Perris Auto Speedway in Perris, California is one of the best known dirt tracks in the huge state. Chad’s been out there a couple times to watch the races and make trouble and he reports that the high speeds and stiff competition make every visit a good time. Those high speeds played right into the amazingly violent wreck that 360-inch Sprint car driver Markus Niemela suffered at the facility recently. As you will see in the video below, Niemela entered a corner carrying a TON of speed and either the axle broke of the wheel studs broke, shearing off the rear tire and starting a chain of events that would see the car instantly vaulted into the air, flipping end over end, and ultimately landing on its lid hard enough that it crushed the top of the roll cage and gave him a concussion. Markus was OK other than the concussion and was able to exit the car under his own power.
The most interesting thing about this wreck goes to the topic of the roll cage. Almost exactly one year ago we ran a video that showed a Sprint car chassis being crash tested in many of the same ways a normal production car is. The chassis held up really well until it got to a crush test for the top of the cage. That thing folded up like a wet nap and as we watched the video we were thinking, meh, that style of crash never happens…and then we watched this video and the perfect storm comes together and BOOM the same forces that did a number on the cage in crash testing reared their ugly heads here and Markus had to be cut from the car. Time to add another bar to that portion of the cage? You be the judge. Watch the crash test video here
So press play below and make sure your belts are tight. This video is another reinforcement that in a Sprint Car things can go instantly and violently wrong without so much as the faintest warning.
THANKS TO WICKAM FOR THE TIP!
Luckily he scrubbed off some speed being sideways and with the fence hit, but none the less that could have a lot worse.
that’s a nasty crash !!! , PAS is a very fast track and i’ve seen plenty of wild crashes at this track . We race Dwarf cars at this track and our cars have been clocked at 115mph at the end of the main straight and 1.5 seconds slower than a non winged sprint car . Our cars have had some very wild/violent crashes with it completely destroying the car but the driver walks away from it uninjured
forgot to add we had one of our cars completely clear the back straight catch fence after coming off of turn #2 and flying right over the sponsor signs and landing on the other side of the fence outside of the tracks perimeter
HOLY SHIT!!! Non-winged sprint cars can be real evel!
buy that rollcage / chassisman a beer….he just saved your life…..
No one ever thinks of a top down impact like that, let alone a top side impact from another car during a rollover or ‘resting’ on it’s side. Watch a bunch of the racing wrecks vids on YT and study the impacts from other cars during the big wrecks. Plan and Build for ANY type of impact. And pull those belts tight then pull ’em again. Belts can stretch as much as 3″ under high impact stress……