A closer look
Motorsport safety in the 1950s essentially boiled down to crossing your fingers and hoping a fiery wreck wouldn't vaporize the front row. During the 1955 Le Mans, Pierre Levegh’s Mercedes launched off another car, hurtling directly into the packed crowd. Its magnesium alloy body ignited into an inextinguishable white-hot inferno, while heavy components acted as literal artillery shells. Astoundingly, race organizers refused to stop the event, arguing that a departing crowd would block ambulances. This catastrophic slaughter finally forced the racing world to admit that maybe hay bales weren't adequate protection against flying metal.
