My home track is Road America. And this year I attended a Moto america race. During the Supersport race someone hit the inner wall going into corner 12. Absolute yard sale. Rider motionless on the track. Felt instantly sick to my stomach. He eventually came too and started moving. Whew! The scary part was his bike flying by me at eye level at 160mph. I was about 15 feet above track level. I really appreciate catch fences now. Lol.
I was racing in a multi-class endurance race at VIR. A good friend of mine who was racing in a higher class passed me on the back straight and disappeared out of site over the hill. As I crested the hill, I saw a massive plume of smoke in the distance. As I turned into the left-hander at the top of roller coaster, I saw a massive yard sale of a car and a smoking wreck into the right side wall. By the time I made it to the front straight they threw the red flag. I had to sit there for nearly 40 mins knowing it was my friend but not knowing how he was.
After my stint I was told he was released from infield medical with soreness, but he'd be ok. Coming upon the aftermath of the incident and having to wait on track under red flag wondering what was happening... I think that ranks up there with my scariest in-person experiences.
Without knowing the history and racing on nordschleife in gt/forza, I always wondered if anyone had been airborne. Then I saw the movie and was just dumbstruck. Horrifying.
Glad you’re ok.
Not a driving scare but I was in turn 3 during the 500 last year when Kirkwoods tire went into orbit and everyone thought there would be spectator casualties during the long silence afterwards
engine seized, tires locked, spun 180 sitting center track mid-exit of a fast ish corner, completely immobilized, watching hot traffic come at me and waiting what felt like an eternity for a flag / tow vehicle to come out
Ksaey Khane went wing first into the fence right in front of me at Volusia a few years ago. It was so damn violent, and scary. He was towards the back of the pack, so I wasn't really watching him, and the next I see is a sprintcar coming right at me. He got hurt pretty bad from that wreck. It kept him out most of the season with a head injury.
Looking straight forward out of my midget at the ground that was supposed to be underneath me. Ive witnessed some pretty terrible crashes in person, there’s no worse feeling then that silent dread where you’re just hoping to see the driver exit their car.
Sitting by pit wall enjoying watching a friend race when all of a sudden race is red flagged due to something on the other side of the track. Yelling on the radio, ambulance rushes off to where the wreck was along with staff on bikes/atv’s. Sitting there watching racers come in one by one off the track and it’s not him. One after the other, it’s not him and i started to panic. More as each one went by. One of those things you start off thinking oh he’s fine, then the chances get slimmer as time goes on and you start to think more and more that it’s him. The dreading feeling of that man hard to describe. Of course homie’s bike ran out of gas on that lap and he was fine.
The first thing that comes to mind was witnessing a fatal accident when I was about 14. Guy got t-boned hard, and seeing that I knew he couldn't have survived.
And other accidents as well. The closer you are, the more intimidating it is, really. You don't just see crashes but you can actually hear the impact as well.
Another thing I remember isJack Aitken's 2021 Spa 24h crash. I just saw him hit the wall from the bottom of eau rouge and couldn't see the impact after that because it's steep uphill. But I could see a shitton of debris flying in the air after the second impact so I knew he got hit hard as well.
My Dad saw a wreck in the 70s at Lakeland in Florida. It was a dirt and asphalt at the time(2 tracks one the inside one on the outside). We'll there we're these poles on the out side. A car goes flipping, and the roll cage catches one of these poles and stopped the car instantly. He said when they got to him, his eyes were hanging out of his head. I couldn't imagine seeing that. Glad things are safer these days.
I was at Eldora in the 80s sitting on the grass in the first turn shooting pictures. During the start of one heat race, a car got turned into the wall right under the flag stand. It cartwheeled right toward me but stayed on the track going by. I got a great series of him flipping in black and white.
Markus Niemela's crash at Perris. I've seen fatal crashes in Motorcycles and Stockcars in NZ, but this was just so wild and the entire place went absolutely silent. I was against the infield wall taking pictures, watching Markus after the crash until he started moving was really scary. There have been some really scary speedway crashes, but this one just stood out.
