Video Warning: Language NSFW

Those four fleeting seconds at the beginning of Discovery Channel’s Street Outlaws program, where the disclaimer “…so don’t do any of this **** we do at home!!” is read aloud likely goes in one ear and out the other for most viewers — as most television disclaimers do — but as it turns out, it’s some great advice. 

You see, that disclaimer isn’t just deterring one from participating in illegal street racing activities that put innocent lives in danger, but it’s suggesting you avoid the street altogether. That means even performing launches and checkout runs on the back road near your home. Aside from the obvious fact that the street isn’t a legal venue for a race car in any capacity in the first place, public roads are unsafe any way you look at it. There’s dirt, dust, rocks, and uneven patches. Oh, and there’s not a lick of traction. It’s a recipe for disaster that street racers risk life and limb with every time they line up, but it’s not a chance that others ought to take.

Unfortunately a racer who we’ve thus far been unable to identify had to learn this in an incredibly hard way.

As best we can surmise, the driver of this fourth-gen Camaro, a full-on tube chassis’ed race car packing what the video describes as a 1,300 horsepower big block, decided to use a quiet back road to check out the car. Skipping the simple burnout or short launch, he opted to make what would’ve been at least an eighth-mile pass down the road, and perhaps more had things not gone awry. 

About four seconds into the “pass” you can hear the big slicks bark as the car loses traction and gets loose. At that point, it sashayed to the left into the dust off to the side of the road, hooking it back across the road where it hit the dirt and began to flip, much to the dismay of the guys standing back at the “starting line” filming it all.

As you can see in the images that follow, the crash virtually destroyed what was a very nice race car. Judging by the damage inflicted, the car likely rolled multiple times before coming to rest upside down. The roll cage, from what we can tell in the images, did it’s part to keep the driver safe, but we can only hope said driver didn’t make two mistakes that day and forego any of his safety equipment.

Let this serve as a lesson that if you’re going to perform any kind of activity — even a simple burnout — with your race car, just do yourself and everyone on the road a favor and take it to the track. The truth is, you don’t have to make a full pass down the road like this racer did for things to go horribly wrong. It might seem convenient and free, but there are certainly consequences.

Don’t try this **** at home.

Video credit: TheGregg90