I was at the race inside of turn 3. I was listening to a scanner and head Jack Arute talking to the ABC production crew about how bad things looked as far as Stan Fox's condition. You could hear concern in his voice, I get chills thinking about that moment. What a terrible wreck, it's amazing that he survived, only to die driving on a highway, RIP Stan!
4th Thought: - This clip reminds me how much I miss the spirited race commentary by the great Bobby Unser. He not only brought the clout of a 2-time Indy 500 winner, he exuded true passion for the sport. He was opinionated, but fair. Never bland. It's never been as good since his departure from the broadcast team.
3 Thoughts: - Very sad aspect of a wonderful sport, illustrated here w/the late Stan Fox. - Eerie to hear, just before the accident, "Brayton begins to accelerate", knowing that he himself died there the next year. - This was an underrated 500. It had drama, exciting lead changes, the unexpected (the late flub by Goodyear), and Jacques Villeneuve drove a fantastic race after his two-lap penalty. Not sure there has ever been another Indy 500 winner coming from 2 laps down (?). -
Actually the Wikipedia article is misleading. Stan Fox suffered SEVERE Head Injuries and only miraculously recovered. He was in a COMA for 5 days and spent 3 YEARS in recovery and rehabilitation. Sadly he died in late 2000 in a head on collision in New Zealand.
Yes, but it was Goodyear that was suppposed to pace the field back for the start. Goodyear just assumed the pace car would be out of the way. Goodyear's second mistake was passing the pacecar, everyone else knew to back off and stay behind the pace car or be penalized. Goodyear arrogently passed the pace car and, surprise, surprise, got penalized for it which cost him the win.
@NewLeafNLC Miles. Unless otherwise stated, most all races in the US, the number in its title represents either the number of miles or (less often) kilometers (or estimation of) if the track is at or over a mile long, or laps, if the track is at or under a mile long
As noted above, he was killed in a collision driving a passenger car in New Zealand. The incident of which you speak sounds like Bob Wollek's tragic death on the weekend of the 12 Hours at Sebring race in 2001. Stan wasn't conscious to move his legs while the car was still moving; he suffered what amounts to "shaken-baby injury" in the initial impact and was in a coma for some time. I saw this accident live and wound up not watching the rest of the race :(
I remember watching this live in Australia in the early hours of the morning. It made me sick, i thought i was seeing things when i saw his legs flapping about. I long for the Indycars of pre IRL, the greatest form of motor racing in the world.
The only thing different these days is that Barnhart keeps telling them they're supposed to not pass the next car up on their row until they hit the line. The old rule was you could pass anyone on your row, not the next, between the short chute and the start/finish line. I.e., other cars on the front row, and especially the outside of the front row, could take the lead into turn one much more often, as they did in '82, '84, '85, '86, '89, '93 and '95.
Wow, Scott Brayton was the polesitter in this race. Unfortunately, he would die the next year during practice for this same race. Safety wasn't nearly as advanced as it is today.
His legs were pretty much okay but he suffered a head injury that ended his racing. I will never forget how freaked out I was when I saw those legs hanging out of the car.
How a car can be badly designed enough for the complete front end to come off is beyond me. It's a good thing car safety's come a long way in 10 years.
A quote from another video on this crash, from a EMT "That was the 2nd worst day of my life at IMS because I had to help clean up the accident and while we was putting Stan on the stretcher his helmet fell in two pieces in my hand and I though he was dead! " I beleive Stan was killed in traffic accident in New Zeland in 2000?? R.I.P.
It can still happen. Today, the cars are built so that the possibility of that happening is less, but if a car does get hit hard enough, it could still happen.
stan fox was still living at this crash...he hadn`t broke some bones...nothing. but 5 years later he was killed in an accident in notmal traffic. sorry if there are some mistakes but my english is bad
You can see the nose of Fox's car go shooting up the air, wings and all. Thats the big blue piece that you see rolling down the track right at the end of the video.
