Bruce Jacobi

23/6/1935 - 4/2/1987

Record updated 23-Jun-06

Former Indy driver who died in 1987 as a result of injuries sustained in qualifying for the Daytona 500 in 1983.

Bruce Jacobi
In 1983 NASCAR drivers were regularly hitting the 200 mph average lap times.   On the 17th of February 1983, Bruce Jacobi, who was a former Indy 500 driver, lost control at the exit of Turn 2 while running in one of the 125 mile qualifying races for the  Winston Cup Race at Daytona International Speedway.

He was critically injured in a spectacular cart-wheeling crash, with his car eventually coming to rest near the inside dirt bank. It is speculated that his roll cage failed. Jacobi suffered extensive head injuries and was in a coma for almost four years before passing away.

Rusty Wallace had a virtually identical accident at the race race but walked away uninjured.



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