Veteran radial tire racer Mike Brown from Huber Heights, Ohio was injured in a spectacular crash during testing Friday evening at the Outlaw Street Car Reunion II at the Memphis International Raceway when he lost control of his LSX-powered Pontiac Firebird.

Brown, a past LSX Drag Radial champion, was racing alongside Heath Littrell when, at the conclusion of the run, his ERL Performance Firebird took an immediate turn across the centerline, smacking the right hand guardrail, which turned the car nose-first into an opening in the wall. The second impact was forceful enough to knock the concrete barrier out of place. Brown’s car then shot back across the track and collided with Littrell, also putting his car hard into the wall.

Brown had to be cut from the cockpit of the destroyed race car and later visited a local hospital, where he was diagnosed with a broken left ankle, a cracked sternum, and a compressed disc in the back. According to reports from the track, the frontal impact was hard enough to push the engine back through the firewall.

With the significant damage to the guardrail and the fast-dropping outside temperatures, the action was called for the evening in the wake of the crash.