The wings on sprintcars deliver a tremendous amount of down force on the car. They are fully adjustable by the driver via an onboard hydraulic system. With engines delivering over 900 horsepower these days, wings are essential for stability and traction. Mates who raced winged and non-winged sprintcars professionally in the USA in the past 3 decades reckon the wings lower lap times by up to 3 seconds a lap and make the car much safer. As Skylark says, the wing acts as a crumple zone on a roll over. As for Lone Star JR, yep, he was a lucky guy to survive that Eldora wreck. Here he is ten years later at Sydney's Liverpool Speedway.