As soon as everyone was able to catch their breath Sunday after the wildness that was Talladega, fingers began pointing, allegations began to fly and blame was laid.
Some fans blamed NASCAR for a ‘stupid’ rule banning ‘bump-drafting’, others blamed the ‘stupid’ car, and even some drivers got in on the act bemoaning NASCAR and the new generation racecar equipped with restrictor plates and a rule that they felt didn’t allow them to race.
As I looked out at the aftermath of twisted metal, with Mark Martin slowly walking away from the carnage and heard the blame being thrown around, I remembered a line I used to hear in the garage most often in jest but with a serious undertone; ‘Welcome to the world of big time stock car auto racing.’
Whether NASCAR was right or wrong or their newly designed car is at fault is a subject for another debate. My point is that no matter what anyone does, no matter what rules they write or cars they design by its very nature the sport of auto racing is inherently dangerous.
And despite anyone’s best efforts it always will be.
After the end of the spring Talladega race when Carl Edwards careened down the fence and injured eight fans, including one who ended up with a broken jaw, NASCAR and the track reacted. For the fall race the track raised the height of the fences, and NASCAR mandated smaller restrictor plates to slow the cars down. They also said that the practice of bump drafting in the turns would be strictly policed. These were the latest reactionary measures to the spring melee. As it turned out, no one got up into the fence but there were two cars that flipped, including Ryan Newman. In the case of Newman the entire NASCAR Nation fell silent as we watched the safety crews carefully cut the car apart. In the end Newman climbed out, none the worse for wear.
NASCAR can try to forecast and prepare for every dangerous situation, but the reality is no one can ever predict everything that can happen.
This past July I covered the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona. I took my 12-year-old son and my 20-year-old daughter. Despite the fact that both my kids have spent many, many hours in a NASCAR garage, they had never actually watched a race from the stands. I got them tickets that put them 10 rows from the track. Before the race began I headed to the press box. I could look down from there and see the section they were sitting in.
This years Coke Zero 400 ended with Kyle Busch slamming the wall on the last lap as the leaders rocketed towards the finish line. The spot where he hit was right where my kids were. I didn’t see the aftermath of the accident with Busch slowly and angrily walking down pit lane. I was too busy scrambling for my cell phone and looking down into the crowd. About a minute after the crash, my cell phone rang and I was delighted to hear my son say ‘wow, dad did you see that?”
Before I got that phone call, I was scared because I knew that no matter what, racing is dangerous and no one can make it 100 percent safe.
I thought it ironic that this past weekend we remembered Greg Moore, the IndyCar driver who was killed ten years ago. In the past ten years NHRA drag racers Eric Medlin and Scott Kalitta were killed in the last two years-sadly I had interviewed Medlen the day before he died and he gave me his phone number and said to call him if I ever needed anything. And of course in our sport there has been Dale Earnhardt, Kenny Irwin, Adam Petty and Carlos Pardo who died during a race in the NASCAR Mexico series this past year.
Over the last ten years fans too have been killed and injured. In May 1999 three fans are killed, and eight injured at an IRL race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. NASCAR learned from all those incidents and there is a bit of luck when you consider that NASCAR has never had a fan killed during a race with one of its three major touring series.
But that doesn’t mean it can’t happen, because no one can predict everything.
So what to do. Should NASCAR give up on restrictor plates? Abandon Talladega and Daytona? Redesign the racecars again to try and better keep them on the ground? Maybe they could do all of that. But that won’t mean that the danger won’t be there. Because as along as cars race with drivers wanting to go as fast as they can, and as long as people are willing to pay money to watch them, the ‘big ones’ will happen, disappointed drivers will walk away from their mangled machines or god forbid be carried, no matter what anyone does.
Welcome to the world of big time stock car auto racing.
Comments
I guess...if that is the best you can come up with. I have read many observations the last two days about Dega...and despite what alot of the media wants to push down the fans throats...the consensus is...the fans are NOT happy. If you think for one moment watching Ryan's wreck was "acceptable" or even Mark's mini version of the same wreck was "ok" and "Just racing" then you are crazy. Somewhere along the way NASCAR has outgrown their "big boy pants" and needs to consider some drastic changes..and I am NOT just talking Daytona and Dega. If NASCAR and the media (who makes their living from NASCAR) think the fans will keep coming back..the ratings, dollars spent, seats sold and general happiness of fans should tell you otherwise...and you NEED to listen. The "cash cow" that is NASCAR..and all who make their livings from it..need to take notice NOW. I don't want to lose my sport..but at the rate it is killing itself...it may go away whether I like it or not. WAKE UP!
