Since Dale Sr. was killed, there have been several game changing improvements in car/driver safety:
SAFER barrier (resilient crash wall)
HANS device (head support that prevents the brain stem from disconnecting from the spinal nerve bundle - this is what killed Adam Petty, Kenny Irwin, Earnhardt Sr, Tony Roper and several others)
COT chassis - a standardized chassis with crash crumple zones and more robust roll cage and seat system.
They have achieved a fantastic safety record since these were adopted.
Guess what . . . it's dangerous out there!
Thank goodness for the new head restraints.
Based on the headline I was expecting to fear for someone’s life while watching the wreck, like a car nearly flying into the stands (which will happen one day). And while the number of cars involved was truly impressive, I didn’t think for a moment while watching it that anyone was going to be badly injured. That’s Talledaga... my favorite race track.
The author needs to grow a pair. Or quit fondling them, as the case may be.
Wow, that is one big crash. Thanks for posting the video link.
Tony Stewart's acknowledged fault, wild ride.
That's racing boyz! .
After so many left turns you need a good crash to break up the monotony.
Why does it take NASCAR 500 miles and millions of dollars to do what I was doing with my hotwheels when I was 2?
They were racing 4 wide, what could possibly go wrong?
"It's not safe wrecking like that," he said. "It's ridiculous, man. It's bloodthirsty if that's what people want."
The part in bold type (mine) is out of context. Jr. had paused after saying "It's ridiculous, man." and some reporter off camera (Busbee?) interupted with some question like, "Isn't that what the fans want?" (It was hard to hear exactly what was asked)
I'll see if I can find a clip of the interview.
PS....I am NOT a Jr. fan!
The wreck isn’t as nasty as I thought it would be, given all I’ve heard about it. It was wide but not deep, so to speak. Lots of cars involved but nothing horrific happening to any particular one of them. It’s the ones where a lone driver overshoots the turn and plows into something solid that tie my stomach in a knot. This was more like one of those melees they sometimes have on WWF.
Heard Roush say when they load the car for Talladaga he
considers it a write off
Jeff Gordon said he dreads going to the two high banked ones
Amazing no one was killed...that cars wheels in the cockpit
Scary stuff
Well, since NASCAR has already stolen SAFER barriers and HANS devices from IndyCar, here’s another “innovation” for them to adopt and claim as their own...
For this season, IndyCar came up with a new aero package for their race at Texas Motor Speedway. The new package reduced downforce sufficiently that drivers actually had to lift for the turns and broke up the pack racing that resulted in the massive wrecks of the IRL era (and the crash at Las Vegas last year that killed Dan Wheldon). This year’s race at Texas was regarded as one of the best that IndyCar has ever run there. The same aero package was also used at Fontana for their season finale.
Maybe NASCAR could reduce the downforce enough that the drivers have to actually DRIVE, as opposed to stand on the throttle and pray the car ahead doesn’t get loose?
And as a side note, regarding HANS devices: I’ve learned from a friend of mine that while it does prevent basilar skull fractures and neck injuries, it puts a driver at a greater risk of closed-head injury.
Actually I thought it was a large but relatively mild wreck compared to what many drivers have experienced.
Rusty Wallace at Talladega
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnBRgC_btW0
Geoff Bodine NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Crash
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmT3gQQdJm4&feature=related
Rusty Wallace’s flip at Daytona
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE1-C-QCnlg
Mark martin scary crash-Michigan 400
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkDu1KLudYg
Bristol Motor Speedway Crash
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92av-puVQLY
The perfect NASCAR crash...final lap,final turn.
It is embarrasing sometimes when writers try to find ingeneous ways of expressing simple facts, like cars being totalled.
In this case “acres of sheet metal”. Does the writer have any idea how many cars you would have to destroy to equal “acres” of sheet metal?
Everyone going in the same direction at the same speed = not such a big deal.
Now if half of them had been coming from the opposite direction...