A NASCAR winner’s car burst into flames when his celebrations turned into a nightmare.
Zane Smith, 23, secured a repeat victory at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
Smith had the car up against the barrier to do the burnouts
Thick smoke billowed out of the car
The mudflaps burst into red-hot flames
It took 40 seconds for the firefighters to arrive
And he was clearly delighted to get one over rival Kyle Busch that he attempted some burnouts on the track.
A burnout is where the driver deliberately burns through the tyres after a race – either by keeping the car still and forcing serious wheel spin or doing doughnuts to heat the wheels and create a lot of smoke.
But Smith’s efforts went very wrong.
The Californian racing driver had completed his burnouts and got out of the vehicle to receive congratulatory hugs from his team and crew.
But the rear wheels were billowing out thick, dark smoke and then suddenly two fires broke out around the mudflaps.
Incredibly, nobody seemed remotely bothered as Smith carried on celebrating amid whistles and camera operators capturing the NASCAR drama.
And eventually after 40 seconds of burning, two firefighters got to work with their fire extinguishers to put them out.
But the damage was already done and the car had to be towed away.
Smith, cheered on by his girlfriend McCall Gaulding, told FOX Sports: “Besides catching on fire in victory, that was a first for me.
“Man, that’s a bummer right there… that’s easily the most hectic victory lane celebration I have ever had and I apologize for catching the truck on fire in victory lane.”
But fans on Twitter were left baffled by the lack of urgency from those on the track.
One said: “Yo why did it take them so long to get there with the extinguishers.”
Another added: “Looks like some fire extinguisher training might be in order.”
A third wrote: “I don’t like when they pull up to a wall and do those kind of burnouts, I had just told my husband how stupid I think these are when it burst into flames. I’d rather see the looping burnouts, the wall ones seem kinda cheap.”
And a final user joked: “Really quick response with the fire extinguishers there!”
Smith celebrated his win with girlfriend McCall Gaulding
Smith seemed pretty unfazed by the whole incident
The damaged car needed to be towed away
