The 50 Craziest (Non-Fatal) NASCAR Crashes
Watch in awe as we look back at some amazing collisions where the drivers lived to see another day.
Some people claim NASCAR is only watched for the crashes, and there's no doubt many of its fans only do watch for the crashes. It's because they are fascinating. When that much mass is moving at those kinds of speeds things go wrong spectacularly when they do. We've compiled a list of the craziest crashes in NASCAR history that don't involve people kicking the bucket. That means you can enjoy watching them (mostly) guilt free...
Some people claim NASCAR is only watched for the crashes, and there's no doubt many of its fans only do watch for the crashes. It's because they are fascinating. When that much mass is moving at those kinds of speeds things go wrong spectacularly when they do. We've compiled a list of the craziest crashes in NASCAR history that don't involve people kicking the bucket. That means you can enjoy watching them (mostly) guilt free...
50. Big One at the 1987 ARCA Permatex 500
49. Mike Wallace Causes Quite a Wreck at the 2004 Aaron's 312
Mike's tires get out from underneath him and he sets off a chain reaction, taking out a plethora of cars and sending a few careening into the wall.
48. Tony Stewart Gets in Matt Kenseth's Way at the 2006 Nextel
There's still some argument as to who's at fault here but what ended up happening involved the front of Kenseth's car, the side of Stewart's car, the wall, and a whole lot of sparks. You've gotta love that Kenseth just drives on as soon as he can though.
47. Johnson, Vickers, and Earnhardt Jr. Scuffle at the UAW Ford 500 in 2006
The actual crash itself wasn't that bad since it was just a few cars sliding around on a track. It was the circumstances of the crash that created a lot of controversy. Earnhardt Jr. looked like he was going to win it until Vickers nudged Johnson into him and took the lead. Earnhardt and Johnson's positions were trashed but Vickers went on to take his first, and only win.
46. Elliott Sadler Hits the Wall Hard at the 2010 Pennsylvania 500
After just the slightes nudge, Kurt Busch slammed into the wall before going on a cross country off roading trip. On his trip, he decided to leave a few things like Hansel and Gretel to mark his way. Bread crumbs were far too boring for a professional race driver though, so he decided a wheel and an engine might be better.
45. Michael Waltrip Performs an Awesome Save at the 2009 Aaron's 499
This nudge could have been an absolute disaster, but Waltrip's excellent reflexes and skill allowed him to avoid any major impacts. This is one of the most epic power-slides of all time.
44. Big One at 2007 Dodge Dealers 400
Kurt Busch should know better, be he bumped into the wall with only 14 laps left and managed to take a ton of cars out of the race at the last moment. Kasey Kahne's car even weaseled its way under Busch's near the end of the crash.
43. Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough Make Sure Someone Gets Hurt in 1979 at Daytona
The crash was fairly minor between Yarborough and Allison in the '79 Daytona 500, but they were determined to get someone hurt. This one's not on the list because it was a bad crash, but because it was followed by a fist fight between the drivers.
42. Kahne, Hornish Jr., and Gordon Get Funneled Into Disaster at Watkins Glen in 2009
Narrow spaces on tracks are not a good place to get a little sideways. This is because bad things happen when three cars try to go through a space thats only big enough for about two and a half.
41. Jeff Gordon Hits The Barrier Hard in Vegas in 2008
Jeff Gordon should be truely thankful for the flexible foam and steel SAFER barriers installed after Dale Earnhardt's death, because an impact like this against a hard barrier would have almost definitely killed him. Luckily, he emerged from his car with nary a scratch.
40. Big One at the 2001 EA Sports 500
Bobby Labonte had been driving like a maniac for about 70 laps and had made it to the front pack when he made contact with another car and ended up flipping. Somehow, despite the power of the impact, he came out of this one entirely unscathed.
39. Dale Earnhardt Knows How to Drive a Jalopy in the 1997 Daytona 500
Dale Earnhardt got pinched between another car and the exterior wall which sent him corkscrewing down the track. Amazingly, he managed to finish the race in that same car. Now that's how to handle a jalopy.
38. Mark Martin Zooms Into the Infield at Talladega in 1994
Five cars were invloved in this crash, but the real spectacle was Mark Martin's high speed trip into the infield. The dozens of people nearby should thank their lucky stars that the barrier stopped him as well as it did.
37. Steve Park Scuffles With Pit Wall Practicing in 1998
A very clear example of why tires should be inspected and maintained on a regular basis. When one blows at high speed you'll break your femur and be incapable of doing much of anything for a long time.
36. Earnhardt Jr. and Park Forget How Teamwork Works at the 2002 Pennsylvania 500
Teammates Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Steve Park get a little too close in the '02 Pennsylvania 500 and end up tumbling off into the infield. Aren't teammates supposed to help each other out?
35. Ryan Newman Donates an Axle at the 2003 Daytona 500
Ken Schrader gave Ryan Newman a little tap in the 2003 Daytona 500. The problem is that a little tap at 190mph will make a car fly through the air, hit the ground hard, and launch an axle down the track at high speed. Luckily that thing didn't hit anybody.