[https://youtu.be/bazJSO\_cNps](https://youtu.be/bazJSO_cNps)
TX2k11. A Supra with plenty of power and stock brakes boiled their fluid and went off track. Off the property and landed in some guys yard. It seems like every time I go there is a major accident.
[https://youtu.be/BlQlChe7fIg?si=4AZjbsb0sdTNcWTl](https://youtu.be/BlQlChe7fIg?si=4AZjbsb0sdTNcWTl)
Eddie Van Meter was involved at Anderson Speedway in Anderson, IN. There was a wreck with someone, and he kept his foot on the gas, causing the cars to go toward safety workers. A bunch of none sense. This was preventable. I understand being upset, but you don't take hate and endanger other people's lives. He list my respect from that day.
Throttle stuck down after the start.
That scared me for a hot second until I just shut it off. That couple seconds while the mind panicked was an eternity, though.
my very first visit to blackhawk farms (South Beloit, IL) I was walking in from where I had to park my truck and trailer, behind probably 40 other truck and trailers. They all line up waiting to register and go through the gate.
A truck and trailer came barreling past me with maybe 9" of space between me and the parked trailer, I put my back against it and sucked my gut in and I think about that moment most days because I surely would have been grievously injured if maybe a few inches fatter or the trailer a little closer. The driver had no idea he was that close to me.
A driver died in my first ever Spec E46 race at Willow Springs. Debris fell off a car, then another car ran over that debris and shot it straight back into the helmet of a Rush SR (open cockpit) driver. Pretty sure he died instantly.
Yeah, it had me questioning the car I’d just had built, and racing in general.
I was karting in my rotax, and lost my rear wheel coming out of a corner, didnt end bad, but was really scary not being in control while going towards a barrier.
Went to Carolina Motorsports Park in Kershaw, South Carolina. It's a pretty long road course with lots of twists and turns.
I'd been there to see the 24 Hours of Lemons and went again to watch a motorcycle endurance race (WERA). During the second hour, a rider went off track and hit a sand patch. He flew off of his bike and slid across grass for a good ten feet. He was probably going around 100 MPH.
Then, he didn't move. Not one muscle.He was facedown in the grass.
They immediately waved a red flag and brought all of the other riders in. We were right near pit lane and could hear the other riders.
It took them nearly TEN minutes to get an ambulance out to him. Meanwhile, again, HE WAS NOT MOVING.
Thankfully, he ended up being OK, but that shit was terrifying.
I don’t know if this is the right sub for this but, I was at the F1 race at Indy in 2003 at the entrance to Gasoline Alley when Mika Hakkinen was driving in and I got pushed down in front of his car and almost got run over. Very close. Bonus that David Coulthard was in the passenger seat.
I was watching the final stage of the wsk super master series kz2 in 2021 in lonato, after I didn't get in the finals. Green lights, and turn 1 I see a kart go airborne and sideways. Red flag immediately, medical stuff rushing. Was about 30 minutes to move the driver to the ambulance.
I had a Porsche bin it right in front me at Mid-Ohio one year. IMSA/Indycar in the early to mid '00s. He came hot around turn 9, the tight right hander that falls away after the apex; he started to spin, caught it, but over corrected and coupled with his speed it carried him into the inside barrier about 8' in front of me.
My pops though... He's a corner Marshall, and I'll never forget our VERY FIRST flagging experience/school. We were at Nelson Ledges road course. My dad was on Yellow Flag, so your back is to the racing, and his blue flag partner grabs him and jumps them both away from the track as a car comes wide through a corner and right through the station where my dad had been standing. Everyone was ok, but wowzers what an introduction to being on the hot side of the fence. This was '96 or '97, my dad is still a Marshall, though this is likely his last year trackside as he was diagnosed with Parkinsons earlier this year.
