August 12, 2012. The air is thin at 12,000 feet. You can hear the high-pitched whistle of a turbocharger echoing off the granite faces of the Rocky Mountains. Jeremy Foley is behind the wheel of a 500-horsepower Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 8, barreling toward a corner with a name that should have been a warning: Devil’s Playground.
He misses the turn.
Most people have seen the video. It’s a terrifying, jagged clip of a red car transforming into a tumbling ball of scrap metal as it plunges off a 100-foot cliff. The car rolls. Then it rolls again. In total, the Evo flipped 14 times before coming to a rest in a field of boulders. Spectators screamed. Cameras kept rolling. Honestly, it looked like a fatal accident in real-time. But then, the unthinkable happened. Both Jeremy Foley and his co-driver, Yuri Kouznetsov, climbed out of the wreckage.
The Jeremy Foley Pikes Peak Incident: A 100-Foot Plunge
The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is the second-oldest motor race in America. It’s a 12.42-mile sprint to the clouds with 156 turns and practically zero guardrails. By 2012, the course had been fully paved for the first time, which meant speeds were higher than ever. Foley, a rookie at the mountain but an experienced racer from Dallas, was pushing for a top time in the Time Attack class.
At Mile 16, everything went south.
Foley entered the high-speed left-hander at Devil’s Playground carrying way too much momentum. "I felt quite literally the front end start to slide," Foley later told Inside Edition. He knew the cliff was there. He knew they were going over. In that split second, he closed his eyes and hung on. The car didn't just slide off; it launched.
Why They Didn't Die
How do you survive 14 somersaults down a 45-degree abyss? It wasn't luck. Well, maybe a little luck, but mostly it was engineering. The car was prepared by Kevin Dubois at Evolution Dynamics. When you look at the photos of the aftermath, the car is unrecognizable. The body panels are gone. The wheels are ripped off. Even the passenger seat was partially torn from the floor.
But the roll cage held.
The Physics of the Save
The car featured a NASA-spec steel roll cage with extra gusseting in the "halo" section above the drivers' heads.
- The Cage: It was designed to deform slightly to absorb energy, rather than snapping.
- The Seats: Recaro racing seats kept them locked in place so they didn't rattle around like dice in a cup.
- HANS Devices: These Head and Neck Support systems prevented their internal organs and necks from being decimated by the G-forces of each impact.
Yuri Kouznetsov didn't walk away completely unscathed—his arm actually flew out the window during the rolls, resulting in a dislocated shoulder. He managed to pull it back in before the next hit. Foley, miraculously, was mostly just bruised and "beaten up." They were airlifted to a hospital in Colorado Springs as a precaution, but they were released shortly after.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Crash
There’s a common misconception that this was a "freak accident" caused by a mechanical failure. In reality, it was a classic Pikes Peak error: misjudging the grip on a shifting surface. Even though the road was paved, the high altitude affects downforce, and the "playground" is notorious for sudden gusts of wind that can unsettle a car at 100+ mph.
Another thing? People think the car was a total loss. Technically, the chassis was toast. However, the turbocharged 4G63 engine, the transmission, and the transfer case actually survived the tumble. It’s a testament to how tough those Mitsubishi builds were, though the oil pan eventually got punctured by the tow truck—not the mountain.
The Aftermath and Legacy
The Jeremy Foley Pikes Peak crash changed how people viewed safety at the mountain. It became the "gold standard" video for why you don't skimp on a roll cage. If Foley had been driving a street car without that cage, he wouldn't have made it past the third roll.
Actionable Insights for Racing Fans
If you're looking into amateur racing or even just high-performance track days, there are three things to take away from this:
- Certification Matters: Foley’s cage was built to FIA/NASA standards. "Home-brewed" cages often fail at the weld points during multiple impacts.
- The "Safety Triangle": It’s not just the cage. You need the seat, the harness, and the HANS device working together. If one fails, the others are useless.
- Respect the Mountain: Pikes Peak is a different beast. Modern racers now use more sophisticated sims to memorize the 156 turns, but the psychological pressure of those 2,000-foot drops is something you can't simulate.
Foley didn't quit racing. He told reporters shortly after the crash that racing was in his blood and he intended to get back behind the wheel. The video remains a staple of "miracle" sports clips, but for the racing community, it's a sobering reminder that at Pikes Peak, the line between a record run and a 100-foot drop is only a few inches of tire grip.
Check the technical specs of your safety gear before your next track event. Ensure your harnesses are within their five-year expiration date and your helmet meets the latest Snell SA standards. Safety isn't about the first hit; it's about surviving the fourteenth.