Looking at #2, to me, that photographer was lucky, but also thought it out - he appeared to be deliberately standing behind that tree, knowing it would stop most things

BTW, there is a similar one of a rally, where the photographer is standing in a drive/lane that is perpendicular to the course, and he's beind a nice stone wall/embankment - the "up road" propert is 6 or so FEET above the road surface - sure enough, someome wipes out and slide alone the side of the road, and he just stans there, as the wreck goes bouncing by about 3 ft away