1998 Fuji Speedway Crash Spurs Safety Overhaul in Japanese Sports Car Racing

In 1998, the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship race at Fuji Speedway was run in heavy rain and low visibility, leading to a chaotic start-lap incident. A pace-car slowdown caused a chain reaction; two Porsches hit the barriers, a BMW swerved, and Tetsuya Ota’s Ferrari slid into the wreckage, bursting into flames that stretched across the track. While a Porsche driver escaped with a broken leg, Ota was trapped as his helmet visor melted, and marshals arrived only after a minute-and-half.

Mazda driver Shinichi Yamaji intervened with a fire extinguisher and pulled Ota from the car, but Ota suffered severe facial and neck burns and never raced again. He sued the organizers, and in 2003 Judge Tsuyoshi Ono ruled the parties negligent, granting Ota 90 million yen and mandating extensive safety changes for the series, now called Super GT.