Look Before You Leap

"I was this close to telling him [the course] turns right," Valor Racing co-driver Josh said, recounting this crash at the 2018 Parker 250. "And that's when I look up and the ground disappears and we go sailing off."

What you're seeing here is a particularly tricky drop at a big annual desert race that went down in Parker, Arizona in the beginning of this year. The Parker 250 kicks off the Best In The Desert's off-road racing series which includes the famous Mint 400 going down in a couple weeks.

Basically, it looks like Valor Racing's Polaris RZR 1000 went straight through two power line poles but the driver and co-driver didn't realize the course went down and right over this blind crest.

Seems like a pretty easy mistake to make at race pace, especially if the turn doesn't look too dramatic on a vibrating GPS screen. Fortunately it sounds like both people in the vehicle were OK at least.

The RZR itself was banged up, ejected its suspension, some bumpers, and a few other bits but is already being rebuilt to race in the upcoming Mint.

Here's a closer look at what kind of damage the vehicle took:

And if you want to hear a little more about how the Parker 250 race and wreck went, the team broke it down in a video:

This kind of chaos happens all the time in desert racing, but that 239 Films clip of the RZR flying and rolling and ripping itself apart was too wild not to share.

Stay safe out there!