A C5 Chevrolet Corvette without any body panels proves to be the ultimate tire slayer, easily smoking the huge rear tires until one violently explodes.
This week’s Burnout Friday video features a C5 Chevrolet Corvette doing an incredible burnout in front of a huge crowd. Some folks may recognize this as the “Leroy” Corvette owned by YouTuber Cletus McFarlane. It is a base model C5 Corvette which had been involved in an accident. All of the body panels were all removed and the remains were sold as an ideal project car. However, this YouTuber found that by adding some lights to the front and rear, this Corvette is street legal, so rather than adding a body – that mod money is being spent making Leroy more powerful.
Leroy the Corvette is still in its stock form here with the exception of the C7 front wheels. Out back, there is a set of C5 wheels, presumably fitted with tires which are intended to be smoked to death. Funnily enough, that is exactly what happens to them.
During the course of the burnout, which is nearly 2-minutes long, the driver is holding a microphone and talking to the crowd while smoking the Corvette’s rear tires. For much of the video, there is so much smoke that we cannot see what remains of this C5 Corvette, coupled with the crowd of onlookers who get dangerously close to the car.
After the driver lets the Corvette lurch forward out of the smoke a few times, the passenger’s side rear tire finally explodes, sending large chunks of rubber violently into the air – reminding us all why we don’t stand this close to a car doing a burnout…especially when there is no body to catch any of the shrapnel.
"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.
"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.
"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.
"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.
"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.