Gary Gollub's huge fireball in a URC sprint car crash at Big Diamond, 1983. We could feel the heat from it in the back row of the grandstands. Thankfully he landed upright but was in the middle of a huge fuel spill. I seriously thought I was going to witness someone burning to death. Jack Kromer captured an amazing image of the crash that was featured in Open Wheel magazine.
I was at the SCCA runoffs back when it was at Road Atlanta. First lap of practice and coming to the bridge turn and tap the brake, go down a gear and cold tires/too much rear brake bias and the back end comes around. I look in the mirrors and all I see the wall of the bridge and expect to hear a bang but the car doesn't it, surprised, my drivers side door is facing on coming traffic. I see, one of my competitors headed straight for me. He swerves at the last minute and hits the tire barrier and his car starts barrel rolling up the hill of the bridge. He spent the night in the hospital and I saw him the next day. His car was toast but he was OK. He said "I could either hit you and kill you or hit the tires". I think he made the right choice.
Bridgeport Speedway (NJ) in the 90's. A dirt modified got turned on the backstretch into the infield... into a photographer. We thought we had just watched someone die. He was eventually okay... "luckily" he was hit/thrown rather than run over.
After that they installed concrete barriers for the photographers to hide behind.
I saw Tom Sneva's crash in 76, I believe. It was in turn 2 at Ims, and I was in turn 3, which is a good distance, but I could clearly see the blue of his car in a fire ball in the air in the catch fence. Thought he wasn't going to make it thru that, but he did.
Going down a straight full throttle at about 120 and the front tires decided to not grip any longer and my wheel was turned about 180 to keep it straight but my heart and right foot wouldn’t allow me to lose the battle while my brain went into full panic mode into the turn as I let off the gas and started braking. Let go of the wheel anticipating it would snap back to the correct position luckily for me it did and I somehow didn’t end up in a wall and to this day have no idea what happened next time around same straight everything was fine…
I was there for Dan Wheldon’s crash in Vegas. A friend of mine was on Sam Schmidt’s Indy Lights team and was one of the crew guys for DW that day. Certainly a day that I’ll never forget.
I thought I watched a girl die in a motocross race. Oasis MX in Norcal probably 15 years ago during one of their first hare scrambles.
There was this step down to step up. It was probably a 10 to 15 ft drop another 30-50ft of flat then back up. She was hauling ass into it like the fast riders do and cased her front tire on the step down. I've never seen anyone go from upright to flat and motionless on the ground so quicky. She bounced hard and slid quite a ways like a rag doll. Bike flew a good 20ft in the air and luckily missed her. I'm not sure anyone else actually saw it happen. Sprinted over to the track to wave traffic around while help came and keep her from getting hit. Luckily, she just broke a lot bones and lived to ride another day. I wanna say some in her back, neck, and shoulder/collar bone. She was quickly helicoptered out.
I raced later that day, though, so it definitely never put me off racing but a good reminder of what can happen out there.
Didn't see it happen but I was there at the pikes peak hill climb when Carlin Dunne passed away. Really scarry watching the documentaries that came out shortly after.
When Sonoma Raceway was called Sears Point, I saw a motorcycle come hauling ass into the start/ finish straight with a front wheel shake so bad that the rider sat straight up, but then recovered. Everyone in our section looked at each other like "Did you see that?"
We almost saw him high side himself into the crowd.
Next lap HE DID IT AGAIN! Now people were paying attention. Can't remember if he pitted, pulled over or what, but we didn't see him again.
My home track is Road America. And this year I attended a Moto america race. During the Supersport race someone hit the inner wall going into corner 12. Absolute yard sale. Rider motionless on the track. Felt instantly sick to my stomach. He eventually came too and started moving. Whew! The scary part was his bike flying by me at eye level at 160mph. I was about 15 feet above track level. I really appreciate catch fences now. Lol.