I will quote one of the announcers at about :42, "...debris, the main sad thing..." and then "...we see Stan Fox in front of us ... the biggest thing they have to worry about is cutting their tires..." in one sentence. Its OK to fill silent air time but make sure you say the right thing!!
thetntbone-I guess that even back to 1995 F1 were pretty safer than Cart/Indy formula cars,but I wonder how would those frames and cockpits have been reacting when smashing headon at 200mph into a concrete wall. Kubica's first impact was at approx.175mph. and with a bad angle as well,but not headon.Senna smashed sideway his car at approx.125mph against a concrete wall:the carbon fibre shell resulted almost intact in both accidents. Hitting headon is uncommon in F1.
That was something for them to worry about! I'm not saying Fox being injured is nothing important, but they can't think about that. Plus, what is Paul Page, Sam Posey and Bobby Unser supposed to say? "O yea, Fox is laying there dying on the track, o dear me." NO!!! I think they did a good job handling this, they made a few mistakes, MINOR mistakes, but in all, it was a good job.
Whoa, whoa, whoa let's back up a bit. DE Sr. was the one who died of basilar skull in the 2001 Daytona race. Smiley died when he over corrected a loose condition in Turn 2 @ Indy and hit the wall perpendicularly. He died instantly. I don't know what crash you are referring to at Charlotte in 1996. By the way, one of DE Sr. nicknames was "Ironhead" with his father having the nickname of "Ironheart".
The announcers were trying not to get worked up about it on the air and you can actually hear them trying to find other things to talk about so as not to dwell on the fact that someone may have just died in front of live tv cameras.
Stan, Talked on the "Address System" Next year. NO Broken legs!!! MASSIVE Head Injury's!! (There were NO "H.A.N.S. device", back then). After getting back to "Sprint Car" racing, in 2 yrs., He was killed by a DUI Driver years later. -Cave
I remember watching this live in the UK - and after what had happened in F1 in '94, I was so relieved that no-one was killed. Anybody know why the Menard team (Brayton, Luyendyk et al) dropped back after the start - they'd been the fastest in qualifying
The announcers LACK of INFORMATION about Fox, spoke VOLUMES about the seriousness of the situation, especially since early in the segment they showed Fox, completely exposed, just sitting in the car remains. Racing announcers are ALWAYS QUICK to mention if the driver appears to be alright, if they are NOT doing that, especially if they are "ignoring" a driver in a serious crash, better start praying hard.
If all he got was a bruised heel, damn!!! Looks like watching the clips that his feet/legs actually hit the wall. I remember a photo in the sports page of the crash with Fox's legs actually hanging out of the car while it was in mid air.
In interviews afterwards he said he was furious with Fox and he was going to go and yell at him; you can see his shock though as he turns around and sees the mess. He then felt bad about wanting to go punch Fox.
John Menard doesn't own anything in NA$CAR. He gives some sponsorship money to Robby Gordon and that's about it. His son, Paul(who always looks stoned) drives for DEI.
I was there sitting in turn 2 and remember thinking as I watched that he was going over the wall. Then when I could see his legs hanging out I thought he might be dead. A little rough for a then 14 year old.
man i was right there that year i cant believe that race. scott goodyear got black flagged right at the end of the race... and whats sad is that stan fox died in a car accident a few years later
I don't know why I am bothering but in the interests of completeness Russell Phillips was the name of the driver that was decapitated in a NASCAR sportsman race in 1995 at Charlotte. Smiley was killed in 1982 Earnhardt in 2001 champcar4ever is 100% correct
nope,champcar's data is ok and it goes further... actually,the "intimidator"died to a rather inocous crash at Daytona,as his safety harness broke,causing his body to jolt violently over the steering wheel with the aforementioned consequences also,Earnhardt was using a open-face helmet despite being advised by both fellow drivers,race inspectors and friends not to do so
He was soooo lucky that he didnt go into the wall alone. Gordon smiley did pretty much the same thing at close to the same speed and smiley was killed. Also lucky he didnt get hit again after the nose was torn off.
