He suffered a back injury but it could've been so much worse.
Crashes are inevitable in motorsports. Some say that if you don’t crash at some point, you’re not trying hard enough to win. Safety has improved considerably throughout most racing genres in the last few decades, which could well be the reason the driver of this NHRA Pro Mod Chevrolet Camaro is alive following nothing less than a freaking backflip at the recent U.S. Nationals event on September 1 at Indianapolis. He didn’t escape without injury, however, as he’s slated to undergo back surgery this week. More on that in a moment.
Living Life A Quarter-Mile At A Time:
Chad Green was the man behind the wheel of this purpose-built quarter-mile drag car. Green races in the NHRA Pro Modified category, and to get an idea of just how fast that group is, Mike Castellana won this year’s Pro Mod group with an elapsed time of 5.758 seconds at 248.43 mph. Accelerating from a standstill to nearly 250 mph in the same time it takes a typical hot hatchback to hit 60 mph isn’t the least bit easy, as Green found out during his qualifying run on Sunday.
If we’re being honest, the crash is spectacular but doesn’t look that bad. The car leaves the line without issue, but you can see Green struggling with traction issues from the get-go. The car goes sideways around half-track, rolls, and goes airborne before clipping the wall and flipping over. If anything, the airflow lifting the car may have saved Green from slamming hard into the wall. Unfortunately, those aerodynamic forces also sent the rear of the car well into the air, and though the incident may not look that bad, the car landed back on its wheels with sphincter-busting force.
Green went to the hospital after the crash with back injuries, which isn’t surprising given the hard impact. His exact condition isn’t known at this time – Dragzine.com reports that Green has a lower back injury that will require surgery but things could’ve been so much worse. Our best wishes go to Green and his family for a quick recovery after this crazy crash.
Source: Speedsport.com, Dragzine.com, NHRA via YouTube