Simona de Silvestro's fiery rescue at the Firestone 550 – Click above to watch video after the jump
If you happened to catch the Firestone 550 at the Texas Motor Speedway this weekend, chances are you saw one of the scariest motorsports moments in recent history. On lap 99, 21-year-old rookie Simona de Silvestro wound up hitting the wall, her car erupting into a fireball as it slid along the crash barrier before coming to a stop on the apron. While rescue crews were on the scene in moments, it took them more than 25 seconds to begin extracting de Silvestro from the flaming wreckage, and even longer to get any sort of suppression on the inferno due to some apparent equipment issues.
One safety worker managed to rescue the driver from her car, but it took some serious yanking. De Silvestro managed to walk away from the incident with only minor burns to the palm of her right hand, which is pretty amazing considering how long she was sitting in the fire.
According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, de Silvestro's car simply got a little too loose as it came out of the corner and she hit the wall as a result. Hop the jump to see some frightening video of the crash.
[Source: YouTube, Fort Worth Star-Telegram]
The video meant to be presented here is no longer available. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Sign in to post
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Continue