Gordon Smiley horrific fatal Crash @ Indy 500 1982

Gordon Smiley is killed in a practice crash during the qualifyings warmup lap for the Indy 500 1982. He was countersteering a slide in turn 3 and put the car head on into the wall.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Indy
• 500
• fatal
• Crash
• Accident
• Gordon
• Smiley
• Race
• 1982
• Death
• Tod
• Unfall
• Indianapolis
• Champcar
• Formula
• Indycar
• Car
• IRL

[00steven18]

What people don't understand is that Gordon was a very skilled road racer and performed very well in the 1981 Indy 500. He was one of the faster guys in '82, but didn't understand why his car couldn't go as fast as the Penske cars and became very frustrated. Gordon was a VERY aggresive driver and it suited him well on the road courses.

But unfortunatly, Indy is a much different story. He pressed to hard and made a mistake. Simple as that.

We lost a great racer and man. R.I.P. Gordon

[cole12318]

my dad was in those stands

[pe6obutilkata]

Just read about his injuries in wikipedia..... horrific.

[FaithChick1]

@supercrapnstuff11 It is a tragic and unfortunate occurrence in racing. I hate that it works that way but the drivers know this and assume the risk. Hopefully someday they will become more proactive with safe guarding but the reality is in that sport and at those speeds they can not avoid all injury and death.

[supercrapnstuff11]

@FaithChick1 well, im going to assume you watch things like Dale Earnhardt and you go, what the hell how do you die from that? stupid ass shit...i wanna slap who ever came up with the idea to change the rules AFTER people die

[kingofrunescapepking]

@acenace24 And nobody's been seriously injured since Steve Park at Darlington later that year

[Sparkz49]

@TheSasha555

His head didn't fly into the stands, it stayed on his body. However, the speed at which his head hit the catch fence did tear his helmet off and scalp him, sending bits of his brain trailing behind him on the track.

[TheSasha555]

I heard it was really gruesome because his head flew into the stands.

[FaithChick1]

In racing sports with some accidents the wreak looks fatal but the driver walks away without a scratch. Despite the speed other smaller accidents seem like nothing but the driver doesn't live. In Smiley's case the results were clear the second his car went airborne. R.I.P. to a awesome diver.

[wallsofink]

damn that just about looks like the coolest way to die

[skillbill83]

just like that. In less than a second.

[MultiPERKZ]

@saintluke87 turbo ground effect cars have you heard yourself. who wants to watch a car race on an oval track its boring as fuck. oh yeah americans like boring sports.