There's a lot to be learned here guys, from both a safety standpoint, and a driver coherency standpoint.
The OP stated they'd he couldn't imagine what was going through the drivers mind. It's very clear to me that from the moment that he realized there was a problem with the brakes, he immediately went into "landing mode". His thoughts went from racing with peers, to protecting his peers first, then himself.
I've watched this video over and over, from different views, and I have to say that this is a textbook maneuver. Without panic, he immediately turned out to miss the guys in front of him, while downshifting to slow himself as much as he could with engine deceleration. Once clear, he went into a drift type move to scrub as much speed as possible, while setting himself up to contact the barrier wall with the right side of the car. As Ron mentioned, the full containment seat was a life saver in this case, as was belts, cage, helmet, etc. And he only had a couple seconds to do all of this. As a former driver, I'm impressed, and once the dust cleared and the car went on the truck, you would have never known by looking at the car that this was a 130 mph impact. Had this been my Chevelle, or most other PT cars, the result would have been much, much different. For those of you running these type speeds, please reconsider today what would happen to you if this was your car, in this accident.
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