apparently i was talking up a storm and letting them know i was, you know, okay, and do you want me to get out. they were like, no, no, no. the rescue crew flips the car over. gillespie is pulled out of what s left of the car and flown by helicopter to a nearby hospital. he s treated for a collapsed lung and broken capillaries in his face and around his eyes, but none of it is life threatening. two days later, he checks out of the hospital and returns to work. i still have kind of limited vision with my left eye. but it s been getting better every day. gillespie knows he s lucky, but he also credits the car he built for withstanding the accident. i don t treat it as a life-changing event, as some people do, because the safety equipment was there to make it survivable. gillespie sees no end to his racing and trying to set a new land speed record. i do want to build another land speed car. i do want to go back out there.
officials warn him of mud spots where the track has not hardened. a danger that can spin a car out of control at high speeds. when i did get up to the starting line, they basically told me to run down the left-hand side of the course. gillespie studies the two-mile track ahead of him. it was a little less than ideal. i ve seen it a lot harder and firmer than it was this time. he s gunning for at least 209 miles per hour. a land speed that will win him the race record. the weather was perfect. it was nice and cool. from a quarter mile away, a spectator with his camera on a tripod follows gillespie as his car roars off. at first, gillespie couldn t be happier with how the car is responding. the engine sounded crisp. everything was perfect. the traction control was working, and i accelerated hard first through third gear. it felt absolutely fantastic. i thought we were going to just make a huge, super-fast run. suddenly, the car begins to veer. for whatever reason, the c
a feat that puts him in the overall lead. but gillespie isn t satisfied. he wants to win, go faster. i knew the car had more in it. and you know, we just wanted to make sure that we got every inch of it. with the help of sponsors, gillespie has fitted the hondurasy insight with a powerful honda insight with a powerful 550-horsepower engine, nearly triple that was a conventional car. it s just after 7:15 a.m. when he gets inside his customized honda. his crew helps to buckle him in and videotapes his preparations. inside the car, i m in an aluminum bucket seat that s bolted firmly to the floor of the car and to the roll cage itself. then on top of that, you re in a safety suit that allows you to withstand quite a lot of heat if there s a fire.
finally, the car comes to a stop upside down. a rescue truck is on the scene quickly. no one knows what they will find. apparently, i was talking up a storm and letting them know i was, you know, okay, and do you want me to get out. they were like, no, no, no. the rescue crew flips the car over. gillespie is pulled out of what s left of the car and flown by helicopter to a nearby hospital. he s treated for a collapsed lung and broken caplaries in his face and around his eyes, but none of it is life threatening. two days later, he checks out of the hospital and returns to work. i still have kind of limited vision with my left eye, but it s been getting better every day. gillespie knows he s lucky, but he also credits the car he built for withstanding the accident. i don t treat it as a life changing event, as some people do, because the safety equipment was there to make it survivable.
race, a feat that puts him in the overall lead. but gillespie isn t satisfied. he wants to win, go faster. i knew the car had more in it. and, you know, we just wanted to make sure that we got every inch of it. with the help of sponsors, gillespie has fitted the honda insight with a powerful 550-horsepower engine, nearly triple that was a conventional car. it s just after 7:15 a.m. when he gets inside his customized honda. his crew helps to buckle him in and videotapes his preparations. inside the car, i m in an aluminum bucket seat that s bolted firmly to the floor of the car and to the roll cage itself. then on top of that, you re in a safety suit that allows you to withstand quite a lot of heat if there s a fire. you have a helmet, of course, and you have a device that s a