When race cars with open wheels get together at high speeds, nothing good comes of it and sometimes the end result is literally horrifying. Such was the car last weekend in Houston where IndyCar ace Dario Franchitti got tangled up with Takuma Sato and the result of the meeting was one of the worst crashes in the history of IndyCar. As you will see, Sato appears to get loose while Franchitti is rapidly closing on it, perhaps to pass. As Sato’s car moves directly into the line that Franchitti was on, he tries to take the only evasive maneuver he can but ends up climbing the tires of Sato’s car and launching into the catch fence like some sort of unguided missile. When the car hits the fence it is as if the entire thing was stuffed with dynamite. Stuff goes everywhere, parts, pieces, body panels, etc, all just flying through the air like bullets. The car pinwheels before landing and sliding to a stop in the middle of the course. Thankfully, no other racers t-boned him as they were coming up on the wreck.

The injures that Franchitti received are serious and numerous. He received a serious concussion, a broken right ankle, and a spinal fracture. That final one being the most serious for obvious reasons. Making things even worse with the crash, 13 spectators were injured (we suspect by flying debris) as best we have been as to tell, none of their injures was life threatening and most were being treated and released for various cuts and bruising. This information we got from looking at a myiad of newspaper reports following the crash.

Every once in a while, there’s an incident where a racer is badly hurt and spectators are also part of the carnage and it serves as a reminder that racing is really dangerous stuff, no matter how you slice it. Yes we have HANS devices, catch fences, and other means to keep people safe, but the reality is no one has ever been able to account for every possible scenario and the forces at work are so large that even the most robust solutions, barriers, and safety plans can be breached. We’re glad to know that Dario’s injuries are not life threatening. Career threatening for sure, but not life threatening. Had he lost his life in this wreck, after the loss of Dan Wheldon just a couple seasons back, it would have been a horrible blow to IndyCar racing which is a series that doesn’t need any more of those.

Anyone who watched the Indy 500 and saw the cool montage/story about Franchetti’s dad tracking down Dario’s first pedal car, not one like it, the actual toy, and restoring it for him probably winced a little harder when watching this wreck. The Scotsman has been a talented and driven racer since about the time he could walk. Not that anyone should ever have something like this happen to them, but when you’ve learned something about the person that’s actually suffering through this type of situation, it makes it that much harder to watch.

PRESS PLAY BELOW TO SEE DARIO FRANCHITTI’S INCREDIBLE HOUSTON INDYCAR WRECK – NETWORK FOOTAGE AND REPLAYS –