If he wasn’t driving a convertible it hit the car first.
No, not a convertible, but I think his window was open some. Nevertheless, I agree, likely a direct strike would have killed him, or done much worse damage than it did.
I ended up having to drive through a severe thunderstorm once; the storm got really bad after I got in it. The lightning was constant, like a strobe light, and the strikes were CLOSE. The only reason I kept going was that I figured I wasn’t any safer by stopping and I’d be better off getting out of it than waiting. I was never so scared in my life.