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Every now and again, we come across a story that legitimately warrants a BuzzFeed-style clickbait headline. Case in point: On first viewing, you literally will not believe this sprint car driver walked away unharmed from this crash, in which his car bounced over the catch fence and right out of the race track.
25-year-old Austin Williams was blasting around the banked dirt track at California’s Perris Auto Speedway last weekend when his sprint car lost its balance in the midst of a slide. At that point, the car’s momentum was enough to send it somersaulting sideways right up the banking, which in turn popped it skywards like a basketball off a trampoline. Yet in spite of the cartoonishly violent accident, Williams was on his feet moments after the crash, walking away with barely a limp.
By nature, sprint car crashes are often fairly dramatic. Combine incredibly light cars, low levels of traction, and highly banked corners, and you have a recipe for accidents that send vehicles bouncing along like bullfrogs on blow. Even so, it’s a rare day when one of these dirt track racers goes flying clean over a fence tall enough to keep giraffes out…and a good day when the driver walks away with nary a scratch.