No.. stan had years of Indy car racing experience under his belt, a lot more than most of the drivers in the field that day. He did make a mistake, but it wasn't because of lack of experience. Just driver error.
I love most forms of motorsports, but I have become annoyed at the outcomes of Indy car crashes. So many times the front sections of the cars detach and leave the driver body exposed. I mean why don't the employ a monoque+frame chassis on these cars. I understand that the cars will dissipate energy, but at the expense of the driver. Maybe I am out of touch I dunno...
My seat was above Foyt/Cheever pit. I grew up watching Foyt drive, and all I could think was, "I wouldn't want to be Cheever coming back to tell AJ he just wrecked his car, 1st lap!!!!!!!! Oh, (debris)and debris Bobby debris Unser, shut the hell up, cheater!!
His poor feet were dragging on the ground!----- The announcers didnt make any note of that they were just being dks about it and blaming the wreck on him
at 1:23 You think De Farren thought his car could have been fixed in the pits? "Just change three of the tires I don't need the fourth." (I know that's what not happened just kidding since some people on you tube take everything so seriously)
@Jeb1945 Right...I wonder just what they used to consider "aligned grid", because, clearly, when you see the race official waving green flags, drivers are not even close to be 3-wide all around... =P
If you know anything about racing at all you know that cars break. as the announcers said "it looks like something broke in Fox's car to cause him to turn violently right into the field." he obviously didn't do that on purpose. no one would! so stop acting like your speaking the truth your just sounding like a jerk to people that actually know what there talking about and have a lot of experience in and around racing.
JustinKozsan doesn't mean something broke. He could have hit the bottom of the track and overcorrected the car. He could have just lost it because there was a car to the outside of him.
HOLY SHIT...SO THE MAIN PROBLEM IS DEBRIS o and that guy who is half out of the car into the wall but DEBRIS THE BIIIG STORY AND LOOK FOR THE DEBRIS AND DEBRIS DEBRIS DEBRIS
"The main BAD THING" *camera pans to stan fox's legs hanging out of car*
I was at the race inside of turn 3. I was listening to a scanner and head Jack Arute talking to the ABC production crew about how bad things looked as far as Stan Fox's condition. You could hear concern in his voice, I get chills thinking about that moment. What a terrible wreck, it's amazing that he survived, only to die driving on a highway, RIP Stan!
I'm surprised he didn't lose his legs. Holy crap.
4th Thought:
- This clip reminds me how much I miss the spirited race commentary by the great Bobby Unser. He not only brought the clout of a 2-time Indy 500 winner, he exuded true passion for the sport. He was opinionated, but fair. Never bland. It's never been as good since his departure from the broadcast team.
3 Thoughts:
- Very sad aspect of a wonderful sport, illustrated here w/the late Stan Fox.
- Eerie to hear, just before the accident, "Brayton begins to accelerate", knowing that he himself died there the next year.
- This was an underrated 500. It had drama, exciting lead changes, the unexpected (the late flub by Goodyear), and Jacques Villeneuve drove a fantastic race after his two-lap penalty. Not sure there has ever been another Indy 500 winner coming from 2 laps down (?).
-
It's insane that Fox's legs hit the wall twice after he landed. And still he didn't lose his legs.
yeah, I'm fairly confident that start wouldn't be allowed today-too many cars not lined up neatly.
Never a good thing when most of your "safely cell" is bouncing down the track 50 feet behind you.
Actually the Wikipedia article is misleading. Stan Fox suffered SEVERE Head Injuries and only miraculously recovered. He was in a COMA for 5 days and spent 3 YEARS in recovery and rehabilitation. Sadly he died in late 2000 in a head on collision in New Zealand.
I was in the 1st turn for this. He literally hit the wall directly in front of us. One of the most terrifying things I've seen in person.
