Watch What Happens When Alexander Rossi Races A Plane
Alexander Rossi has done a lot since winning the Indianapolis 500, but racing an airplane has to top that list. Watch the video of Rossi versus plane here.
IndyCar driver Alexander Rossi took part in a different kind of race recently when he put an Indy car up against an Edge 540 airplane.
The unique challenge was set up as promotion for the Red Bull Air Race, which takes place at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Oct. 1-2. Rossi matched rides with air racer Kirby Chambliss in August to see if wheels could beat wings at the historic venue.
“I didn’t think anything of it until I was on track and there was a plane next to me,” Rossi said in a statement released on Thursday. “It was a little bit trippy. When else are you going to be able to be driving an Indy car around the Speedway with a plane upside down next to you?”
Here’s the video of the car vs. plane competition:
In addition to racing against the plane, Rossi also got to ride in it while Chambliss performed several mid-air stunts. “The fact that I got in the plane makes me question my own sanity,” the Andretti driver quipped.
That made for one heck of a promotional stunt, but it’s not the first time a car has tangled with a plane. Car enthusiasts may have been reminded of this clip from Season 10 of BBC’s Top Gear, which was an entirely different type of car vs. plane showdown:
Rossi will return to a more conventional form of competition next Sunday as the IndyCar season comes to a close with the 2016 GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma at Sonoma Raceway. It may or may not be the 24-year-old Californian’s last event in the Verizon IndyCar Series.
His contract with Herta-Andretti expires at the end of the season and he has offers to return to Formula One, where he served as Manor’s reserve driver. However, when Manor’s race seat became available after funding fell through for Rio Haryanto, Rossi declined the opportunity in order to honor his contract with Andretti.
He has yet to make any decision on where he’ll race in 2017 – but it’s safe to say it definitely won’t be in an airplane.
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