[gloryblaze]

... wouldn’t a 3-foot barrier tend to stop the average sized car in its tracks?

Apparently, the hit was not head-on, so the vehicle might have just been deflected.

[equaviator]

They weren’t “cleared in hot” but they came in hot anyway. I can see how a glancing blow would’ve sent them up and over like that and if they had a full tank of gas going in then BOOM!...They went out hotter than they came in.