That wreckage used to be a 1400hp open wheeler. It was driven by Paul Dallenbach at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, an event he has won six times. Amazingly, despite thinking to himself, “This is it. I’m dead,” Dallenbach escaped with little more than a few stitches and a fair bit of bruising.
Speaking to The Aspen Times, the 45-year-old elaborated: “I consider myself blessed, lucky. I’ve been bombarded with phone calls and messages from people who can’t believe I’m alive. Even people in racing can’t believe I made it.
“My throttle got stuck wide open. At that moment, you’re thinking, ‘How am I going to get out of this? What should I do?’ I tried to hit the brakes, but nothing was happening. The front ones locked up. The thing I needed to have was a kill switch, but I don’t know if I would’ve had enough time to be able to use it.
“That’s when I ducked my head and closed my eyes.â€
Dallenbach is now a living example promoting the benefits of the HANS device. “Thankfully, the head-and-neck-restraint system worked. If I didn’t have that, I would’ve broken my neck,†he said.
It’s the second lucky escape we’ve brought you from the 2012 PPIHC and while the first crash was more spectacular you always felt the crew should be okay. With this one, though, there’s not too many other thoughts that cross your mind after watching a car hit a tree at 200km/h+ than fatal ones. Thankfully, there was a safe ending to this story.
[Thanks to Stu for the tip]
7 replies on “VIDEO: Yikes Peak!”
That was well off!
They are unbelievably lucky no spectators were taken out. I’m the last person to push for nannying, but surely the first rule of ANY motorsport where there’s no catch fencing is don’t stand on the outside of a corner….
That’s a very good point Micky.
Its America, they can afford to lose a few people to natural selection 😉
PS I am so thankful no one was injured. I hold my breath every time I see an accident in motor racing, that one, my heart just sank, I’m just glad everyone’s alright.
Yeah was there on the weekend and where they allowed spectators to stand was just crazy. As you saw, outside of corners, inside of apex’s, etc. That second video is amazing how close someone was to being hit!
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