A very serious drag racing crash was caught on camera during the 2013 Rock and Race in Salem, Ohio, where a 1933 Willys hot rod/dragster was flipped several times, putting its driver, Gordon Crowe, in the hospital with serious injuries to his right arm and back. Still, as you can see from the video, the safety cell still did its job well, as the body peeled away, it kept its strength and saved his life.
If we are to analyze the crash itself, then Crowe’s Willys (the black one) seems to have started veering slightly to the left, as both racers were approaching the quarter-mile (400-meter) mark, and despite the fact that the driver tried to keep it straight, he ended up overcompensating with the counter-steer and hitting the outer wall with tremendous force.
The car spins and rolls out of control for the better part of 10 seconds, before a safety marshal casually drives up and has a look, but without immediately intervening to get the driver out as fast as possible.
It may not have been crucial in this case, as the injuries were not immediately life-threatening, but when it comes to getting a driver out of a crashed racing car, it has to be done quickly and by the book.
By Andrei Nedelea
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