Click it or Ticket
This 200-mph near-miss during an Indianapolis 500 test session will make you clench every single thing you can possibly clench
Believe it or not, May is just around the corner, and that can only mean one thing: No, not the Kentucky Derby. No, not the PGA Championship either. OK, OK, so it can mean several things, but right now we’re talking about The Great American Race; the one and only Indianapolis 500. This week drivers returned to the Brickyard for a two-day test session but were met with some slick track conditions, specifically exiting pit lane where three drivers, including four-time Indy 500 champ Helio Castroneves, were sent for a spin.
Most avoided serious incident, but in the case of Will Power, it was very nearly a disaster. Here’s the view from Power’s cockpit.
No big deal, right? Look a little closer. See that plume of tire smoke halfway down the chute before you can even blink? That’s Colton Herta, who, if it weren’t for the reflexes of a panther on cocaine, may have turned Powers’ car into shrapnel. Here's the view from his onboard camera should you need a little afternoon pick-me-up.
Absolutely unreal. We had to watch this video twice to even see Powers’ car jutting out of the fog like a glitch in the matrix and yet Herta was calm and quick enough to not send him into orbit (and also mostly save his car). Look us in the eye again and tell us drivers aren’t athletes.
“I wasn’t really sure what exactly happened at the time,” Herta told Peacock after the crash. “[I’m] happy that Will’s fine, because like you said it could have been a lot worse. If he slid up the track just a little bit more…I was close to having nowhere to go. And luckily, we kind of got away with that one a little bit.”
Officials blamed slippery conditions on an unusual reaction to the tarmac sealant used to protect the track during the winter months and worked late into Wednesday evening to fix the issue before Thursday’s session. On a similar note, we have to go ice every muscle in our bodies after watching this horrow show. Drive safe and remember to click it or ticket, kiddos.