Gordon Smiley is killed in a practice crash during the qualifyings warm up lap for the Indy 500 1982. He was countersteering a slide in turn 3 and put the car head on 90 degree straight into the wall at 200 mph.
In his book, "Rapid Response", Dr Steve Olvey, Indycar Medical Director between 1979 and 2003, made the following comments about the incident:
"During an attempt to qualify for the Indy 500, Gordon Smiley, a cocky young driver from Texas, was determined to break 200 mph or die trying. Several veteran drivers...had warned him that he was in way over his head, driving all wrong for the Speedway. Smiley was a road racer and was used to counter-steering his car to avoid a crash if the rear wheels broke traction.
While rushing to the car, I noticed small splotches of a peculiar gray substance marking a trail on the asphalt leading up to the driver. When I reached the car, I was shocked to see that Smiley's helmet was gone, along with the top of his skull. He had essentially been scalped by the debris fence. The material on the race track was most of his brain. His helmet, due to massive centrifugal force, was literally pulled from his head on impact...I rode to the care center with the body. On the way in I performed a cursory examination and realized that nearly every bone in his body was shattered. He had a gaping wound in his side that looked as if he had been attacked by a large shark. I had never seen such trauma." (Rapid Response, pp 98-99).
