During the 1977 South African Grand Prix, Formula One driver Tom Pryce was racing at extremely high speeds when a track marshal, Frederik Jansen van Vuuren, ran across the circuit carrying a fire extinguisher to assist another car. Pryce had no time to react and struck the marshal at around 170 mph. The collision was catastrophic and resulted in both men losing their lives. The incident became one of the darkest moments in Formula One history and led to serious changes in track safety protocols.

Tom Pryce's accident occurred during the 1977 South African Grand Prix at Kyalami. The incident began when Pryce's teammate, Renzo Zorzi, parked his car on the side of the main straight due to a fuel meter failure, which caused the car to catch fire. Two marshals, one of whom was Frederik Jansen van Vuuren, crossed the track to assist Zorzi, despite the race still being in progress. As the marshals ran across the track, two cars driven by Hans-Joachim Stuck and Tom Pryce were approaching at high