Indy500 and aerodynamics

There was an article on NPR.org (and elsewhere) back in May about Indy500 racing cars becoming unexpectedly airborne during crashes, but only when they're sliding backwards. "Teams are using cars with two different body styles and aerodynamic packages. One is made by Chevrolet, the other by Honda. Over five days of practice for Indy, three Chevys inexplicably flipped upside down," leading Chevrolet Motorsports engineers to "por[e] over computer simulations" in search of an explanation. I thought, wouldn't that make for a great way to introduce college students to aerodynamics, an example where they would have to analyze (for a simplified model, perhaps) what change in the materials or the shape of the car body would mean for car performance? Many more applications exist, for instance tire adherence on a wet road or in a curve for a speeding car. My physics courses in France were boring and poorly taught by people who must have been good researchers but clearly focused on very abstract concepts (my first two years out of school) or (in engineering school) either had not picked the job out of passion for teaching or were long past their prime in terms of their ability to be excited by what they taught. Perhaps if we had seen (some simplified version of) real-world examples, I would not be left with clear memories 15 years later of what an abysmal waste of time those courses were - but more importantly, perhaps it'd make today's students more interested in engineering careers.