Rhys Millen suffered an unfortunate accident leaving him with five fractured vertebrae while practicing for a stunt sponsored by Red Bull and ESPN. The stunt was to feature Rhys Millen doing the first ever intentional backflip in a truck! Millen landed the first three attempts safely, but on the forth and final run the truck overshot the landing, placing Rhys in the hospital.

“After successfully landing the 360-degree backflip three times into the cardboard boxes in training, I am disappointed that our last jump ended in an accident. As I lay here in the hospital with three broken vertebrae in my neck and two compressed and broken vertebrae in my back, I am also disappointed that we cannot perform the 360-degree backflip at the Red Bull Experiment on New Year’s Eve, but I’m happy that I will be able to walk again,” says Rhys Millen.

Thankfully Rhys is expected to make a full recovery, but whether or not the 2005 Formula Drift Champion will be healthy enough to compete in the early rounds of the 2008 Formula D season is still unknown.