Crash Sequence: Mustang Nearly Escapes Green Cove Dragway

There’s a funny thing about auto insurance — by and large, it doesn’t cover anything that may happen to your vehicle while competing at the track, or what insurers would deem extracurricular use. Once you sign the tech card and put it between the beams, you’re pretty well on your own without taking out a supplemental insurance policy for the track. Most car enthusiasts splitting their vehicle between street and occasional strip duty never end up in a precarious situation, but you never know when it’s your unlucky day. With that in mind, you can certainly understand the plight that this racer found himself in over the weekend.

Ace lensman Doug Freeman captured this wild sequence at Florida’s Green Cove Dragway in Green Cove Springs as Middleburg native Vince Eppolito lost control of his 2009 Ford Mustang and crashed into — and eventually on top of — the concrete guardrail.

Eppolito was making a test-and-tune pass on Sunday afternoon at the strip south of Jacksonville when he lost control around the 300-foot mark and crossed the centerline directly in front of another Mustang running in the opposing lane. His car struck the wall at nearly a head-on angle, shoving the concrete barrier back several feet and catapulting the car partially up and over. As you can see in the images, the car slid several car lengths down the top of the barriers, in the process tearing the exhaust system and other components from the undercarriage loose.

Eppolito escaped without any serious injury — certainly the most important thing in any incident and telling of the safety that Ford built into their cars. But, if you take a look at the impact images and notice how far the drivers’ head and upper body traveled forward, the case can certainly be made for a helmet and an aftermarket harness for anyone looking for additional peace of mind.

Photo sequence credit: Doug Freeman/shotbydoug.com