NASCAR safety

Zerkfitting said:
I assume the cars have black boxes that measure a number of parameters so they can evaluate what happened in the car, what forces Newman experienced, and how the car performed in the wreck.
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I think it was last year they added in addition to the sensors an in car camera that records accidents.
 
The Nature Boy said:
I feel like people are using this to justify their anti-plate racing biases despite this not being an inherently plate racing wreck.

It’s intellectually dishonest.
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yep it happens every year. I've thought the same about the constant trolling about the sport while saying they are a "fan" so they can hang around and continue. They really don't like nothing about Nascar.:D
 
The Nature Boy said:
I feel like people are using this to justify their anti-plate racing biases despite this not being an inherently plate racing wreck.

It’s intellectually dishonest.
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I agree that Newman's individual accident was not directly plate- or pack-related. Most of the other accidents at Daytona and Talladega ARE caused by the cars being trapped in one inseparable wad. Some will claim that's due to drafting. They draft at Indy and Pocono but the cars have no problems separating there after a few laps. The most obvious difference is the relative lack of banking at those two tracks. I'm open to other explanations, and suggestions as to what's preventing NASCAR from implementing them.
 
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Charlie Spencer said:
I agree that Newman's individual accident was not directly plate- or pack-related. Most of the other accidents at Daytona and Talladega ARE caused by the cars being trapped in one inseparable wad. Some will claim that's due to drafting. They draft at Indy and Pocono but the cars have no problems separating there after a few laps. The most obvious difference is the relative lack of banking at those two tracks.
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They can't pass or run two wide thru the corners at Indy. Your rant would be remiss, unless you include narrowing the track in addition to removing the banking at the Super Speedways so we fans can have yet another impossible to pass single file track for you guys to complain about.
 
Daytona and Talladega are the only tracks with such a high rate of closing speeds due to the draft, almost forcing the guy in front to make such aggressive blocks. And unlike other tracks where last lap passes for the lead are rare, it happens at Daytona and Dega basically every time they race there. I will keep watching, but these two tracks are easily the two most dangerous tracks on the schedule and it's not even close.
 
Brentford said:
Daytona and Talladega are the only tracks with such a high rate of closing speeds due to the draft, almost forcing the guy in front to make such aggressive blocks. And unlike other tracks where last lap passes for the lead are rare, it happens at Daytona and Dega basically every time they race there. I will keep watching, but these two tracks are easily the two most dangerous tracks on the schedule and it's not even close.
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Thanks to NASCAR's relentless efforts to make these cars as safe as possible, people aren't getting killed in these crashes.
 
Brentford said:
Daytona and Talladega are the only tracks with such a high rate of closing speeds due to the draft, almost forcing the guy in front to make such aggressive blocks. And unlike other tracks where last lap passes for the lead are rare, it happens at Daytona and Dega basically every time they race there. I will keep watching, but these two tracks are easily the two most dangerous tracks on the schedule and it's not even close.
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I beg to differ. Just because cars wreck doesn't make it necessarily more dangerous than other tracks. What is dangerous are places like turn 3 at Pocono, ask Jimmie Johnson or Bubba Wallace recently. If the car wasn't the safest, I doubt either would still be racing. yeah the frequency is less but the danger is higher. Another thing that happens irregardless of close pack racing happened in Almirola's case, 2 car wreck, Joey and Danica had wrecked and Almirola was going too fast to miss it and he was a second or two behind it.
 
I just wanna know what they can do short of actually getting rid of the tracks? Like I said before, I can’t see them not doing the Daytona 500. So all they could do really is drop the other 3 races.

Unless they found away to slow the cars down and not having to have them in packs.
 
In Super Speedway racing, in most of the wrecks everybody are going the same speed,so while there are flames, fenders crashing etc and boy it looks terrible, what is much worse is when they aren't racing closely and a car a hundred feet behind can't miss the spinning car and plows into it. The speed differential is much more serious in that case.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
Thanks to NASCAR's relentless efforts to make these cars as safe as possible, people aren't getting killed in these crashes.
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Agreed. The issue NASCAR has been actively avoiding is separating the cars so the multi-car accidents are less likely to happen in the first place.
 
