Field was leading Dylan Hughes during their one-more-time (OMT) run during the top four when the pair collided.
Hughes’ left front wheel rode Field’s right front and launched the BMW E46 M3 into the air and over the nose of the Corvette C6.
Both drivers escaped injury, each giving the crowd a thumbs-up afterwards.
Hughes and Field joked afterwards, the former offering a somewhat comedic take on the accident.
“I came up in there and the skinny pedal [throttle] was down,” the BMW driver said.
“All of a sudden it was like a hovercraft and I’m just staring at the sky and then we’re just moving and we’re still moving and we’re still moving and I can’t see anything and we’re still moving and I’m just like ‘Oh my god I hope I’m not on top of Matt himself personally’.
“I think I just climbed the back of the tyre. I’m good. I feel bad. My rig is parked on top of Matt’s, that’s not what I had in mind. And we have to find my phone. My phone was ejected somewhere. We’ll figure that out later.”
Field explained the accident from his point of view.
“Dylan bumped me and I probably dropped a tyre and I was still throttle down, but obviously going a lot slower because one tyre is in the dirt,” the Corvette driver said.
“I hear him throttle down, then he’s pushing me, and we’re probably glued and I think he just climbed the front. That must have been it.”
Hughes was deemed to be at fault, which gave Field the win to progress through to the final against Ford Mustang driver James Deane.
“All the judges unanimously put the fault on Dylan Hughes on this one,” said Formula Drift judge Reese Marin.
“We made it a point in the drivers’ meeting to say, hey, when you get into outside zone three, make sure you let off, and that’s what we saw, clear as day.
“That’s what we were reviewing and it was just an unfortunate process there. I’ve seen this four times in my life.”
Deane won the final against Field while Adam LZ finished third.
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