Yes, but it was Goodyear that was suppposed to pace the field back for the start. Goodyear just assumed the pace car would be out of the way. Goodyear's second mistake was passing the pacecar, everyone else knew to back off and stay behind the pace car or be penalized. Goodyear arrogently passed the pace car and, surprise, surprise, got penalized for it which cost him the win.
@NewLeafNLC
Miles.
Unless otherwise stated, most all races in the US, the number in its title represents either the number of miles or (less often) kilometers (or estimation of) if the track is at or over a mile long, or laps, if the track is at or under a mile long
Geez, that was a messy start even before the crash.
As noted above, he was killed in a collision driving a passenger car in New Zealand. The incident of which you speak sounds like Bob Wollek's tragic death on the weekend of the 12 Hours at Sebring race in 2001. Stan wasn't conscious to move his legs while the car was still moving; he suffered what amounts to "shaken-baby injury" in the initial impact and was in a coma for some time. I saw this accident live and wound up not watching the rest of the race :(
Scott Brayton, god rest his soul. No man enjoyed qualifying more than him. It's a shame him, nor owner John Menard never won the race.
Actually, this was 1995 and he died in 2000 (age 48) RIP Stan
I remember watching this live in Australia in the early hours of the morning. It made me sick, i thought i was seeing things when i saw his legs flapping about. I long for the Indycars of pre IRL, the greatest form of motor racing in the world.
The only thing different these days is that Barnhart keeps telling them they're supposed to not pass the next car up on their row until they hit the line. The old rule was you could pass anyone on your row, not the next, between the short chute and the start/finish line. I.e., other cars on the front row, and especially the outside of the front row, could take the lead into turn one much more often, as they did in '82, '84, '85, '86, '89, '93 and '95.
wow, crazy how relaxed the commentators were. I guess there were more bad wrecks back then
i was 11, i remember this crash like it was yesterday.
holy crap! they need to start the races like this now
Wow, Scott Brayton was the polesitter in this race. Unfortunately, he would die the next year during practice for this same race. Safety wasn't nearly as advanced as it is today.
His legs were pretty much okay but he suffered a head injury that ended his racing. I will never forget how freaked out I was when I saw those legs hanging out of the car.
How a car can be badly designed enough for the complete front end to come off is beyond me. It's a good thing car safety's come a long way in 10 years.
A quote from another video on this crash, from a EMT
"That was the 2nd worst day of my life at IMS because I had to help clean up the accident and while we was putting Stan on the stretcher his helmet fell in two pieces in my hand and I though he was dead! "
I beleive Stan was killed in traffic accident in New Zeland in 2000??
R.I.P.
That was Fox on the grass, that's why he hit the wall at a sharper angle. Cheever was the one who got hit.
CART cars were so beautiful...
It can still happen. Today, the cars are built so that the possibility of that happening is less, but if a car does get hit hard enough, it could still happen.
stan fox was still living at this crash...he hadn`t broke some bones...nothing.
but 5 years later he was killed in an accident in notmal traffic.
sorry if there are some mistakes but my english is bad
You can see the nose of Fox's car go shooting up the air, wings and all. Thats the big blue piece that you see rolling down the track right at the end of the video.
Remarkably, his only injuries other than the head injury were little more than bruises.
Poor Stan was never the same after this.
I will quote one of the announcers at about :42, "...debris, the main sad thing..." and then "...we see Stan Fox in front of us ... the biggest thing they have to worry about is cutting their tires..." in one sentence.
Its OK to fill silent air time but make sure you say the right thing!!
thetntbone-I guess that even back to 1995 F1
were pretty safer than Cart/Indy formula cars,but I wonder how would those frames and cockpits have been reacting when smashing headon at 200mph into a concrete wall.
Kubica's first impact was at approx.175mph. and with a bad angle as well,but not headon.Senna smashed sideway his car at approx.125mph against a concrete wall:the carbon fibre shell resulted almost intact in both accidents.
Hitting headon is uncommon in F1.
Hi UncleWillis, You, obviously are one of the few sensible ones.
