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For those who hate NASCAR’s COT: Time to shut-up
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Ryan Newman (33) slides upside down on the track after crashing with Kevin Harvick (29) at Talladega
A spectacular crash in the closing laps at Talladega Superspeedway Sunday stymied NASCAR’s best effort to avoid the ‘big one’.
More importantly though, it validated the safety that NASCAR has built into their new generation racecars and the training they put the safety crews through.
With less then four laps to go as the pack was heading down the backstretch, Ryan Newman’s No. 39 Chevy hit the back of his teammate Tony Stewart’s Chevy. Newman’s car shot across the track turn spun around backwards and pirouetted up and over with the back of the car landing on the hood of Kevin Harvick’s machine behind him. Newman’s car then slid on its roof back across the track into the turn 3 wall and began to flip down the embankment coming to rest on its roof in the grass.
Safety crews were on the scene almost immediately and for several anxious moments everything stopped as crews began to access the situation. Despite the anxious moments, NASCAR fans were able to witness a sight rarely seen as safety crews performed tasks they had practiced many times before. Once they determined that Newman was okay, the safety crews slowly and gingerly righted the destroyed Chevy. The crew then cut the roof off the car allowing Newman to step out.
Although shaken up, Newman was fine physically. After he was checked out Newman expressed his disappointment but said that the roll cage of the car had been compressed to the point where it was touching his helmet.
Part of the changes made during the seven-year design process for NASCAR’s new racecar included larger crumple zones to help with impacts and perhaps even more importantly for Newman the drivers seat was moved to the right and the car is four inches wider and two inches taller than the previous models.
It was those two inches in height that no doubt allowed NASCAR fans to watch and cheer as Ryan Newman climbed from the car Sunday. Mark Martin would later tumble down the front stretch as the field came to the white flag. He was able to climb from his car as well.
Many fans have criticized NASCAR’s COT, and while it may not be perfect had it not been implement full time in 2007, Newman’s accident most likely would have had a far worse ending.
One thing that everyone can agree on was the outstanding and tremendous effort put forth by the safety crews. Since the tragic death of Dale Earnhardt in 2001, NASCAR’s safety has improved tenfold and the crews proved that Sunday.
With the combination of the safety improvements in the racecar, along with the training of the safety crews Ryan Newman walked away and will race again. And no matter what anyone may think that’s a far better result then NASCAR would have seen prior to the introduction of the COT.
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