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Five Drivers Who Have Survived Wrecks They Shouldn’t Have

By Marco Venosta

Nov 20, 2016; Homestead, FL, USA; The car of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Martin Truex Jr. (78) catches fire after a wreck during the Ford Ecoboost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 20, 2016; Homestead, FL, USA; The car of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Martin Truex Jr. (78) catches fire after a wreck during the Ford Ecoboost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports /
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Ernie Irvan

Nicknamed “Swervin’ Irvan” for often driving too aggressively, the 15-time winner in Winston Cup had a career marred with injuries. In 1994 during practice at Michigan International Speedway a tire failure sent him straight into the outside wall at 170 mph.

He suffered critical brain and lung injuries: the doctors did not expect him to survive the first night. He proved them wrong, and was soon recovering to go back to racing. After a lengthy recovery a year and a half later he was back on the track. He hadn’t lost his talent and managed to win a few more races proving once again his competitive spirit. But he crashed heavily at Michigan again in 1999 during a Busch Series practice session.

Diagnosed with another head injury, he recovered again but decided to retire from racing soon after to prevent himself from getting in big trouble again. Unfortunately no video footage exists of his two nearly fatal crashes.

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