That was something for them to worry about! I'm not saying Fox being injured is nothing important, but they can't think about that. Plus, what is Paul Page, Sam Posey and Bobby Unser supposed to say? "O yea, Fox is laying there dying on the track, o dear me." NO!!! I think they did a good job handling this, they made a few mistakes, MINOR mistakes, but in all, it was a good job.
Whoa, whoa, whoa let's back up a bit. DE Sr. was the one who died of basilar skull in the 2001 Daytona race. Smiley died when he over corrected a loose condition in Turn 2 @ Indy and hit the wall perpendicularly. He died instantly.
I don't know what crash you are referring to at Charlotte in 1996. By the way, one of DE Sr. nicknames was "Ironhead" with his father having the nickname of "Ironheart".
The announcers were trying not to get worked up about it on the air and you can actually hear them trying to find other things to talk about so as not to dwell on the fact that someone may have just died in front of live tv cameras.
Stan, Talked on the "Address System" Next year.
NO Broken legs!!! MASSIVE Head Injury's!!
(There were NO "H.A.N.S. device", back then).
After getting back to "Sprint Car" racing, in 2 yrs., He was killed by a DUI Driver years later.
-Cave
I remember at the time some people said a trash bag blew onto the track and Fox ran over it before crashing.
I remember watching this live in the UK - and after what had happened in F1 in '94, I was so relieved that no-one was killed.
Anybody know why the Menard team (Brayton, Luyendyk et al) dropped back after the start - they'd been the fastest in qualifying
The last REAL Indy 500
The announcers LACK of INFORMATION about Fox, spoke VOLUMES about the seriousness of the situation, especially since early in the segment they showed Fox, completely exposed, just sitting in the car remains. Racing announcers are ALWAYS QUICK to mention if the driver appears to be alright, if they are NOT doing that, especially if they are "ignoring" a driver in a serious crash, better start praying hard.
If all he got was a bruised heel, damn!!! Looks like watching the clips that his feet/legs actually hit the wall. I remember a photo in the sports page of the crash with Fox's legs actually hanging out of the car while it was in mid air.
It was actually Turn 3 not Turn 2 that Smiley crashed at.
I don't really follow this kind of racing, but are the crowds small now?
JESUS, fox, man thats insane hes lucky to still have legs
cant beleive he survived that... his legs were dangling right out there and he smoke that wall.
Wonder if Goodyear's spotter was screaming in his ear not to pass the pace car.
I think of course you meant Dale Earnhardt. Smiley of course died at Indianapolis in 1982 in one of the most horrific crashes ever.
i always forget it,, is the indy 500 500 laps or 500 miles?
In interviews afterwards he said he was furious with Fox and he was going to go and yell at him; you can see his shock though as he turns around and sees the mess. He then felt bad about wanting to go punch Fox.
lol, the camera pans to stans car then the cameraman notices his legs visible OUTSIDE the car and quickly zooms out and pans away.
John Menard doesn't own anything in NA$CAR. He gives some sponsorship money to Robby Gordon and that's about it. His son, Paul(who always looks stoned) drives for DEI.
The odd thing is that they really didn't act like anything happened to Fox.
was that paul page commentating?
I was there sitting in turn 2 and remember thinking as I watched that he was going over the wall. Then when I could see his legs hanging out I thought he might be dead. A little rough for a then 14 year old.
@utheman01 Smiley made a mistake and overcorrected the car, which wasn't the case with Fox.
after this crash or the road accident?
when did he die in NZ?
How do Indy starts work? Do they come up to the green flags full-speed?
They were not.Stans feet were the least of his problems from that crash.Internal and brain damage.R.I.P.Stan,he did what you cant.
@erwinruys In fact it was exactly the problem. Loose on the inside, overcorrect, turn right.
man i was right there that year i cant believe that race. scott goodyear got black flagged right at the end of the race... and whats sad is that stan fox died in a car accident a few years later
I don't know why I am bothering but in the interests of completeness Russell Phillips was the name of the driver that was decapitated in a NASCAR sportsman race in 1995 at Charlotte. Smiley was killed in 1982 Earnhardt in 2001 champcar4ever is 100% correct
Yeah, he unfortunately died in 2000 in a regular car crash.
