Indianapolis 500 qualifying produces some incredible moments at ridiculous speeds every year ābut it also brings the propensity for scary crashes.
Saturday is the first of two days of qualifying for IndyCar's crown jewel race, which has its 109th running next Sunday. Today, drivers are trying to run for pole by placing their cars in the top 12, or avoiding the bottom four, where they could be bumped from the race.
Colton Herta, the 25-year-old nine-time winner, is vying to make the field for his seventh Indy 500. But things came apart for him on the very first turn.
Herta's car went around, smacked the outside wall out of turn 1, then flipped and grinded up against the outside wall about halfway down into turn 2.
The scary wreck had fans holding their breath as the AMR safety team went to check on Herta and put his car back upright. He miraculously was able to walk out of the car with a little bit of assistance.
Onboard footage provides an even scarier look into what crashing at over 230 miles per hour looks like from inside the cockpit.
Herta has already been cleared to get back into the car once it is repaired, an incredible testament to the safety of IndyCar in 2025. He said that the crashes "look a lot scarier than they feel" and lamented the timing of these issues more than anything.
The Indy 500 hasn't been kind to Herta ā his best finish is just eighth, and he has finished outside the top 20 in half of his attempts.
It wasn't the only big crash of the day: Marcus Armstrong went for a ride earlier in practice, but his car remained on the ground.
He was stretchered off, but was cleared and returned to qualify later in the day.