Carl, did any of those LCAs bend in a way to let you finish the stage or get back to service? My "off" was such a light tap that I was really surprised that I bent my steel one.
the first one was Ojibwe 2009 - we hit a rock or something while pulling over to let a car pass (this was the open light version of the car - both the car and I were very slow). We were able to drive the rest of the stage, the next stage and the final transit. It ate the fender and tire but was drivable.
the next one was LSPR 2010, we hit a rock exposed by a washout and broke the wheel, tie rod, ball joint, control arm, and severely damaged the wheel bearing. But the control arm itself wouldn't have prevented the car from being driven - this was the hardest impact of the 3 but resulted in the least amount of damage to the arm.
The last one was Sno*Drift 2011, went into a ditch, didn't feel any hard impact but the arm was bent (nothing else damaged, tie rod and ball joint ok). Was able to flat tow car off the stage (would have drove it but too much mud in the engine bay to risk overheating).
so yes, all 3 times the arm would still allow for the car to be driven although the tire was typically contacting the back of the wheel well to some degree.