Motorsports

Watch this terrifying near miss from the first day of Indy 500 testing

Colton Herta just barely avoided a 220+ mph collision with a helpless car

Apr 21st 2022 at 12:15PM

Testing for this year’s running of the Indy 500 is officially underway, and the first day already has our hearts in our throats.

Will Power of Penske Chevrolet, 2018’s Indy 500 winner, spun out from the pit exit as he was going around the turn 1 warmup lane. Unfortunately, he spun up and into traffic moving at full speed through turn 1. Drivers are going upwards of 220 mph through here, so it’s an incredibly dangerous place to be helpless and stationary. 

Colton Herta, racing for Gainbridge Honda, was coming up to and around turn 1 just as Power spun up into the track with nearly the worst possible timing imaginable. You can watch the result below.

Thankfully, Herta had just enough time to veer out of the way and avoid a brutal, high-speed collision with Power’s helpless car. However, Herta’s quick move mid-corner caused his car to go into a spin. He ended up nudging the turn 1 barrier, causing minor damage to his car. It all could have been so much worse, though.

If you’re curious to see the incident from Power’s point of view, he posted the footage in a tweet we’ve embedded just below.

We’re over a month away from the running of the 106th Indy 500. It’s scheduled for Sunday May 29, so there’s plenty of testing and qualifying yet to be done.

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