HIS LEGS HIT THE WALL
Yeah. I wish I still had it. =(
@kcphotoman1 you forgot the massive head injuries
you can see Fox's legs just flailing about in that last slow motion replay. urgh....
No, he survived but died some years later in a road accident.
damn IndyCars are so sick
nope,champcar's data is ok
and it goes further...
actually,the "intimidator"died to a rather inocous crash at Daytona,as his safety harness broke,causing his body to jolt violently over the steering wheel with the aforementioned consequences
also,Earnhardt was using a open-face helmet despite being advised by both fellow drivers,race inspectors and friends not to do so
He was soooo lucky that he didnt go into the wall alone. Gordon smiley did pretty much the same thing at close to the same speed and smiley was killed. Also lucky he didnt get hit again after the nose was torn off.
Stan Fox, only bruises heel after his legs are dangling from this mid air flight!
Google "Stan Fox Indy Crash" for incredible still photos!
no your wrong - they are proffessional, and know the gravity of these situations only too well,
@Villeneuve27 he died 5 years later not months later
WAS SITTING IN THE FIRST TURN
Indeed it is
@slitheringinterstate Your thinking of Russel Phillups
Uh....no one died. Fox was pretty messed up but wasn't fatally injured.
No.. stan had years of Indy car racing experience under his belt, a lot more than most of the drivers in the field that day. He did make a mistake, but it wasn't because of lack of experience. Just driver error.
that start was really messed up
it was over 5 years later that he died.
man racins racin, if its got wheels and a motor im all over it..although indy doesnt get the publicity it deserves
wow whats was his nickname LUCKY.
I love most forms of motorsports, but I have become annoyed at the outcomes of Indy car crashes. So many times the front sections of the cars detach and leave the driver body exposed. I mean why don't the employ a monoque+frame chassis on these cars. I understand that the cars will dissipate energy, but at the expense of the driver. Maybe I am out of touch I dunno...
jesus the front of his car is torn off you can see his bare body and legs slam against the wall
My seat was above Foyt/Cheever pit. I grew up watching Foyt drive, and all I could think was, "I wouldn't want to be Cheever coming back to tell AJ he just wrecked his car, 1st lap!!!!!!!!
Oh, (debris)and debris Bobby debris Unser, shut the hell up, cheater!!
Was lucky. He died back in the early 00s if memory serves.
did he died?
"daybree"? debris sheesh
His poor feet were dragging on the ground!----- The announcers didnt make any note of that they were just being dks about it and blaming the wreck on him
at 1:23 You think De Farren thought his car could have been fixed in the pits? "Just change three of the tires I don't need the fourth." (I know that's what not happened just kidding since some people on you tube take everything so seriously)
@Jeb1945 Right...I wonder just what they used to consider "aligned grid", because, clearly, when you see the race official waving green flags, drivers are not even close to be 3-wide all around... =P
No, he did die years later though.
They should have called off the start. I'm not expecting it to be perfect, but, that was far from clean.
If you know anything about racing at all you know that cars break. as the announcers said "it looks like something broke in Fox's car to cause him to turn violently right into the field." he obviously didn't do that on purpose. no one would! so stop acting like your speaking the truth your just sounding like a jerk to people that actually know what there talking about and have a lot of experience in and around racing.
JustinKozsan doesn't mean something broke. He could have hit the bottom of the track and overcorrected the car. He could have just lost it because there was a car to the outside of him.
@adampope64 yeah he kinda died a while ago, you were better to sya he was lucky to still have legs
he's dead, but not from this wreck
HOLY SHIT...SO THE MAIN PROBLEM IS DEBRIS o and that guy who is half out of the car into the wall but DEBRIS THE BIIIG STORY AND LOOK FOR THE DEBRIS AND DEBRIS DEBRIS DEBRIS