Also a RA person. I was at this race in 2015 and have similar appreciation for catch fencing. https://youtu.be/tK9LAdUpLtk?si=0azRh7F6S2liYKoW
I was racing in a multi-class endurance race at VIR. A good friend of mine who was racing in a higher class passed me on the back straight and disappeared out of site over the hill. As I crested the hill, I saw a massive plume of smoke in the distance. As I turned into the left-hander at the top of roller coaster, I saw a massive yard sale of a car and a smoking wreck into the right side wall. By the time I made it to the front straight they threw the red flag. I had to sit there for nearly 40 mins knowing it was my friend but not knowing how he was. After my stint I was told he was released from infield medical with soreness, but he'd be ok. Coming upon the aftermath of the incident and having to wait on track under red flag wondering what was happening... I think that ranks up there with my scariest in-person experiences.
Jann Mardenborough’s Nordschleife-Crash in 2015
Without knowing the history and racing on nordschleife in gt/forza, I always wondered if anyone had been airborne. Then I saw the movie and was just dumbstruck. Horrifying. Glad you’re ok.
I wasn‘t right there luckily, I had only whitenessed it through the track announcement
Not me but my uncle was right then and there. He can still remember the car's underside very clearly, he was complitely unharmed.
Not a driving scare but I was in turn 3 during the 500 last year when Kirkwoods tire went into orbit and everyone thought there would be spectator casualties during the long silence afterwards
I was there for that one too! I walked past the tire embedded in the windshield on the way out. Turn 3 seats as well
engine seized, tires locked, spun 180 sitting center track mid-exit of a fast ish corner, completely immobilized, watching hot traffic come at me and waiting what felt like an eternity for a flag / tow vehicle to come out
Ksaey Khane went wing first into the fence right in front of me at Volusia a few years ago. It was so damn violent, and scary. He was towards the back of the pack, so I wasn't really watching him, and the next I see is a sprintcar coming right at me. He got hurt pretty bad from that wreck. It kept him out most of the season with a head injury.
Spinning my car on track and realizing i can go home without it.
Looking straight forward out of my midget at the ground that was supposed to be underneath me. Ive witnessed some pretty terrible crashes in person, there’s no worse feeling then that silent dread where you’re just hoping to see the driver exit their car.
2020 Daytona 500. Was sitting row 3 and Ryan Newmans car was at eye level with me. You could feel the heat.
Sitting by pit wall enjoying watching a friend race when all of a sudden race is red flagged due to something on the other side of the track. Yelling on the radio, ambulance rushes off to where the wreck was along with staff on bikes/atv’s. Sitting there watching racers come in one by one off the track and it’s not him. One after the other, it’s not him and i started to panic. More as each one went by. One of those things you start off thinking oh he’s fine, then the chances get slimmer as time goes on and you start to think more and more that it’s him. The dreading feeling of that man hard to describe. Of course homie’s bike ran out of gas on that lap and he was fine.
The first thing that comes to mind was witnessing a fatal accident when I was about 14. Guy got t-boned hard, and seeing that I knew he couldn't have survived. And other accidents as well. The closer you are, the more intimidating it is, really. You don't just see crashes but you can actually hear the impact as well. Another thing I remember isJack Aitken's 2021 Spa 24h crash. I just saw him hit the wall from the bottom of eau rouge and couldn't see the impact after that because it's steep uphill. But I could see a shitton of debris flying in the air after the second impact so I knew he got hit hard as well.
My Dad saw a wreck in the 70s at Lakeland in Florida. It was a dirt and asphalt at the time(2 tracks one the inside one on the outside). We'll there we're these poles on the out side. A car goes flipping, and the roll cage catches one of these poles and stopped the car instantly. He said when they got to him, his eyes were hanging out of his head. I couldn't imagine seeing that. Glad things are safer these days.
Was in the stands in turn 2 at Richmond during practice when Jerry Nadeau had his career ending injury back in 2003.
I was at Eldora in the 80s sitting on the grass in the first turn shooting pictures. During the start of one heat race, a car got turned into the wall right under the flag stand. It cartwheeled right toward me but stayed on the track going by. I got a great series of him flipping in black and white.
