great speed. In the chaos, a Marcos LM600 coming around turn 11 locked up its brakes and spun into the wet grass on the inside of the track. Sliding back onto the track, it was hit from the side by a BMW Z3. Furthermore, two E46 BMW M3 GTRs were damaged: one on the outside line hit the rear of the Marcos, and the other, on the inside line, slightly damaged its front right. The second M3 continued around the track, while the first slid into the grass before turn 12. The race was stopped, and there were no serious injuries to any of the drivers. 1999 FirstPlus Financial 200 On lap 57, ARCA driver Joe Cooksey ran into the back of the Pontiac Grand Prix pace car driven by Jack Wallace totaling the pace car, to quote Cooksey: "It might be the first time in history the pace car has been wiped out." 1986 Winston 500 Before the start of the race, a drunken fan stole the pace car and drove a lap around Talladega Superspeedway. Local police quickly pursued the fan around the track, setting up a roadblock at the exit of Turn 4 that led to his arrest. 1971 Indianapolis 500 The pace car of the 1971 Indianapolis 500, an orange Dodge Challenger driven by local auto dealer Eldon Palmer, crashed at the start of the race. As Palmer drove the car off into the pit lane to let the race cars begin the race, he lost control of the car and crashed into a photographer stand. There were no fatalities, and the number of people reported injured has ranged from 18 to 29. See also Zero cars, similar cars used in rallying to open roads to rally competitors Pacemaker (running) References External links Formula One Formula1.com: Safety car An article on the F1 safety car The speed freak in F1's safety car - from BBC Sport: Motorsport Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team: How it Works! The Formula 1 Safety Car Explained on YouTube Indianapolis 500 Indy 500 Pace Cars Formula One Vehicle safety technologies Motorsport terminology Safety in auto racing