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CONCORD, N.C. (AP) -- In 1992, Davey Allison gingerly climbed through the window of his No. 28 Ford, wincing with pain, as he prepared to start a race at Talladega.
Sterling Marlin said without a phone call from his team trainer, he'd still be racing this season. Credit: Autostock
The previous Sunday, he had survived a crash at Pocono, somersaulting 11 times after colliding with Darrell Waltrip, and the wreck left him with a broken forearm, a shattered wrist, badly bloodshot eyes and bruises virtually from head to toe.
Allison, in fact, was still healing from separated cartilage, fractured ribs and torn ligaments and muscle in his right shoulder from a crash earlier in the year.
Now, the second-generation NASCAR star found himself waiting for the Talladega race to start so he could drive a few laps and earn that day's championship points before giving up the seat to relief driver Bobby Hillin Jr.
Allison, who later died in a helicopter crash, endured pain most of the season, going into the last race with a shot at the title before winding up third.
If a NASCAR driver wants to win the Winston Cup championship, he can't afford to miss races. Allison is just one of many examples of drivers racing while injured in the sport's 53-year history.
Two weeks ago, Dale Earnhardt Jr., whose father drove numerous times with broken bones and other injuries, revealed he drove part of this season with a concussion that left him unable to concentrate fully or communicate with his crew chief.
Earnhardt said he did not report it to doctors because he was worried about an ankle injury, had had concussions before and didn't think this one was serious, and, most importantly, didn't want to be barred from the track.
That's what Sterling Marlin was thinking about before it was determined last week that he would miss the final seven races of 2002 after fracturing a vertebra in his neck in a crash at Kansas City.
VIDEO CLIPS
Sterling Marlin hits the wall at Kansas.
Play video
Junior reveals a concussion hampered much of his season.
Play video
"If your arm was cracked or something else, we'd go on and race," Marlin said. "But you talk about your spine, and that's a pretty delicate piece."
He didn't think about that initially.
Marlin, who was fifth in the closest points race in NASCAR history after the race in Kansas, would have been in his No. 40 Dodge at Talladega on Sunday if the team trainer hadn't been persistent in urging the driver to get X-rays.
"When I called him, he was on the farm cutting weeds," car owner Chip Ganassi said. "Now he says 'If I just didn't answer the phone, I'd still be driving."'
That's the mindset of a driver dealing with a points system that puts a premium on getting into a race car, no matter what.
In the wake of Earnhardt's revelation, other drivers talked about driving while affected by concussions. NASCAR reacted by setting a new policy requiring a driver to undergo a CT scan if racetrack doctors suspect a concussion following a crash.
If the scan shows a concussion, the driver will not be allowed to compete until obtaining a medical release, NASCAR president Mike Helton said.
Will that change the way drivers approach their jobs? Probably not, unless NASCAR changes the points system.
"The option you have is to say, 'No, I'm not going to drive it,' or suck it up, and everyone sucks it up," said Mark Martin, second in the points heading into Sunday's UAW-GM 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
"This is a manly man sport. ... I really don't think you need someone to tell you that you have a head injury and you shouldn't be driving. I would assume that you would know that yourself," Martin said.
Martin said he doesn't like the idea of someone else deciding if he is fit enough to race.
"Who gets to race with a fractured wrist? What's the difference between a fractured finger and fractured wrist? What's the cutoff point? Or does it get contained to only head injuries, and what is a head injury?
A revelation by Dale Earnhardt Jr. about a concussion he suffered at California has forced NASCAR to examine its policies. Credit: Autostock
"I've seen guys get knocked out before and were plenty capable of driving the race car again in a day or two," he said. "So if you get knocked out in an accident and you have an automatic seven-day policy, I don't like that, because in seven days you may miss the most important day of your life when you were fine in one day."
Marlin, who now has plenty of time to ponder the situation, says the solution to keeping injured drivers out of their car could be as simple as changing the rules.
"You (could) have two races a year where if a driver gets injured you can get him healed up and put somebody else in the car," Marlin said. "It probably will never take off, but that's my idea."
Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Sterling Marlin said without a phone call from his team trainer, he'd still be racing this season. Credit: Autostock
The previous Sunday, he had survived a crash at Pocono, somersaulting 11 times after colliding with Darrell Waltrip, and the wreck left him with a broken forearm, a shattered wrist, badly bloodshot eyes and bruises virtually from head to toe.
Allison, in fact, was still healing from separated cartilage, fractured ribs and torn ligaments and muscle in his right shoulder from a crash earlier in the year.
Now, the second-generation NASCAR star found himself waiting for the Talladega race to start so he could drive a few laps and earn that day's championship points before giving up the seat to relief driver Bobby Hillin Jr.
Allison, who later died in a helicopter crash, endured pain most of the season, going into the last race with a shot at the title before winding up third.
If a NASCAR driver wants to win the Winston Cup championship, he can't afford to miss races. Allison is just one of many examples of drivers racing while injured in the sport's 53-year history.
Two weeks ago, Dale Earnhardt Jr., whose father drove numerous times with broken bones and other injuries, revealed he drove part of this season with a concussion that left him unable to concentrate fully or communicate with his crew chief.
Earnhardt said he did not report it to doctors because he was worried about an ankle injury, had had concussions before and didn't think this one was serious, and, most importantly, didn't want to be barred from the track.
That's what Sterling Marlin was thinking about before it was determined last week that he would miss the final seven races of 2002 after fracturing a vertebra in his neck in a crash at Kansas City.
VIDEO CLIPS
Sterling Marlin hits the wall at Kansas.
Play video
Junior reveals a concussion hampered much of his season.
Play video
"If your arm was cracked or something else, we'd go on and race," Marlin said. "But you talk about your spine, and that's a pretty delicate piece."
He didn't think about that initially.
Marlin, who was fifth in the closest points race in NASCAR history after the race in Kansas, would have been in his No. 40 Dodge at Talladega on Sunday if the team trainer hadn't been persistent in urging the driver to get X-rays.
"When I called him, he was on the farm cutting weeds," car owner Chip Ganassi said. "Now he says 'If I just didn't answer the phone, I'd still be driving."'
That's the mindset of a driver dealing with a points system that puts a premium on getting into a race car, no matter what.
In the wake of Earnhardt's revelation, other drivers talked about driving while affected by concussions. NASCAR reacted by setting a new policy requiring a driver to undergo a CT scan if racetrack doctors suspect a concussion following a crash.
If the scan shows a concussion, the driver will not be allowed to compete until obtaining a medical release, NASCAR president Mike Helton said.
Will that change the way drivers approach their jobs? Probably not, unless NASCAR changes the points system.
"The option you have is to say, 'No, I'm not going to drive it,' or suck it up, and everyone sucks it up," said Mark Martin, second in the points heading into Sunday's UAW-GM 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
"This is a manly man sport. ... I really don't think you need someone to tell you that you have a head injury and you shouldn't be driving. I would assume that you would know that yourself," Martin said.
Martin said he doesn't like the idea of someone else deciding if he is fit enough to race.
"Who gets to race with a fractured wrist? What's the difference between a fractured finger and fractured wrist? What's the cutoff point? Or does it get contained to only head injuries, and what is a head injury?
A revelation by Dale Earnhardt Jr. about a concussion he suffered at California has forced NASCAR to examine its policies. Credit: Autostock
"I've seen guys get knocked out before and were plenty capable of driving the race car again in a day or two," he said. "So if you get knocked out in an accident and you have an automatic seven-day policy, I don't like that, because in seven days you may miss the most important day of your life when you were fine in one day."
Marlin, who now has plenty of time to ponder the situation, says the solution to keeping injured drivers out of their car could be as simple as changing the rules.
"You (could) have two races a year where if a driver gets injured you can get him healed up and put somebody else in the car," Marlin said. "It probably will never take off, but that's my idea."
Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
These drivers are not stupid......they are more than able to tell when they are able to drive (and drive safely). Putting doctors in the decision making process is stupid though.