NASCAR Mexico Driver Wins Race and Dies in Accident

I've seen some pretty bad accidents in NASCAR races in the U.S., and often times drivers walk away from the most spectacular accidents. For instance, in 1990 Michael Waltrip was racing at Bristol Motor Speedway in the Busch race and had a wreck that probably should have killed him. Amazingly, Michael was unhurt. Here's the video:

And here's another amazing wreck at Bristol involving Mike Harmon. Watch as Harmon climbs out of the mangled mess completely unhurt:

Unfortunately, they don't always work out that way. In a NASCAR Mexico race Carlos Pardo was leading when he was suddenly turned into the pit road entrance wall, hitting the water barrels and causing his car to explode in hundreds of pieces. The race was later stopped because of the wreck, and since Pardo was leading at the moment the race was stopped, he was declared the winner.

However, he also lost. He did not survive the wreck. The video is scary.

The American version of NASCAR no longer races in Mexico. They held Busch races at a road course down there for a few years, but the trip down was so risky they had to convoy the team haulers with military security to keep them safe. Team members were also warned not to leave the racetrack for fear of kidnapping.

It looks like pit road entrances at Mexican race tracks could use a little work too.