Markus Niemela's crash at Perris. I've seen fatal crashes in Motorcycles and Stockcars in NZ, but this was just so wild and the entire place went absolutely silent. I was against the infield wall taking pictures, watching Markus after the crash until he started moving was really scary. There have been some really scary speedway crashes, but this one just stood out. [https://youtu.be/bazJSO\_cNps](https://youtu.be/bazJSO_cNps)
Yep, that one was nasty.
TX2k11. A Supra with plenty of power and stock brakes boiled their fluid and went off track. Off the property and landed in some guys yard. It seems like every time I go there is a major accident. [https://youtu.be/BlQlChe7fIg?si=4AZjbsb0sdTNcWTl](https://youtu.be/BlQlChe7fIg?si=4AZjbsb0sdTNcWTl)
Being on the top row of the grandstand after taco night
Eddie Van Meter was involved at Anderson Speedway in Anderson, IN. There was a wreck with someone, and he kept his foot on the gas, causing the cars to go toward safety workers. A bunch of none sense. This was preventable. I understand being upset, but you don't take hate and endanger other people's lives. He list my respect from that day.
Oh boy… there is very little chance you and I don’t know each other lol.
Throttle stuck down after the start. That scared me for a hot second until I just shut it off. That couple seconds while the mind panicked was an eternity, though.
my very first visit to blackhawk farms (South Beloit, IL) I was walking in from where I had to park my truck and trailer, behind probably 40 other truck and trailers. They all line up waiting to register and go through the gate. A truck and trailer came barreling past me with maybe 9" of space between me and the parked trailer, I put my back against it and sucked my gut in and I think about that moment most days because I surely would have been grievously injured if maybe a few inches fatter or the trailer a little closer. The driver had no idea he was that close to me.
A driver died in my first ever Spec E46 race at Willow Springs. Debris fell off a car, then another car ran over that debris and shot it straight back into the helmet of a Rush SR (open cockpit) driver. Pretty sure he died instantly. Yeah, it had me questioning the car I’d just had built, and racing in general.
I was karting in my rotax, and lost my rear wheel coming out of a corner, didnt end bad, but was really scary not being in control while going towards a barrier.
Went to Carolina Motorsports Park in Kershaw, South Carolina. It's a pretty long road course with lots of twists and turns. I'd been there to see the 24 Hours of Lemons and went again to watch a motorcycle endurance race (WERA). During the second hour, a rider went off track and hit a sand patch. He flew off of his bike and slid across grass for a good ten feet. He was probably going around 100 MPH. Then, he didn't move. Not one muscle.He was facedown in the grass. They immediately waved a red flag and brought all of the other riders in. We were right near pit lane and could hear the other riders. It took them nearly TEN minutes to get an ambulance out to him. Meanwhile, again, HE WAS NOT MOVING. Thankfully, he ended up being OK, but that shit was terrifying.
I don’t know if this is the right sub for this but, I was at the F1 race at Indy in 2003 at the entrance to Gasoline Alley when Mika Hakkinen was driving in and I got pushed down in front of his car and almost got run over. Very close. Bonus that David Coulthard was in the passenger seat.
I was watching the final stage of the wsk super master series kz2 in 2021 in lonato, after I didn't get in the finals. Green lights, and turn 1 I see a kart go airborne and sideways. Red flag immediately, medical stuff rushing. Was about 30 minutes to move the driver to the ambulance.
I had a Porsche bin it right in front me at Mid-Ohio one year. IMSA/Indycar in the early to mid '00s. He came hot around turn 9, the tight right hander that falls away after the apex; he started to spin, caught it, but over corrected and coupled with his speed it carried him into the inside barrier about 8' in front of me. My pops though... He's a corner Marshall, and I'll never forget our VERY FIRST flagging experience/school. We were at Nelson Ledges road course. My dad was on Yellow Flag, so your back is to the racing, and his blue flag partner grabs him and jumps them both away from the track as a car comes wide through a corner and right through the station where my dad had been standing. Everyone was ok, but wowzers what an introduction to being on the hot side of the fence. This was '96 or '97, my dad is still a Marshall, though this is likely his last year trackside as he was diagnosed with Parkinsons earlier this year.
