Skip Manning's Death-Defying Darlington Crash 

Skip is my cousin, the kid walking away from his late model @ 11:50 is me. He actually broke his pelvis, not his leg. He was very lucky to survive that crash. He did go back to late model racing after Cup and had a very successful career. He race Jackson International in a few big races with All Pro. He raced at 5 Flags in Pensacola, Fl. most weekends. He finally retired from active driving and worked on setting up a few race cars. He then opened a used car dealership and sold very nice cars. He would work on them in the shop that his father built next to his home. His mother lived there until she passed. Skips father passed from a sudden heart attach when he was 18. Skip and his wife built there home next door to his mother. He ran that car lot for 20 years and is now retired and just enjoying life. I have visited many times over the years and the stories never get old. Maybe I will share the one about his first night in the hospital as told by his wife.

How he survived that back then is crazy.

Man, the Skip Manning wreck resembles the Buren Skeen wreck in so many ways but Skeen didnt make it and Manning did. It just shows you how it it doesn't take much to have a different result

That was a lot like Bobby Allison's career-ending crash (35 years ago today). Somebody was looking out for Skip that day, no two ways about it.

I have no clue what the odds of surviving this are but skip apparently is an extremely lucky man

I love that photo at 0:33. DW, Neil Bonnett, and I believe a very young Ricky Rudd on the wall with Skip. Classic

Could you do a video of the 2001 Steve Park wreck in the xfinity race at Darlington that almost took his life? He got hit right in the drivers door as well.

I was there for that event! I was down in the Pitts. I did not see the actual impact, but I heard what sounded like a bomb! After seeing the car, you would have thought he was surely dead. He was lucky!

It really is miraculous that he survived this

Man you do a great job on these mini docs. Very interesting well made. Thanks!

Harold Kite, Talmadge Prince, Friday Hassler and many others in other stock car series also died in t-bone crashes as well, so he was indeed very lucky. Back then that hit was an almost guaranteed widow maker.

Thanks for sharing this story

Great video! definitely one of the scariest crash no one talks about

Great Video Bud!

Nice show,thanks.

I was there. My seat was the last one, top row, going into turn 1. Baker actually blew up going into turn 1. Saw the whole incident evolve. I still believe Manning hit some fluid from Baker. He seemed to sit there for an eternity before Frasson hit him. Could actually hear the impact over the am/fm headset I was listening to for the race broadcast. We actually thought he was dead.

How he survived is beyond me

One of the crazy things about Skip Manning being t-boned in that race was that it was the second time he was involved in a t-bone crash that year. After all, it was Manning, who was driving Ferrell Harris' #82 car, that t-boned John Ray in that year's Daytona 500 when Ray spun in the oil from Ramo Stott's blown engine just before the 300-mile mark of that year's Daytona 500, a race best known for the Pearson/Petty finish.

Don't know if you have ever looked into the Jimmy Horton but Jimmy had some really bad crashes. He is the reason for the catch fence all the way around Daytona and Talladega because he went out of the park there. He then was in a really bad crash at Atlanta in ARCA series where his car flipped over and was struck from the bottom from a car and flip some more.

Honestly the car that hit him could've actually exploded or catch on fire. That would've tragic.

Honestly I agree with Skip. I understand Joe was pitting but it seemed like there was ample room above and even further below Skip. And his comment of “he shot down right in front of me” makes no sense either having watched the crash.

I was at that race. Come up from Johnsonville to see if. When they towed the car back to the garage, you could see right through it. From side to side.

Johnny Ray survived getting t-boned in the 1976 Daytona 500

You should check out Joe Caspolich 1957 reck at Darlington. He too was hit in the drivers door. It’s a good story.

Don't forget Eric Martin at Charlotte. 😢🙏

I heard Barney Hall describe this crash on MRN radio, but this is the first time I have ever seen the footage.

Don MacTavish had worst stock car crash, it was a fatal crash in sportsman race at Daytona

Dude when I saw the thumbnail on the video before I clicked on it I immediately thought of the Larry Pearson Bristol crash

A similar hit killed Buren Skeen in 1964, and another one killed Friday Hassler in 1972. And another one ALMOST killed Bobby Allison in 1988.

I somewhat know what it's like to be hit broadside in a stockcar, I got drilled in the passenger side door by a guy running flat out. Tore my car UP. I walked away a little sore...thank GOD Skip wasn't killed.

Such a different time of racing; a spotter might have helped out. Too, the driver seat is much closer to the center of the car than it used to be.

5:01 that sounded like a sound effect

A note here: I think Jackson International was the last paved oval track in the state of Mississippi. All of the oval tracks in the state are dirt or clay.

Nice vid. Did i hear you correctly @2:35 "David Pearson, one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR "at the time." "At the time..." ? NASCAR HOF driver & #2 on the ALL TIME wins list (behind Richard Petty), David Pearson is/was "one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR" at ANY time.

Skip is very very very lucky

God these 1976 cars have more crush saftey zones than the gen 7s

Wow great to know that the only NASCAR guy from Louisiana I have ever heard of got Tboned

2:24 one of the sickest cars ever...holy criminy is that bad ass.

he was also lucky 8:34

Why was the impact blocked out ?

Lucky man 😳

0:48 “this is a bad one” No crap, Sherlock

The one time i hear a decently successful Minnesota (homestate) NASCAR driver in a video... sheesh

Those door bars saved his life. I believe NASCAR mandated those after Tiny Lund's death. The crash that ended Bobby Allison's career was the same kind of hit in the driver's door. NASCAR immediately banned the other driver, Jocko Maggiacomo.

👍

Skip was like a sitting duck , the other driver wasn't looking ahead or he could have turned a little to the inside, this was Skips free pass

I wouldn't say that it was a sad way to end his career to finish off in short track racing, I'm sure Skip wouldn't have continued racing short tracks I his later years if he wasn't enjoying himself at least a little, look at Kenny Wallace, and Ken Shrader, those guys still seem to be enjoying themselves 😀

Talmadge Prince was killed in a similar fashion during a qualifying race at Daytona in 1970

It hit right in front of the door, that’s what saved him.

There is a T Bone and there is a T Bone it's a big difference in what people call T Boned

Like your content but almost clicked out when crash blacked out. I understand some things being censored but crashes? I realize that wasn’t your intention but it seemed to be and probably caused some viewers to exit. Just saying.

The blackout tease at the start is ill-advised. Nobody likes getting jerked around, especially with such a cheap shot. I'm from Darlington, and I was there when the wreck happened. I started to check out after your tease. Your content is OK, but your comparisons of roll bar technology from different eras is unfair. Roll cage designs haven't changed that much but modern metallurgy simply didn't exist at that time. You also fail to mention Mannings roll cage worked exactly as designed. I suppose you were trying to find something substantial to say about NASCAR that hasn't already been done. I would suggest the Wendell Scott story. If you really want to kick the hornet's nest, Danika Patricks' story, from her point of view, might be interesting

U can't compare today's car to back then even if he got hit on the passenger side even if he got hit on drivers door lol😂 and I can say Winston drivers

5:31 - 5:33 - This was “LITERALLY” all down to “LUCK AND PRAYING TO GOD”!!!!

Are we so sensitive anymore (google censors) that showing even nonfatal car crashes is offensive? 😏😏😏

I guess he skipped his death

Jesus Christ

5:00

I sent you an email to your gmail.

Well that was a waste of time how come you black out the video you got me for a view