Overreaction better than no action at all
Following Sunday’s wild finish to Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway, many in the media seem to be overreacting to the result of the latest restrictor plate race, but it’s clear there are a few things that need to be addressed.
Safety has always been a concern at Talladega, including the track’s first event. Fearful that the tires would not hold up to the speeds being produced, many drivers, led by Richard Petty, boycotted the event. Since then, NASCAR and track officials have kept a close eye on safety, but unfortunately it usually takes an incident like the one at Carl Edwards on Sunday to get the wheels turning on real change.
When Bobby Allison had a flat tire and flew backwards into the safety fence in 1987, NASCAR implemented the use of restrictor plates. When Rusty Wallace violently overturned past the start-finish line in 1993, he paved his grass to prevent a car from sinking and rolling over. When Jimmy Horton flew over the turn one wall in 1993, the circuit installed fencing around the track; Ricky Craven later put those fences to the test in 1996. When Dale Earnhardt Sr. rolled into the outside wall in 1996 and was struck on the roof and windshield by several other cars, NASCAR introduced the Earnhardt bar, a roll bar located in the middle of the windshield.
With Edwards’ car going airborne and crashing into the fence, NASCAR should take a closer look at the incident to see where improvements need to be made. For this writer, several things stand out about the incident that need to be addressed.
First, it’s clear that Edwards was blocking Keselowski to push him below the yellow line. We saw at last October’s event Regan Smith make the pass for the lead on the platform after being forced down by Tony Stewart, only to be penalized by NASCAR and stripped of the win.
With this precedent, Keselowski was doomed and determined not to budge and not move below the yellow line. When Edwards threw the block, Keselowski was there and the rest is history.
“Regan last year did the right thing,” Keselowski said after the event. “He did the smart thing. He did the cool thing. And he did, he did something that I’d be proud of if I were him. You know, he took the bullet. To be honest, I didn’t. I was not going to take the bullet. I’m not in a situation in my career where I can afford to take the bullet and I had nothing to lose.”
The second thing that sticks out is the fact that Edwards’ car went flying first. With safety innovations like roof fins and the new car, it came as a surprise to many that the No. 99 took to the air in the first place.
Sure, Matt Kenseth flipped his No. 16 during Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide race, but that was a Nationwide car, not a COT. Those types of bodies look more like old-style Cup cars than COTs, it’s understandable that one of those cars would roll over and flip through the air. However, when Edwards turned on Keselowski’s nose and his rear wheels immediately went airborne, and therein lies a problem. This new car was designed to be as safe as possible, but when a car’s rear tires are lifted into the air after turning, NASCAR needs to step in and find ways to keep the cars on the ground.
“I really don’t understand why Carl’s car did what it did,” Keselowski said. “I think that’s something we need to look into. Those cars shouldn’t be blown up like yours did, and I think that confused me a bit. I just thought your car would spin in the triangle. I think we should look at that and do some wind tunnel tests and see if we can fix it.”
Third place Ryan Newman agreed with Keselowski that NASCAR needs to keep the cars on the ground at all times.
“The only thing that stands out in my mind is two days in a row, like I said, we’ve [seen] a car flipped over and went upside down,” Newman explained. “We need to go back, not to the drawing board, develop some roof plans or something to keep the cars on the ground; That’s a thing not only for the drivers, but also for the fans. That’s something that stands out.”
Finally, one of the most surprising things to emerge from the wreckage was the fact that both Edwards and Newman, who collided with the flying No. 99 at speeds of nearly 200 mph, had sections of their windshields missing. Granted, Edwards hit the fence almost head-on and Newman took the brunt of Edwards’ car on the hood and windshield, but with the technology available today, this should never be an issue. Racing at speeds approaching 200 mph, drivers need to feel confident that their windshield will not shatter in the course of an accident, regardless of severity.
“NASCAR has to do their job to put the cars on the ground and their job to make the cars safer. I noticed that the windshield bed was removed and the Carl Edwards windshield bed was removed,” Newman added. . “Whatever we can do to continue to make the cars safer, because I’m pretty sure we’re going back to Talladega, and I’m pretty sure we’re going back to restrictor plates, and I’m pretty sure we’re going back to three of wide and four wide for most races. What we can do to make everyone safer is what we need to do to get out of here today.”
Plus, there’s no denying the danger he posed when Edwards’ flying machine crashed into the fence, sending debris into the crowd. NASCAR and track marshals have come a long way in the twenty-plus years since the terrifying Allison incident, and thanks to those innovations, Edwards’ car didn’t end up in the grandstands and injuries, while unfortunate, were kept to a minimum. .
This problem is one that is more difficult to tackle. The incident on Sunday vividly demonstrated that when a car is blown into the packed crowd, safety devices are in place to keep the damage as minimal as possible. Fans who attend any sporting event are subject to the dangers posed by that particular sport. Flying baseballs, hockey pucks and broken bats have been sent into the crowd injuring innocent bystanders. In a sport where 43 cars zip past thousands of fans at speeds close to 200 mph, NASCAR has done an incredible job of protecting those in the stands from injury or death.
“You have to understand that, for years, we’ve had accidents like this every time we come to Talladega since the plate came along and for years it was celebrated,” said runner-up Dale Earnhardt Jr. “The media celebrated it, the network celebrated it, calling it the big one, just trying to get attention and trying to get people’s attention to the race.
“So there’s a responsibility to the media and the networks and the sanctioning body itself to come to their senses a little bit and think about, you know, the situation,” Earnhardt Jr. added. “But I mean, you know, you can’t just sit here and jump up and say, wow, what I saw today was crazy. I don’t think it’s right, unless you’re a driver, because the media and the networks and everyone has been celebrating those things for years.”
Clearly, Sunday’s terrifying incident has drawn attention to the fact that there are still security gaps that NASCAR must address. However, Carl Edwards stating “we’ll run like this until we kill someone” might be taking it a bit too far. Keep in mind that Edwards was not only able to climb out of his wrecked race car, but then ran across the finish line. Now, Edwards is a physically fit guy, but for someone to be able to climb after an accident of this magnitude says a lot about NASCAR’s effort in terms of making the sport as safe as possible.
“There is no such thing as an overreaction when it comes to security,” Newman argued. “Not just, like I said, not just for us, but also for the fans. The bottom line is, whatever we can do to make it safer for everyone, that’s what we need to do. And yesterday and today were two things that I’m sure NASCAR will spend some time looking at, playing some videos and seeing what the cars are doing and letting their engineers figure out what we can do to try to help the situation.”
Security is never a finished project, it is something that constantly needs to be adjusted and worked on every day. However, I disagree with Newman’s sentiments. Now, I’ll admit I’m not behind the wheel of one of these machines, but I think NASCAR just needs to be careful not to overreact to this incident in the name of safety.
In 2000, when Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin died at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, NASCAR implemented restrictor plates on the one-mile track in an effort to prevent further tragic incidents. The result was a terrible race in which there was not a single pass for the lead.
What NASCAR must ensure is that there isn’t a knee-jerk reaction to all the media outcry after Sunday’s event. Steps must certainly be taken to keep cars on the ground and ensure the durability of windshields, but there’s a fine line between overreacting and overreacting.