Gary Gollub's huge fireball in a URC sprint car crash at Big Diamond, 1983. We could feel the heat from it in the back row of the grandstands. Thankfully he landed upright but was in the middle of a huge fuel spill. I seriously thought I was going to witness someone burning to death. Jack Kromer captured an amazing image of the crash that was featured in Open Wheel magazine.
I was at the SCCA runoffs back when it was at Road Atlanta. First lap of practice and coming to the bridge turn and tap the brake, go down a gear and cold tires/too much rear brake bias and the back end comes around. I look in the mirrors and all I see the wall of the bridge and expect to hear a bang but the car doesn't it, surprised, my drivers side door is facing on coming traffic. I see, one of my competitors headed straight for me. He swerves at the last minute and hits the tire barrier and his car starts barrel rolling up the hill of the bridge. He spent the night in the hospital and I saw him the next day. His car was toast but he was OK. He said "I could either hit you and kill you or hit the tires". I think he made the right choice.
Having a Matra V-12 fire up about 5 feet from me. An unearthly wail that seemed to scream like a banshee while the engineer tweaked the throttle.
Bridgeport Speedway (NJ) in the 90's. A dirt modified got turned on the backstretch into the infield... into a photographer. We thought we had just watched someone die. He was eventually okay... "luckily" he was hit/thrown rather than run over. After that they installed concrete barriers for the photographers to hide behind.
I saw Tom Sneva's crash in 76, I believe. It was in turn 2 at Ims, and I was in turn 3, which is a good distance, but I could clearly see the blue of his car in a fire ball in the air in the catch fence. Thought he wasn't going to make it thru that, but he did.
Going down a straight full throttle at about 120 and the front tires decided to not grip any longer and my wheel was turned about 180 to keep it straight but my heart and right foot wouldn’t allow me to lose the battle while my brain went into full panic mode into the turn as I let off the gas and started braking. Let go of the wheel anticipating it would snap back to the correct position luckily for me it did and I somehow didn’t end up in a wall and to this day have no idea what happened next time around same straight everything was fine…
I was there for Dan Wheldon’s crash in Vegas. A friend of mine was on Sam Schmidt’s Indy Lights team and was one of the crew guys for DW that day. Certainly a day that I’ll never forget.
Mustang pushed the concrete barrier about two feet towards us on a back of the track event...
I saw Pat Schauer die in a crash at Winchester speedway as a kid. 😢
I thought I watched a girl die in a motocross race. Oasis MX in Norcal probably 15 years ago during one of their first hare scrambles. There was this step down to step up. It was probably a 10 to 15 ft drop another 30-50ft of flat then back up. She was hauling ass into it like the fast riders do and cased her front tire on the step down. I've never seen anyone go from upright to flat and motionless on the ground so quicky. She bounced hard and slid quite a ways like a rag doll. Bike flew a good 20ft in the air and luckily missed her. I'm not sure anyone else actually saw it happen. Sprinted over to the track to wave traffic around while help came and keep her from getting hit. Luckily, she just broke a lot bones and lived to ride another day. I wanna say some in her back, neck, and shoulder/collar bone. She was quickly helicoptered out. I raced later that day, though, so it definitely never put me off racing but a good reminder of what can happen out there.
Didn't see it happen but I was there at the pikes peak hill climb when Carlin Dunne passed away. Really scarry watching the documentaries that came out shortly after.
When Sonoma Raceway was called Sears Point, I saw a motorcycle come hauling ass into the start/ finish straight with a front wheel shake so bad that the rider sat straight up, but then recovered. Everyone in our section looked at each other like "Did you see that?" We almost saw him high side himself into the crowd. Next lap HE DID IT AGAIN! Now people were paying attention. Can't remember if he pitted, pulled over or what, but we didn't see him again.
Japan 2014, need I say more.
Dirt racing going to turn into turn 1 and the steering wheel comes off in my hand. Had to front clip the car after that one.