Nightmare; An 11-car wreck overshadows Ray's impressive win.(Brief Article)

Fairy tale or nightmare? It depended on one's perspective. Yes, Greg Ray delivered yet another spectacular effort at Atlanta Motor Speedway, winning everything the Indy Racing League had to offer last weekend (the pole, the most laps led in the race and the checkered flag) But everyone will remember the zMAX 500 for the fiery 53rd lap, when 11 drivers, the most ever swallowed up in one IRL accident, did everything but drive through the fourth turn.

The virtually indescribable melee began when rookie Cory Witherill, who had just become the first Native American to start a race in the series, bobbled briefly in Turn Three because he ran out of fuel. Felipe Giaffone hesitated ever so slightly and the two trailing cars, driven by Jack Miller and Al Unser Jr., made contact with each other. As Billy Boat, who was following this group, said, ``That's when all hell broke loose.''

Miller shot over the top of Unser, then fired up the banking to the wall, collecting Robbie Buhl, among others. Unser spun around in the face of oncoming traffic. Around him, cars exploded as they careened off each other, sending debris every which way. Fire broke out on Miller and Buhl's machines. ``In the middle of the accident, all I saw was fire,'' Jeret Schroeder said.

Miller's car got upside down. Casey Mears got airborne by approximately 10 feet. Boat was ...