34. Tony Stewart Gets the Worst of the 2001 Daytona 500 Big One
Tons of cars get taken out in this massive chain reaction caused by Robby Gordon where Tony Stewart surely takes the brunt of it. Most of the drivers are just sliding around, but Stewart ended up flipping pretty bad. I think his car managed a double pirouette.
33. Keselowski Causes Havoc at the 2009 AMP Energy 500
Keselowski got a little too close to Busch's butt, which ended up taking a ton of cars out of the race and sending Mark Martin down the track in an unorthodox manner. Lucky for him, he managed to regain his composure.
32. Elliott Sadler Knocks His Engine Block Out in Pocono in 2010
At first glance this looks like a "garden variety" crash, but when you look closely at what Sadler's car did, it becomes apparent how nasty this wreck actually was. Elliott's car hit the interior wall so hard his engine block popped right out.
31. A. J. Allmendinger Flips at the 2010 AMP Energy Juice 500
If this doesn't show you why tailgating at highway speeds is a bad idea, we don't know what will. Allmendinger got a little wiggle, and a little nudge and he suddenly was no longer in contact with the ground. The crash ended the race immediately, which Clint Bowyer surely didn't mind too much.
30. Joey Logano Does a Ton of Barrel Turns at the 2009 AAA 400
Joey Logano's back tires slipped out from underneath him in this one and everything snowballed from there. A second later another racer t-boned him and caused a truely epic number of sideway rolls. Just try to imagine what was going through his head during the teetering at the end.
29. Kyle Busch Gets a Free Flight Courtesy of Tony Stewart at the 2009 Coke Zero 400
Tony Stewart seems to have thought Kyle Busch looked a little too good in first place, so he gave him a little nudge to let him know. This nudge turned into a spin, which turned into a series of other cars crashing into him. Busch got a few frequent flyer miles from this one.
28. Big One at the 1999 Daytona 500
Teammates Kenny Irwin Jr and Dale Jarrett got a little too close and ended up knocking a bunch of people out of the '99 Daytona 500. Steve Park almost got a free flight out of the deal.
27. Carl Edwards Fails at Celebrating After the 2011 Sprint Cup All-Star Race
Carl Edwards had just won the 2011 Sprint Cup All-Star Race and a cool $1,000,000, so he did what we would all do if we had a race car in those circumstances: donuts. Edwards, however, did them into a drainage pipe and wrecked the front end of his winning vehicle... brilliant. At least he follows it up with a back flip.
26. Unintended Acceleration Takes Down Martin Truex Jr. at the 2011 Goody's Fast Relief 500
Truex's throttle gets stuck open and get him into a bit of trouble. We're talking about the "screaming metal and giant fireball" type of trouble. Kasey Kahne couldn't have been too happy about that.
25. Edwards Takes Down Keselowski in Atlanta
Carl Edwards maneuvered this one perfectly. He was mad at Keselowski for an earlier crash and really managed to send him flying. Brad didn't get his first top ten in that Dodge that day.
24. Dale Earnhardt Jr Tries to Race With Three Wheels in the 2007 Kobalt Tools 500
Earnhardt's car loses a wheel at high speed, which sends him careening into both a wall and Jamie McMurray. While Earnhardt's car was resting on a brake disk and creating a ton of sparks as it slid across the track, his wheel managed to keep going and nearly finished the lap for him.
23. Big One at the 1989 Winston 500
There were less than 20 laps to go and this crash destroyed seven cars and damaged a number of others. Despite some very hard impacts against the walls, nobody was seriously hurt, which is nothing short of miraculous given that this was before the invention of the soft barriers.
22. Elliot Sadler Does Some Acrobatics at Talladega in 2003
What olympic judge wouldn't give this breathtaking combination of flips, spins, and corkscrews a perfect ten? Sadler sure must have had a hard time trying to figure out where the hell he was during that one.
21. Trevor Boys Goes for a Wild Ride at the 1984 Talladega 500
Trevor Boys spins, slides on his roof, and rolls all in one crash. It's like watching competetive diving gone totally mad. Turn four of Talladega didn't treat him too kindly in '84.
20. Michael Waltrip Destroys His Car in Bristol in 1990
It really is amazing how quickly a car can go from racing to "not even remotely car shaped." What's even more amazing is that the little, fleshy Michael Waltrip inside can walk away from a wreck like that. Luckily he's got that hard head, which is a Waltrip family feature according to his brother.
19. Steve Grissom's Car Disintegrates in Atlanta in 1997
In 1997 at Atlanta Steve Grisson hit the inside wall really, really hard. Within seconds the entire back end of his car was gone, with just an axle flapping around wildly. Apparently, this wasn't dramatic enough so his gas tank decided to fly out of the car behind him and burst into a spectacular fireball.
18. Richard Petty at the 1970 Rebel 400
Petty lost control of his Plymouth Road Runner and ended up in a wreck that could have easily caved the roof given the tech level in 1970. After he flailed about in his cockpit, NASCAR started requiring safety nets to keep the drivers from flying out of their windows. He suffered some serious injuries, but managed to make it out alive.
17. Rusty Wallace in 1993 at Talladega
Rusty Wallace really does seem to be crash proof. He's usually flying through the air more than other drivers, but luckily, he manages to do this without getting decapitated or anything.