Blaze said:
I just wanna know what they can do short of actually getting rid of the tracks? Like I said before, I can’t see them not doing the Daytona 500. So all they could do really is drop the other 3 races.

Unless they found away to slow the cars down and not having to have them in packs.
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I've given the knee jerk "tear the banking down" speech many times after these accidents, but ultimately, the drivers need to re-learn what they know about this style of racing. Ever since they took the plates off, it seems like the cars are much closer together now in these packs, meaning less room for error, and the closing rate is much quicker.

The biggest problem right now is that there are quite a few drivers who don't race with any respect at all. Sadly, the answer to this is to race those guys the same way they race you.

It actually surprises me that people still make an effort to race Joey Logano, for example, cleanly, and then expect NASCAR to do something when he races them too aggressively.
 
StandOnIt said:
Your solution(s)? would turn the race into a yawner. They might as well hire school crossing guards to keep them separated, more cost efficient :p
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I'm open to other solutions, but modifying the cars and the rules in an attempt to suit the tracks isn't cutting it. I'm not saying the banking has to be completely removed, but do something so the drivers have to step on the brakes going into the turns. IMSA runs the 90% of the oval at Daytona, but within each class the competitors are able to separate. Maybe there's some lessons to be learned there?
 
Charlie Spencer said:
I'm open to other solutions, but modifying the cars and the rules in an attempt to suit the tracks isn't cutting it. I'm not saying the banking has to be completely removed, but do something so the drivers have to step on the brakes going into the turns. IMSA runs the 90% of the oval at Daytona, but within each class the competitors are able to separate. Maybe there's some lessons to be learned there?
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you can't compare a road race to a Nascar Super Speedway race. I know you did. but damn. :D
 
Charlie Spencer said:
Agreed. The issue NASCAR has been actively avoiding is separating the cars so the multi-car accidents are less likely to happen in the first place.
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Not really, they would love to have racing like this without tearing cars up or someone getting hurt. Slowing the cars bring them back together, speeding them up makes it more dangerous. Its a tough fix.
 
Spotter22 said:
Not really, they would love to have racing like this without tearing cars up or someone getting hurt. Slowing the cars bring them back together, speeding them up makes it more dangerous. Its a tough fix.
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No problem but I won’t be celebrating NASCAR’s approach to safety. They’re deliberately side-stepping one of the largest issues and ignoring potential solutions. 4 times a season they toss all safety considerations to the wind.
 
Overall, I think NASCAR has been an extremely safe form of motorsports relative to others. There have been 28 deaths in the Cup series since NASCAR was formed 72 years ago. That's a damn impressive track record if you ask me. Especially when I think back to some of the nasty/horrible crashes guys lived to tell about. The crews and NASCAR really started to nail down the roll cage sometime in the late 70's, early 80's which was a huge! From there incremental improvements in restraints and seats definitely made a difference. If you look back at the cause of several of those 28 deaths there is a distinct trend of either tire failure or restraint/seat/window net failure. Poor Rick Baldwin's head hit the wall when his net failed which led to a decade long coma before he passed.

The advent of softer walls and the use of the HANS device are the two biggest things have saved drivers from serious injuries or death the last 19 years. As I said the other night, if they had introduced the HANS device around the time when seats and restraints improved a lot of those deaths in the late 90's, early 00's likely don't occur.

I honestly have never questioned NASCAR's concern for safety. I always felt safety was determined by your team's ability to build a quality car and using the best seats/restraints that were available and recommended. Some guys choose to wear closed face helmets while other didn't, some wore gloves some didn't, one wore wing tips, most did not.