Greg, I usually agree with your POV most times but I think you are way off here because your premise is that we are discussing racing. That was not a race on Sunday unless your definition of a race is 180 parade laps followed by 8 laps of mayhem.
Let us remember a couple of things. First NASCAR is entertainment not a sport. It is controlled from start to finish. The drivers are technically NASCAR employees regardless of which team they drive for since they have no union to protect them. Jimmy Johnson is a ten race champion not a cup champion as the others have been. All 36 races should count not just ten. Change the scoring system of the thirty six races so that all cars remain in the running for the title and the sponsors will come back. Let the drivers drive and France, Helton and the rest of them stay out of the way on race day and the fans will retun and then maybe it can be a sport and not just controlled entertainment.
What I love is the call by so many people to change (or eliminate) Talladega from the series. Ok, good, let's do that. Let's bulldoze Talladega and never, ever race there again. Then let's give it's two dates to California and Chicago (or pick another 1.5 mile cookie cutter), and I won't have to buy tickets 2 times a year, and I'll have Sunday afternoons open to watch football. AND I WON'T BE ALONE!!!!! I am sick and tired of hearing this crap about changing Dega or not racing there when week after week I watch the WORST, most BORING racing. So what if we saw a long string of cars go around for awhile???? At California, Kansas, Charlotte, Atlanta, Chicago, etc, we see the leader go by 5-8 SECONDS ahead of 2nd place (and 2nd place 5 sec ahead of 3rd)...IS THAT NOT BORING???? At least Sunday, the TENTH place car was 1/5th SECOND behind. I'm tired of these mealy-mouth reporters and fans, and I'm tired of NASCAR's stupid rules (like the no-bump crap). I'm almost ready to quit watching eith
Greg, you call that debacle on Sunday an auto race? To me it was more like watching rush hour traffic. To each there own.
Oh, I blame NASCAR. When I heard the new "rule" at the beginning of the broadcast I knew what would occur. If I knew, how come the brain surgeons at NASCAR didn't?
NASCAR screwed the race and the fans! Either go back to what made Dega great, or take it off the schedule. No reason to watch the last three races!
Don't you understand Greg? All of us know racing is dangerous, but us as fans we can do nothing about it. You in the media can but until the media goes after NASCAR 100% nothing will be done. Oh, they may tweek something here or there or may throw in a new rule that looks like they are trying........ but, please they have ignored the fans for the past few years. Hope they enjoy what they have now because it is gong to be short lived. DOA.....nascar.
The only thing that will get NA$CAR to listen is for the stands to be empty. By this I mean 90% of the fans don't showup for a race. Don't buy the tickets, NO ONE. Make it a planned effort. Pick a race and then BOYCOT.
Ron says "First NASCAR is entertainment not a sport."
Dictionary definition: Sport noun "1. an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc."
What part of that definition doesn't fit NASCAR?
P.S. Before you go off on some rant about drivers not being athletes in a pathetic attempt at justifying your wrong headed comment, check the website of the American College of Sports Medicine and their study entitled "Racecar Drivers' Physical Demands Comparable to Elite Athletes."
It thoroughly debunked that nonsense.
NASCAR needs to wake up and smell the coffee. In one story they say "not every race can be a barnburner." True, but what does that have to do with taking one of your premier races, known for it's excitement and turning it into the dullest race of the Century?
How can this be called stock car racing? There is nothing stock abot it. The sheet metal is hand crafted,the engines are not available to the public. Toyota doesn't even have a pushrod engine in the v8 configuration. None of the manufacturers have rear wheel drive in these models. Come on let's get serious.This is the biggest hoak perpetrated on mankind.
Yes, racing is inherently dangerous. Talledega is an abomination. It really is as simple as that. Daytona is marginally better than Talledega, but not by much.
Unless the cars, engines, and/or the tracks are changed, this amounts to nothing more than sanctioned mayhem and eventually, manslaughter. Call it what it is, roller derby on tires.
Doug said.... "How can this be called stock car racing?"
Because that's what it was from the very beginning.
The bigger question is, why are some of you hand wringers complaining about how "unstock" they are now?
They haven't been "stock cars" since the days of the Hemi Chryslers and SOHC Fords. And BTW, the bodies weren't stock then either.
So where's the friggin problem? Other than you and many others just use it as an excuse I mean.
And a sad excuse I might add.
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