One of the most popular 1969 Camaros that we’ve come across is R.J. and Dan Gottlieb’s Big Red Camaro, a regular competitor at several events around the country. We’ve seen Big Red in action at the Mojave Mile, and it has even been emulated with a modern version wearing similarly styled Forgeline wheels. The car even had its own documentary on television.

Big Red is no stranger to bad fortune, sustaining heavy damage in 1988 at the La Carrera Road Race debut of the car. The stock chassis was no match for the speeds that they were reaching, and the questionable handling characteristics lead to the car swerving off course at close to 140 mph, and when it finally came to rest it was a large hunk of twisted metal. It was time to rebuild, and it came back badder and better than ever, ready to tackle high speeds and tight turns.

At the Mojave Mile in 2012 after making an incredible 227 mph pass, Big Red broke down and was done for the weekend. So it was back to the shop to fix what went wrong and then back out again to do what Big Red does best: drive fast and drive hard.

Unfortunately, another disaster befell Big Red during some testing out at Buttonwillow Raceway Park in Southern California. On Monday, there was a fire that broke out and the car was badly damaged, according to the Big Red Camaro Facebook page, and it can’t be fixed in time for the 2016 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Nobody was injured, but as you can see from the pictures the car will need to undergo some cleanup and repair before it can hit the track again. We’re glad to see nobody was hurt, but just these images are enough to make us cringe. Hoping for a speedy recovery.