There's still concern for fan safety at the pack tracks. The results of Allison's '87 ride was concern over the spectators when his car got into the fence; along with bumps and cuts someone lost an eye. 30 years later a similar thing happened when Dillon got into the fence at Daytona. NASCAR and the tracks were proactive in redoing some of the close proximity seating. Still, there's a lot of variables in that department.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
No problem but I won’t be celebrating NASCAR’s approach to safety. They’re deliberately side-stepping one of the largest issues and ignoring potential solutions. 4 times a season they toss all safety considerations to the wind.
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As I was saying they dont side step it, they have made it as safe as possible and spent millions of dollars doing it.
 
BobbyFord said:
There are a lot of tracks where it COULD happen but there are two tracks where it consistently DOES happen.
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I agree pack racing causes more accidents, but this wasn't a pack racing accident. This was one car blocking another car that had a run. The blocker and the runner touched sending the blocker to the wall. A following car didn't have time to slow/change his line before hitting Newman's car. Not and unusual racing situation at any track.

One thing Nascar may be able to do is penalize drivers that don't attempt to slow when the yellow comes out -- a judgement call on Nascar's part. I think we've all seen cars not slowing that much when they can. Again, LaJoie couldn't, but the replay showed a car that was quite a bit further back that just missed Newman's car after the big hit that looked to be was racing to the checker.
 
Clutch said:
His first announcement will probably be praising Nascar for their dedication to driver safety. (He may have some coaching) ;)
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It's going to be a hard sell IMO while standing there without a scratch saying how dangerous and deadly Super Speedy racing is. :idunno::p
 
I applaud all the work that NASCAR does to keep the drivers safe in the race cars, and maybe NASCAR might learn someting from Newmans wreck that might save another driver in the future.
 
Nobody wants to see our hero’s get a scratch much less a debilitating injury.
I don’t like a lot of what NASCAR does but focusing on safety is not an issue.

There is inherent danger in all motor sports. From your hometown go kart racer to Ryan Newman every one of them know this.
If 40 drivers walk tomorrow 40 more will fill their shoes.
I wish I was one of them.
 
Old 97 said:
Nobody wants to see our hero’s get a scratch much less a debilitating injury.
I don’t like a lot of what NASCAR does but focusing on safety is not an issue.

There is inherent danger in all motor sports. From your hometown go kart racer to Ryan Newman every one of them know this.
If 40 drivers walk tomorrow 40 more will fill their shoes.
I wish I was one of them.
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This. Right. Here.
 
JerryF said:
I agree pack racing causes more accidents, but this wasn't a pack racing accident. This was one car blocking another car that had a run. The blocker and the runner touched sending the blocker to the wall. A following car didn't have time to slow/change his line before hitting Newman's car. Not and unusual racing situation at any track.

One thing Nascar may be able to do is penalize drivers that don't attempt to slow when the yellow comes out -- a judgement call on Nascar's part. I think we've all seen cars not slowing that much when they can. Again, LaJoie couldn't, but the replay showed a car that was quite a bit further back that just missed Newman's car after the big hit that looked to be was racing to the checker.
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Yeah, I disagree. This is exactly what happens every year at Daytona and Talladega.
 
Grateful for the next 2 or 3 weeks during which no posts will appear lamenting how much more dangerous racing used to be, how much stronger and more brave the heroes of old were and why today's silver spoon ride-buyers are not racing back to the line and flying down pit road at race speeds.

It's also nice to see how much more popular Ryan Newman is relative to last season.
 
aunty dive said:
Grateful for the next 2 or 3 weeks during which no posts will appear lamenting how much more dangerous racing used to be, how much stronger and more brave the heroes of old were and why today's silver spoon ride-buyers are not racing back to the line and flying down pit road at race speeds.

It's also nice to see how much more popular Ryan Newman is relative to last season.
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A bunch of pansies right?

Ryan Blaney thought he might have killed Newman. Racing now in days is so pussified. We still have drivers losing the ability to walk or stand, yet we still call modern day racing pussified.

Okay then.
 
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