NASCAR is equal parts dangerous as it is exciting. A single wrong move can not only end a driver’s career but also their lives. For Johnny Benson, an accident took place in 2009 that easily brought out the worst part of his racing career—the fear of death. While he has recovered from the injuries of his 2009 IMSA crash, his description of the horrific tragedy is enough to send shivers down the spine of any listener.

Johnny Benson gets honest about the consequences of his tragedy

During the latest episode of Dale Jr. Download, Johnny Benson was starring as the guest speaker. At one point, the duo struck up a conversation where Dale Jr. asked him about his 2009 crash. Speaking up, Benson said,

“Yep, it was by far—I shouldn’t have lived through that one. They had computers in the car. NASCAR came and looked at the car after this wreck. They said that he’s never seen it spike straight up. While the computer only went to 100G, it was straight up. It wasn’t poised at an angle but straight up. 

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“I was in the ICU for four days. I didn’t think it was going to be touch and go things. But I mean, my lungs, my kidneys, and all that were in pretty bad shape. Same with the knocking in my head, I was bleeding out of my ear and all that fun stuff. But I have my moments where I can’t remember what happened yesterday. I have to figure out; I don’t know if there’s a way around that.”

During the accident, Benson was driving his IMSA ride when it spun out of control and ended up colliding with another car. The crash was so severe that his car shot up in flames, leaving him at the mercy of the marshals to escape the worst.

As he explains the moments from the crash, there are multiple tell-tale signs of him avoiding death by a hair’s breadth. A 100G crash is no joke. One G is the force that we humans experience when gravity pulls us down. So imagine how it would feel when, for a second, your body is subjected to 100 times that pressure and forced to sustain it while you are already experiencing a very tense situation like racing.

It is no wonder that the force completely destroyed his organs from the inside. To quote another similar incident, Esteban Ocon explained that he also faced a similar situation when he had a disastrous crash. As a result of the accident, his kidneys were so severely damaged that he would end up bleeding during urination.

No wonder Benson is completely shocked that he was able to live through the crash. Although it should also be considered a boon of the recent safety precautions that any racing series mandates. Head and neck safety devices and crumple zones in the car often let the drivers escape the worst of the incidents.

As their conversation continues further, Dale Jr. and Johnny Benson also reveal the mentality and dilemma of racing drivers as they grow older.

Dale Jr. reveals the inevitable truth of racing

Human beings grow older; they are transient creatures. Racing drivers might be the best of us with their strict diets and bodies tuned to stay in top shape for performing in extreme environments, but even they can’t escape the jaws of time.

As Dale Jr. goes on to explain, every passing race week and every crash changes them slightly. “I will tell you this: I am not the same version. This is 2.0. There was this one version before the wreck, and now there’s this version. And that I just had to come to terms with. I was not going to be as sharp or as elite as I wanted to be.”

He also reveals that the bodies of racers are so precisely adapted to racing that in case they end up leaving the car for a long period of time, they immediately notice the changes and degradation in their body.

Their sharp concentration drops down immediately, and if they were away while others were racing, they would end up lagging behind other competitors. Benson also adds his own comments, which reveal that even minor lapses during the race can be game-changing.

“The one thing I don’t have problems with is actually being in the car. And I think it’s—you go to concentrate so hard that it forces you to stay on track, right? I mean, sometimes under caution you find yourself like, ‘Yeah, I’d rather go back green now.’ 

“So I definitely don’t have the problem in the car, but I’ll get a horrendous headache that I never used to have before. Probably just started in the last three or four years. I don’t do that for long, but only for a short minute; it kind of feels like your head is getting cut off. And then it kind of goes away.”

While Benson’s crash was a horrifying incident that threatened to snatch everything that he held dear, at least he lives to tell the tale thanks to the safety precautions of modern racing. It also makes the audience respect these drivers even more. As athletes, they end up risking their lives every week to provide the fans with adrenaline-inducing entertainment.