the starting line cleanly and is making big tracks down the strip while his competition didn’t get a good launch. The fourth gen Camaro in the far lane seems to fall on its face at the hit and the Beretta has clear sailing to the finish line, virtually uncontested. Things go bad for the Beretta at roughly the 1,000ft mark as the car get upset and begins to bounce. The driver was fighting to keep control but things took a turn for the very bad quarter mile mark. The car gets sideways and heads for the left guard wall. After glancing off the guardrail and catching air under the car, it rolls badly and is destroyed right there past the finish line. In the other lane, the driver of the Camaro had apparently decided to leg his car out despite the bad launch and he soon enters the frame.

Undoubtedly reacting to the horror unfolding in front of him, the driver of the Camaro gets all over the brakes at the stripe and the car makes an immediate 90-degree left turn, nosing pretty hard into the wall. You can see the front of the car squash up as the impact occurs. He does get himself stopped well before the Beretta which, despite the impact, is certainly a better outcome than piling headlong into the debris field and disabled car.

We have heard that the driver, Matt Suite had some broken ribs and a lot of bruises from the incredible wreck. We’re glad to hear that he is on the mend and will be out of the hospital soon. The Beretta was one mean piece as you can see it trying to pull the front wheels at like half track! Today’s safety standards save another racer. Never shop bottom dollar on your chassis or safety parts. Matt Suite and his team didn’t and he lives to tell the tale.

Thanks to Nick for the tip!

PRESS PLAY BELOW TO SEE A PAIR OF GRUDGE CARS BOTH SMASH THE WALL ON THEIR OWN –