After all the crashes and deaths we’ve had in the sport, safety is of the utmost importance. The one no-brainer safety item is a helmet, right? It’s a must-wear safety item in anything even remotely quick, and in such cases, an outright requirement.

Other than making sure your helmet’s chin strap is secured, what is the other safety item you check before making a run. You check your harnesses, right? This racer was wearing a helmet, but it doesn’t appear that he had it secured to his head, and it doesn’t really look like he pulled his belts tight before the run, either. During the crash, he’s flopping around in the car like a fish on the hook.

No pun intended, but it doesn’t seem the driver uses his head at all during the pass. First, he’s way out of shape at the hit. Then he tries to salvage the run by getting back in it, but he’s out of the groove, and the combination of a lot of power and short wheelbase pretty much punts the car into the wall.

Then everything hits the fan. It’s been proven, a concrete wall doesn’t move. Since the Bug probably weighs around 2,000-pounds, it doesn’t have a chance. The front end disintegrates, the doors fly open, and the car does a 360 in the middle of the track, coming to rest in the other lane facing the wall he had just hit.

It’s probably a good thing that it appears the driver wasn’t built for this car and its cage. A funny car-style cage is designed to provide a cocoon for the driver, but this pilot is too far forward for the cage to do the job it’s designed to do. However, if the driver were where he belongs, he could’ve very well suffered a head injury, or worse, when the helmet came off and flew out of the car on impact.

Secure your helmet, people, and make sure your car’s cage is built for you, not someone a foot taller.