Caught on Video: Driver Survives Speed Trial Rollover Crash in CA Desert

The driver was released from a hospital about a week after the more than 180-mph crash on a dry lake bed

A car's safety equipment is credited with protecting a driver from more severe injuries in a high-speed rollover crash during a speed trial event at a dry lake bed in the Southern California desert.

The crash, captured on video, occurred during a speed trial event Nov. 10. The video was posted Nov. 18 -- two days after driver Brian Gillespie was released from Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, according to the Southern California Timing Association.

Gillespie's modified Hasport Hondata Insight was traveling at about 180 mph when the car veered to the right and rolled several times at the El Mirage lake bed (map), about 35 miles east of the Antelope Valley community of Lancaster. The car was stripped to its protective roll cage -- a strong frame built into the passenger compartment of a car to protect its occupants.

Gillespie suffered a collapsed lung, cuts and bruises, according to the Timing Association.

He previously shattered the 200-mph barrier at the El Mirage lake bed.

Video Credit: John Wylie

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