zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Culture
/
Driver Walks Away From Crash After Flipping Vintage Race Car
Driver Walks Away From Crash After Flipping Vintage Race Car-November 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:12:38

A driver at the WeatherTech International Challenge vintage races held at in Elkhart, Wisconsin miraculously walked away from a crash over the weekend that sent his vintage race car flipping end over end.

Jim Pace was driving the 1974 Can-Am Shadow DN4 during a qualifying lap alongside another Shadow. It’s hard to judge the speed by the video, but that the car was traveling at 180 mph when it took flight.

The Drive reached out to Pace, who not only wasn’t seriously injured but actually exited his car on his own and walked away from the catastrophic crash. He had this to say about the accident:

“Thank you all for the concern,” Pace said via email. “A wild ride along the front straightaway at one of my favorite racetracks. A bit of air got under the nose and lifted, then blew over backward sliding down the straight. The rescue crew was there immediately and I exited on my own. Sorry, this nice car was damaged with me as the driver.”

A bit of air on the hill was all it took to turn this powerful vintage racer into a piss-poor airplane. The crash recalled similar crashes in the ‘80s and ‘90s, when various race cars would take to the air with the greatest of ease. Most notably, Mark Webber’s 1999 crash which sent a Mercedes Benz CLR cartwheeling through the air.

The crash shook up Pace, but the driver he was sharing the course with that day also knows a little something about how quickly a powerful car like a Shadow can become dangerous. Craig Bennett, who was driving alongside Pace in the other Shadow during qualifying, crashed a Shadow four years ago, except he suffered life-threatening injuries, reports.

The car Pace crashed is said to be a complete loss but the car Bennett crashed years ago was eventually restored to working order, so there may be hope for this one as well. Pictures post to Classic Car Journal show the tub is intact, though not much else survived of the car.

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Culture
Lego's Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Is The Latest Kit I Have To Buy Now
Lego's Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Is The Latest Kit I Have To Buy Now
Lego has been absolutely killing it lately, seemingly adding a new and outstanding vehicle to its repertoire of rides every other week. Just a week ago, we were introduced to the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE, joining the toymaker’s roster of GT cars of various makes and sizes....
Nov 11, 2025
Uber Wants Dibs On Vaccine, Requests Priority Access For Its Drivers
Uber Wants Dibs On Vaccine, Requests Priority Access For Its Drivers
is appealing to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control this morning in an effort to have its drivers qualify for early vaccinations. The ride-hailing company is asking the CDC to designate its drivers as non-health essential workers, as reported by : The company, in a letter to the CDC’s...
Nov 11, 2025
That Time Daihatsu Made A Better New Mini Than Mini
That Time Daihatsu Made A Better New Mini Than Mini
The was an absolute triumph of design and, , set the template for the most common automotive layout used today: the transverse-engine, FWD layout. When BMW bought the rights to the Mini brand around 2000, it set out to make a modern version of this very influential car. And...
Nov 11, 2025
Russians Are Scrambling To Buy Cars Before The Economy Catches Up With Them
Russians Are Scrambling To Buy Cars Before The Economy Catches Up With Them
It’s no secret that the global pandemic has not been kind to car sales anywhere, though Russia appears to be faring better than most. The country just recorded its third straight month of sales growth, reports, following a sharp decline of 50 percent to 70 percent early in the...
Nov 11, 2025
What's The Worst Single Decision In The History Of The Auto Industry?
What's The Worst Single Decision In The History Of The Auto Industry?
Automotive failures are weird. The process of designing, building and selling cars is enormously complex, and it’s incredibly uncommon that any outcome is the product of a single decision. BUT! There are some examples of absolutely catastrophic decisions, screw-ups so bad that they ended careers. That’s what we’re looking...
Nov 11, 2025
I Would Not Recommend The Great Wall Steed 5
I Would Not Recommend The Great Wall Steed 5
Global NCAP is a British charity with the of ridding the world of road fatalities. Toward this end, it does , often with cars that are ill-equipped for such tests. Enter the Great Wall Steed. The Great Wall Steed is a truck in the UK. Autocar and said it had...
Nov 11, 2025
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved