Video: Sprint car driver emerges unharmed after flying over wall

This is nothing short of a miracle.

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The protective nature of racecars was on full display this weekend.

In Sunday’s Indy 500, Scott Dixon went airborne into a wall and walked away without a scratch, but what happened the night before in a small Iowa town was even more miraculous.

During sprint car racing at Knoxville Raceway, Alan Zoutte’s car went soaring into the air after he bumped another driver while going into a turn. The car cleared the wall and smashed through the advertising billboards above before landing mere feet from N. Lincoln Street. Improbably, Zoutte climbed out of the wreckage unaided.

Even more unbelievably, Zoutte’s father did the same thing 44 years ago. I wonder if he, like Zoutte, compared the sensation of the crash to riding “down a hill in a tractor tire.”

The two racecars weren’t the only vehicles damaged in the wreck. A tractor trailer passing by on the adjacent street ended up with a smashed windshield.

Published May 30, 2017 | Modified May 30, 2017

DAN GARTLAND

Dan Gartland writes Sports Illustrated’s flagship daily newsletter, SI:AM, and is the host of the “Stadium Wonders” video series. He joined the SI staff in 2014, having previously been published on Deadspin and Slate. Gartland, a graduate of Fordham University, is a former Sports Jeopardy! champion (Season 1, Episode 5).

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