Brian Vickers’ Runaway Wheel Cuts Path of Destruction

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

At the Coca Cola 600 on Sunday, Brian Vickers watched his left rear wheel run away with his hopes for winning NASCAR’s longest race. The wheel worked itself completely loose and came off, snapping his No. 83 Toyota backwards into the wall, then demolishing the front of David Gilliland’s Ford before thundering into the infield. The flying wheel narrowly missed both an ambulance and a photographer, then jumped a chain-link fence and tore the awning off a fan’s camper before finally coming to rest. Miraculously, no one was hurt, and camper owner Jerry Gardner of North Carolina probably figured he’d scored himself the souvenir of a lifetime until track security officiously bustled the errant wheel away on an ATV. I’d be mad as hell about not getting to keep that wheel—and fans should have at the very least received an apologetic visit from Vickers, who reportedly knew it was coming loose for a couple of laps before the incident. If you’ve ever wondered what could happen if your own wheel came off on the highway, click here to watch the entire alarming but ultimately non-lethal rampage.