Fahed Abu Salah Promotes Cancer Awareness with Burnout

Photo By Elio Haddad

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t a time when so many Lebanese are engrossed in politicians’ failure to form a government or spending every moment of every day either complaining about our country’s various faults or smoking narguileh at one of Lebanon’s many venues, one man has chosen to invest his energies toward raising awareness on a subject that has caused pain and anguish in almost every Lebanese family: cancer.

Fahed Abu Salah, and avid car enthusiast who over the years has participated in numerous car clubs before building a massive audience for his own automotive channels on social media, including “Lebanese Automotive Super Cars Club,” opted to make use of his sizeable viewership for a more selfless purpose, combining his love of cars with his determination to cast light on this grave subject.

An engineer by trade, the 32-year-old set him himself the challenge of setting a record for the longest burnout in the region. According to Abu Salah, the father of a 3-year-old boy, using a traditionally male endeavor to raise awareness about prostate cancer, which obviously is a uniquely male affliction, was the obvious choice.

Photo By Marguerita Thalia Photography

The choice of car and color – a rare sky blue 1968 Camaro SS/RS equipped with a stroked V-8 engine and transmission and differential setup just for this specific event, as well as the blue smoke emanating from the tires, symbolized the particular disease.

Abu Salah’s first two attempts to set a record failed – the transmission failed both times – but the third time proved the charm.

With over 5,000 people in the parking lot of Forum de Beyrouth looking on, and under the watchful eyes of Red Cross and Civil Defense personnel, he got behind the wheel of his Camaro once again.

Wary of the risk of fire, Abu Salah, wearing a flame-retardant suit – blue to keep with the theme of the event – took another shot at the record, powering the Camaro through the burnout that lasted for more than four minutes, blue smoke engulfing the car and accomplishing Abu Salah’s goal of setting the record for the longest continuous burnout in Middle East.

Photo By Elio Haddad

Though the man emerged from the challenge unscathed – safety is always foremost on his mind – the forces the Camaro was subjected to and the overheating took their toll on the classic muscle car, which has since been repainted and is gradually undergoing repairs.

But Abu Salah has no plans to sit on his laurels, as he is already planning to stage another event, this time possibly in support of breast cancer awareness. We’re very curious to see that gorgeous Camaro SS in pink livery, complete with imported pink tires.

Photo By Elio Haddad