Just wait until your car is warmed up before really stepping on the gas... Even then, don't go nuts. Redlining every chance you get is not good for your car.. I'm not saying you do, but you know... Also, I had a headgasket failure due to a clogged catalytic converter.. The whole exhaust was glowing red from the manifold to the cat... Not good.

I've seen a couple go out between #2 and #3 but one was a turbo that had been cooked and the other had something like 320K on it so we just chalked it up to old age. So to answer your question, no it's not common.