16. Darrell Waltrip at the 1991 Pepsi 400
Darrell Waltrip gets t-boned and launched into the infield. It looks like he's just going to slide for a while until his car hits a bump and start to roll, shedding almost all of the bodywork.
15. Big One at the 1998 Die Hard 500
Ward Burton nudges Dale Earnhardt into Bill Elliot and then all hell breaks loose. What was an orderly race a few moments earlier is suddenly nothing more than a flock of wildly spinning cars in an impenetrable cloud of smoke. Amazingly, the only injury was Earnhardt's singed mustache.
14. Dale Earnhardt in the 1996 Die Hard 500
Earnhardt makes contact and quickly ends up hitting the wall almost head on at 190mph. While he survived this one, the beginning does look eerily similar to the crash that killed him in 2001. This time, his car was rotated a few more degrees, transferring that momentum into spinning and flipping the car, rather than getting stopped all at once. He ended up breaking his collar bone, but managed to walk away under his own power.
13. Mike Harmon Cheats Death Twice in Bristol in 2002
Mike Harmon hit the wall in 2002, tore his car wide open, and made a little fireball right in front of his face. Mere seconds later, another racer collided with the wreck. Harmon must have been feeling pretty damn lucky after this incident.
12. Ricky Craven in the 1996 Winston Select 500
Ricky Craven gets all the press for this one, since his car was the only one flying around, but he certainly wasn't the only driver involved in this fustercluck. It really is amazing how much havoc can be caused by one litte nudge.
11. Cale Yarborough Does a Fillsbury Flop at Darlington in 1965
These days we have safety equipment to prevent things like this from happening; complicated devices like fences and walls. But back in 1965 Cale yarborough was free to flop right over the wall and down a small hill. Amazingly, despite the lack of what we would today call basic safety equipment in his car, he was unharmed.
10. Juan Pablo Montoya Gives us a Light Show at the 2006 Ford 400
After Ryan Newman and Juan Pablo Montoya have a little contact that ended with Newman spinning out and losing quite a bit of time, Newman decided he was out for revenge. And he sure got it. By the end of the incident, Montoya's car had burst into one of the largest fireballs in NASCAR history. This is the incident that ignited one of NASCAR's great rivalries.
PS: We cant help it "My name is Juan Pablo Montoya. You burned my car. Prepare to die."
9. Rusty Wallace in the 1993 Daytona 500
For the first second it looks like it's just going to be a run of the mill "cars bump each other and start sliding around" kind of crash. But then, things get real ugly real fast, and Wallace's car practically disintegrates.
8. Bobby Allison in the 1987 Winston 500
After blowing a tire, Allison's car spun around and the air rushing over the car caused it to create a low-pressure region over the car—just like an airplane's wing—and take flight. He took out a large section of protective fencing and came quite close to taking his own life as well as a handful of spectators. It was after this crash that the restrictor plates were installed on all cars that disrupt the airflow over the car should it turn around. Jetlife!
7. Carl Edwards in the 2009 Aaron's 499
In the last lap of the Aarons 499, Carl Edwards tried his best to prevent upstart Brad Keselowski from getting a coveted first place in his fifth Sprint Cup race. He failed miserably and ended up walking the rest of the race. Karma is a mutha.
6. Ryan Newman Pulls out His WWE Moves at the 2009 AMP Energy 500
While Ryan Newman certainly got the craziest ride out of this one, Kevin Harvick's view was certainly the most shit-your-pants-terrifying. Just try to imagine what that would look like.
5. Richard Petty Sheds Most of the Parts of his Car at the 1988 Daytona 500
Richard Petty got hit from behind and tossed into the air. His car ended up leaning against the fence and grinding both the front and the rear in a spectacular fashion. By the time all was said and done, the whole front and rear ends of his car had been ground away and then someone drove into him. Injury just isn't the same without insult.
4. Michael McDowell in 2008 Texas Sprint Cup Qualifiers
What appeared to be a normal qualifying lap suddenly turned into a rolling, bouncing, jagged steel fireball with a 23 year-old Michael Mcdowell stuck in the middle. Amazingly, he pretty much just hopped right out and walked away. More proof that all the safety equipment added in recent years really does do its job.
3. Big One at the 1973 Winston 500
On the 28th lap of the '73 Winston 500, Ramo Stott's engine blew which caused him to lose control. The issue was that he ended up causing 20 other drivers to lose control as well. There we no deaths, but many were seriously injured, including Wendell Scott, the only African-American to ever win a cup race.
2. Clint Bowyer Finishes the 2007 Daytona 500 Upside Down
Clint Bowyer was having a pretty good day as he approached the finish line in the top ten. That was until Kyle Busch intervened and created a big wreck that caused Bowyer to have to finish the race in 18th place... and on his roof with a flaming engine compartment.
1. Big One in 1960 at Daytona
In the 1960 Daytona 500, 68 cars started. Suddenly, coming out of turn four, 37 of those cars were no longer in the race. Several of the cars found themselves upside down and despite the lack of safety tech in 1960, nobody was seriosuly hurt.