Mike Conway Hospitalized After Indy 500 Physics Demonstration

Let’s face it, there are two types of people when it comes to racing. There are the people who love the excitement that comes with watching powerful machines going around and around an oval track for hours on end. Then there is the rest of us; the ones who would never go to a race, but will always stop to watch the clip of the crashes on the news.

We are the latter and the object of our amazement today is Indy car racer Mike Conway. Conway almost made it all the way to the end of the Indy 500 the other day when he thought it would be more interesting to give the crowd a demonstration in applied physics, specifically what happens when a moving object and an immovable object collide at high speed.

Sufficed to say, he did not win the race. That honor went to Marco Andretti. In case you’re wondering, Danica Patrick came in 6th. Mike Conway did however win an all expense paid helicopter flight to the hospital where he is resting and recovering from a broken leg. The fact that he’s not shattered into as many pieces as his car is a miracle of modern engineering.

Check out ESPN’s full recap of the race…