In operation for more than six and half decades using its original configuration, Road America is one of the most revered and challenging road courses in America. The four mile, 14-turn track is fast, too – the main straight is long enough for some top-spec high performance machines to approach 200 mph before scrubbing off speed for Turn 1.

Unfortunately for Doug Peterson and two other cars during this SCCA Sprint race in June of 2012, they wouldn’t get a chance to experience much of it at speed that day. But after watching this clip, you’ll likely agree that Peterson was lucky to be able to experience anything at all after this harrowing mishap during the rolling start.

This is not a view you want to have on the first lap.

While the old mantra “you can’t win the race in the first turn, but you can certainly lose it” is a notion most racers take to heart, race starts are inherently one of the most dangerous times during any race. Not only do you have all the cars in close proximity, they’re also at a slow pace and anxious to get the jump on everyone else, as it’s a lot easier to grab a few positions in the first lap of the race than it is once things have settled into a rhythm.

But things go awry when the green flag drops as one of the cars in front of Peterson misses a shift at a very inopportune time, and the car behind him shunts the rear of that car. That immediately illustrates some of the inherent dangers of open wheel cars when the shunter’s car rides up the back of the car that missed the shift and goes partially airborne, sending him toward the right side of the track and in the path of Peterson. With nowhere to go, Peterson’s car gets tangled up in the mess and his car is sent up into the pit wall where it flips and grinds along the wall before coming to rest upside down on the track.

Fortunately for Peterson, the roll hoop on his car keeps his head intact and he walks away from the wreck uninjured, but a change in any of the variables in this equation could have resulted in a very different outcome. Check out the clip above to see what we mean.