Fur and furious: Squirrel narrowly misses being hit by race car on track

Race tracks witness many incidents of sports cars and their drivers narrowly escaping unhurt or avoiding crashing into each other at times. But in an unusual incident recently, a squirrel escaped death during the Detroit Grand Prix, an IndyCar series race, when race driver Ryan Hunter-Leay closely missed hitting and killing the small furry animal.

The video clip of the squirrel racing to the other end of the race track to stay alive was shared on Twitter by IndCar. The caption of the post read, "That was nuts. @RyanHunterReay avoiding a different type of traffic on the streets of Belle Isle."

The nerve-wrecking footage shows the race car approaching the squirrel at a high speed while the animal hurries across the track in an effort to save its life. The escape is so narrow that for a moment it looks like the car will hit the animal. But the squirrel tucks its tail and takes a mighty leap in the end, completely getting out of the way of the oncoming vehicle. The animal's high jump makes it go airborne and land on the wall across the track but soon it gains balance by jumping back to the ground.

The squirrel is then seen making its way into a hole in the wall. It is not clear whether the race driver had spotted the squirrel and attempted to save it or it was just the squirrel that managed to save its life on its own.

The clip shared by IndyCar has more that 71,000 views since it was posted late Sunday. It also has more than 2,100 likes and over 450 retweets at the time of filing the report. Twitter users were amused by the video and the squirrel's bravery as one person commented, "That's one fast squirrel! Get him in a car." Another comment read, "That squirrel has some moves!"