Posted on 02/18/2020 4:42:17 AM PST by sodpoodle
Car who hit him was teammate and was trying to help him. There is an art to the aerodynamics beyond my expertise. He looked loose to me because of hamlin...but his interview indicates he was trying to help
First race I’ve seen in years. Only watched because my brother-in-law talked me into a fantasy team. At the end, I only had Newman left and he had Hamlin. I never pictured myself screaming for a NASCAR race. Up until the wreck, it was WAY more fun than I’d expected.
I’m glad he’s alive and hope he doesn’t have any injuries that he can’t recover from. My wife wouldn’t go to sleep until she knew he was at least alive.
I had a friend who was a NASCAR nut. After years of him inviting me I finally went with him to a race in about 1981.
Most BORING day of my life!
First lap covered me in grit and trash from the track.
An hour later, finally getting my eyes cleaned out, I realized I couldn’t hear a dang thing because the sound of the cars had drove me deaf.
The heat coming off the concrete we were sitting on was baking me alive.
And sitting my butt on that hard concrete for half the day made the ride home painful.
On the long painful ride home I realized two things.
1. NASCAR isn’t for me. I have better things to do with a day.
2. I really, really wanted to shoot that sumbitch what kept waving that yellow flag every 10 laps.
Hamlin and Newman both seem like decent human beings. I’ve heard some personal stories from family members about Hamlin. I don’t for one second believe Hamlin would for one second take any joy in another racer being injured.
We have to give NASCAR alot of credit for the car safety mandates they’ve implemented since Earnhart’s death.
But, NASCAR also needs to slow down these cars on super speedways. Next time one of the cars might fly over the catch fence or over a pit road wall (for example).
Koch Industries was the main sponsor of the car Newman was driving. Koch Industries is primarily owned by the Koch brothers. They own companies like Georgia Pacific, manufacturers of lumber, plywood, osb and other building materials.
Just an example of a advertiser of products that probably a lot of NASCAR fans use. Just like Lowes, Home Depot and Menards are other car sponsors. Their target audience is NOT metro sexuals living in NYC. They are advertising to blue collar working men and women.
I have attended the NASCAR race here in NH. 100000 people show up for the race. I would estimate it is about 3/4 men wearing baseball hats. Except the hats say Chevy, Ford and Toyota, not Red Sox. Although, Rousch Fenway racing also sponsor a car.
Btw, if you think Nascar and the Spotter couldn’t have possibly known how bad it was..look at Jeff Gordon’s face at the end as he is trying to keep it together before they go off the air.
They knew
I watch every race hoping for no wrecks. I want racing, not, wrecking. There is WAY more to NASCAR than going around in a circle.
Ever hear of Watkins Glen?
Trying to find the spotter tape that is on twitter as Hamlin wins the race and Ryan Newman nearly dies
interesting listening to it.
another angle..nobody can tell me that Nascar and that spotter didnt know this was a serious crash
https://twitter.com/AustinKellerman/status/1229607105562316800
Exactly, it’s called racing not parading. Every driver is intimately aware of the risks.
And then with somber tones, reminiscent of 2001, the announcers declared they have no more information and FOX dismissed the viewers for their regularly scheduled programming.
"Just a racing thing" doesn't do it for me anymore. The likes of the young "superstars" like Busch, Logano, Hamlin, Kesolowski, etc. and followed quickly behind by a myriad of rookie drivers who continue to get away with causing major wrecks and NASCAR allowing these drivers to reap the rewards from intentionally putting other lives at risk is absolutely wrong.
I saw Ricky Stenhouse get a run and see an opening and then reacts to a car swerving toward him and drops below the yellow line. Within a lap or two, the NASCAR fist comes down and he is penalized for passing below the yellow line despite an obvious attempt to avoid a wreck. Logano causes a wreck involving 15 cars (10 or so eliminated from the race) and nothing. It was just a racing deal. It's time to start penalizing at-fault drivers whether it be in race or post race. Park them for a week or two. They will start figuring it out and the owners will start seeing benefits as their young gun drivers stop treating their race cars like throwaway BIC lighters.
Hey, I’m not trashing the fans, I just think the format of the Big Ovals is boring and monotonous and rules are designed to bunch up the cars. Short tracks, and road courses and aerodynamics make these big ovals suck.
It’s funny though how accepting they are of it. Like the guy that crashed Newman, he was just “I was really trying to win”, and like you can’t avoid running into people when you are pushing really hard.
I’m guessing being on the same team probably minimizes the objections — if I was about to win a race, and somebody else ran into the back of my car and pushed me into a wall, and nearly killed me, I think I’d be a bit upset about it.
Actually, Newman has no one to blame but himself. He was in the lead. His teammate and he drafting together had just passed Hamlin. He successfully blocked Hamlin up by the wall, then went down to block his teammate on the inside. He pulled in front of a car that was going faster than he was and that car hit the back of his, casing it to spin up into the wall.
This is easy to Monday morning quarterback from OUR desks in our offices. I think it is slightly different at 200+ mph making split second decisions. I personally have never gone more than 125 mph(on a motorcycle). I am not sure how you control a vehicle at 200 mph.
I used to be a YUGE NASCAR fan. Been to many races. (not super speedways).
I can’t respond to all the asinine comments because there are just too many.
1. Winner celebrating winning while another driver was still in his crashed race car.
Michael Waltrip wins Daytona, while Dale Earnhardt sat DEAD in his #3 race car. Dale Earnhardt was his boss, his car owner, blocked for him, giving Waltrip the win, while causing his own crash, which killed him.
These drivers usually walk away from horrendous crashes without a scratch. Why assume or respond to early reports to the contrary. The celebration is immediate. It’s part of the race. The race isn’t over until the “Winners Circle” event is over.
A crash on the final lap is COMMON. Celebrating WINNING is COMMON. The contention that Hamlin shouldn’t have celebrated is RIDICULOUS! That Joe Gibbs APOLOGIZED all over the place is just PC crap comes to NASCAR.
NEVER APOLOGIZE. Be sympathetic, pray for them, wish them well, but don’t apologize for something you didn’t do to appease the politically correct.
2. Less cars, not bunching up. WRONG! NASCAR is a spectator sport. I remember when these races were hundreds of laps with the same car in the lead or just a few cars having any chance of winning. BORING!
3. Overtime rules work and are necessary. People want a clear cut WINNER. They don’t want a “declared” winner. They don’t want the winner to be the person who was ahead on the PREVIOUS to the last lap.
4. Yes, let’s restrict the speed to whatever the state speed limit is in that state. /s (the speed is already restricted, “restrictor plates”).
Auto racing, and every other form of “racing” is inherently “dangerous”. “Living” is dangerous. All I can say to all you “snowflakes” is BUTCH UP or stay in the truck.
NASCAR needs to outlaw “bump drafting!”
Between wrecks (i.e., racing accidents) the race yesterday was typical boring Daytona FReight train stuff.
IMHO, Denny Hamlin should be disqualified for wrecking Ryan Newman! And fined BIGLY!
“Bump drafting” is one thing. Wrecking your competitor is quite another.
Formula One and sports car sanctioning bodies penalize “rough racing.”
NASCAR needs to do likewise.
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