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Chuck Bryant

๐Ÿ‘ค Speaker
14074 total appearances

Appearances Over Time

Podcast Appearances

Stuff You Should Know
Short Stuff: 1955 Le Mans Disaster

And the path of destruction was just staggering, what happened to the poor people who were standing in the grandstands and were in the path of those car parts.

Stuff You Should Know
Short Stuff: 1955 Le Mans Disaster

Yeah, because it was randomized because there were individual car parts.

Stuff You Should Know
Short Stuff: 1955 Le Mans Disaster

So you could be standing, and in one case, this really happened.

Stuff You Should Know
Short Stuff: 1955 Le Mans Disaster

You could be standing and ended up just fine next to someone who was decapitated.

Stuff You Should Know
Short Stuff: 1955 Le Mans Disaster

And nothing happened to you.

Stuff You Should Know
Short Stuff: 1955 Le Mans Disaster

Very sadly, there was one little girl who was trampled.

Stuff You Should Know
Short Stuff: 1955 Le Mans Disaster

Still holding on to her ice cream cone.

Stuff You Should Know
Short Stuff: 1955 Le Mans Disaster

LeVeg died, like you said, but it was an instant thing.

Stuff You Should Know
Short Stuff: 1955 Le Mans Disaster

I think 50 people died instantly and 83 spectators ended up dying and close to 200 ended up injured.

Stuff You Should Know
Short Stuff: 1955 Le Mans Disaster

Including LeVeg, 84 people killed at this race.

Stuff You Should Know
Short Stuff: 1955 Le Mans Disaster

So there was a really controversial decision that was made by the race director, and that was to allow 24 hours of Le Mans to continue.

Stuff You Should Know
Short Stuff: 1955 Le Mans Disaster

This happened at like hour two and a half.

Stuff You Should Know
Short Stuff: 1955 Le Mans Disaster

It sounds crazy.

Stuff You Should Know
Short Stuff: 1955 Le Mans Disaster

And you're like, what a disgusting psychopath.

Stuff You Should Know
Short Stuff: 1955 Le Mans Disaster

History has actually vindicated the race director.

Stuff You Should Know
Short Stuff: 1955 Le Mans Disaster

I don't know his name, but that he made the right move because had he said, you know, the race needs to end right now, all those spectators who needed aid and whose lives would have probably ended had they not received aid pretty quickly, the emergency crews trying to reach them would have been swamped by all the spectators leaving all at the same time.