feature-image
feature-image

There is no denying the fact that motorsport is a dangerous business. Sure, many motor racing series have come a long way, in terms of safety. However, there is always the lingering risk of a potential crash and even a possible injury for a driver. Sometimes, drivers can also injure themselves away from the track. This is something that NASCAR stars, like Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman are intimately familiar with.

Terrell Owens holding Dude Wipes XL

Now, there are several different types of crashes, ranging in severity. To be precise, they can range from cars simply sliding into a gravel trap to a light brush with the barriers on a street track. In a worst-case scenario, the crash can be a fairly violent one, placing a lot of G-force strain on the drivers. Unfortunately, this is something that fans recently got to see with NBC’s latest post on Twitter.

Watch What’s Trending Now!

ADVERTISEMENT

There Was a Violent Crash in the Michelin Pilot Challenge

Recently, the Michelin Pilot Challenge made landfall at the Detroit Street Circuit for the fourth round of the season. Daniel Morad and Bryce Ward went on to win the race. The duo finished ahead of Eric Filgueiras & Stevan McAleer, and Marc Miller & Michael Di Meo. However, the real story was a violent crash involving Robert Megennis and Rory van der Steur.

As it happened, Megennis’ BMW was chasing van der Steur’s Aston Martin.

ADVERTISEMENT

The duo was battling for position when Megennis braked a little too late into the corner. Owing to the momentum, he careened into the back of an unsuspecting van de Steur. Megennis’ BMW went airborne and practically climbed over the Aston Martin. Luckily, both drivers were okay, and Megennis was surprisingly able to drive for a bit longer before retiring the car.

ADVERTISEMENT

It was a scene that closely resembled the 2021 Italian F1 Grand Prix, where Max Verstappen’s Red Bull landed on Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes.

READ MORE: Outraged Fans Slam ‘Out of Touch’ NASCAR Amid Reports of Ridiculously Expensive Tickets for Chicago Street Race

ADVERTISEMENT

NASCAR Fans Say Similar Scenes Could Happen at Chicago

Switching gears to NASCAR, the paddock is soon going to head to the Chicago Street Course. This will be the first time in the sport’s history that the cars will be competing on a street track. However, many fans are skeptical about this race, especially since street tracks are generally narrow in nature.

ADVERTISEMENT

Formula One and Formula E have proven, on repeated occasions, that the narrow tracks make it difficult to overtake.

On the other end of the scale, some are worried that there could be a lot of carnage at the street race. Especially since the stock cars are fairly big and a lot less agile, compared to Formula One or Formula E cars. So this only makes things a lot more dangerous. And now, this incident at the Michelin Pilot Challenge seems like a teaser to what would go down at the Chicago Street Race.

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Though in defense of the Chicago Street Course, no one knows how wide or narrow the track is, and we won’t find that out until much later.

What are your thoughts on NASCAR’s first-ever Street Race? Could it be a success? Let us know in the comments.

ADVERTISEMENT

WATCH THIS STORY: $50 Million NASCAR Street Race Set to Cause Major Disruptions in Chicago City Ahead of the Racing Event

Share this with a friend:

Link Copied!

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Written by

author-image

Dhruv George

14,834 Articles

Dhruv George is EssentiallySports’ foremost authority on motorsport and a founding member of the outlet’s NASCAR desk. A Journalism graduate fluent in English and French, he brings over eight years of motorsports journalism experience covering everything from high-octane NASCAR battles to the finesse of Formula 1 and MotoGP. His extensive paddock access has earned him exclusive interviews with top names such as Know more

Edited by

editor-image

Ranvijay Singh

ADVERTISEMENT