Massive Indy 500 Crash Has Us Amazed The Drivers Survived!

The Indy 500 is billed as “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing”, and it rarely fails to live up to that hype. With Indy Cars being as closely matched as ever, the racing is always intense, and close racing also tends to lead to the occasional-but-inevitable crash. And when Indy Cars tangle, they tend to do some crazy things, as you can see in the clip below from last weekend’s 101’s running of the event.

About a quarter of the way through the 200 lap affair, Jay Howard’s car slid up into the wall exiting turn one. It’s unclear from this clip what happened with Howard’s car, but the impact with the wall left him unable to steer his car, leaving it at the mercy of physics as it skidded back into traffic. Dixon, who was exiting the turn at full speed, had almost no time to react and slammed into the rear of Howard’s disabled car, sending himself and his car high into the Indiana sky while Howard’s car was propelled further downtrack, continuing to slide toward the inside retaining wall.

Meanwhile, Dixon and his car tumbled like a high tech leaf caught in a tornado, sailing several hundred feet before returning abruptly to earth atop the barrier along the inner fence. Part of the rear of his car caught in the fence, ripping the car to shreds and tearing a sizable hole in the fencing. If you look closely, you can see a photographer along the inside of the fence almost directly where Dixon impacted the barrier. The photographer ducked to avoid the flying car, but injured his back while making his evasive maneuver.

Dixon and Howard both walked away from their cars under their own power and were checked and released by the infield care center. Dixon would return to the medical facility a short time later to be fitted with a boot after he was seen limping noticeably in the garage area. Other than some minor injuries, everybody walked away unharmed, even the photographer, who only pinched a nerve or pulled a muscle in his back.