[Mike Hurst]

6:00pm today, 63 year old Mario Andretti, testing an IRL car for his son's team, ramped up off a piece of the undertray from Kenny Breck's crashed car and did three back flips in the south chute @ 220mph...and walked away.

The video (shot from a local news helicopter) is incredible.

Sorry about the non-rally content.

 

[travmn]

is there a site w/ a downloadable video clip available?

 

[Ben]

>is there a site w/ a downloadable video clip available?

I think it's available at espn.com in the RPM section.

Ben

 

[grinner323]

Holy smokes... shades of LeMans a few years ago.
Philip J. Boer
[email protected]

 

[Don Kennedy]

He is one lucky man.

 

[SeanKHotay]

Whee! Whee!.....in your pants!

[http://espn.go.com/rpm/irl/2003/0423/1543659.html]

 

[Trevor Donison]

>He is one lucky man.

Yes, he is.

He was going to crash into the co-drivers side until he realized he didn't have one, so he didn't end up hitting anything... Looks pretty amazing, but no sudden stop at the end.

 

[Adrian Wintle]

>>He is one lucky man.
>
>Yes, he is.
>
>He was going to crash into the co-drivers side until he
>realized he didn't have one, so he didn't end up hitting
>anything... Looks pretty amazing, but no sudden stop at the
>end.

It looked like the catch fencing absorbed a lot of the energy. I was interested to see that it seemed to keep all the major parts on the racetrack (rather than in the stands).

Also, the fact that the car flipped would have scrubbed a lot of the speed, but, as Trevor said, the lack of a sudden stop was probably the most important thing in preventing a major injury.

Adrian

 

[Wink Timber]

So why was Mario in a race car at Indy anyway?

Apparently because Michael A's other IRL drivers have pulled up lame.

Interview on THE TODAY SHOW this morning (Fri 4/25) and he looked quite relaxed... and in damn good shape for a 63 year old. The crash sequence was shown over and over and over.

 

[Bruce]

This morning's news said Mario had decided not to try to qualify a car at Indy this year. He never intended to race, just qualify one of Michael's cars for anotehr driver.

Bruce

 

[Morgan]

Has anyone seen the IMAX movie Super Speedway about Mario Andretti and family and how they build and test the cars? It is now on DVD and is pretty good! Very fun and Worth it for the sound alone

 

[MatKobernick]

I cant find the video on that link? anyone direct me?