Update on Eric McClure

HoneyBadger

HoneyBadger

I love short track racing (Taylor's Version)
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Emily Brandt‏@HeftyReynolds14
Correction...mild internal bruising. #nascar

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Emily Brandt‏@HeftyReynolds14
He's expected 2 make full recovery. He will be available @ media @ the Jim Hunter Media Center in Darlington on Friday; time to b announced

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Emily Brandt‏@HeftyReynolds14
@ericmcclure was released this evening from UAB medical center.He suffered a concussion & mild internal bleeding. #nascar
 
NA$$CAR's safety innovations (auto racing in general actually) have greatly extended the life expectancy of racecar drivers everywhere.

10 years ago we would have been mourning young Eric's passing...
 
Thanks for the update. Man that was a lick. SAFER barriers on Hans devices and car technology has really made this sport much safer.
 
robbybee said:
NA$$CAR's safety innovations (auto racing in general actually) have greatly extended the life expectancy of racecar drivers everywhere.

10 years ago we would have been mourning young Eric's passing...
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Yeah I was just thinking earlier that if we never advanced in safety this last decade we likely could of lossed Eric McClure, Jerry Nadeau, Jeff Gordon maybe even (had bad wrecks at Pocono and Las Vegas), Tony Stewart had a horrible accident at Darlington in 02 or 03 I believe, Steve Park, Sterling Marlin, Johnny Benson, Mike Harmon, and Joe Nemecheck all come to mind and I am sure there are many other bad accidents I am forgetting that inovations in the last decade have likely saved.
 
It looked real bad at first. That was a hard hit. When I saw the NASCAR official frantically waving his hand for more help, I got a bad feeling in my gut.
 
Did anyone notice the color of the inside safer barrier after the hit? I noticed that at the impact point {after, of course} there were about 3-5 vertical members of the foam that were purple. Anyone see that? And if so, was the impact that severe that color was changed by the force? Or maybe, Track safety workers painted them, but I didn't see any of that going on.
 
When the SAFER barrier takes a hit like that, it damages the "baffles" and they must be replaced before the race can continue. There are always additional baffles on hand for just such a situation.
 
pooh27361 said:
When the SAFER barrier takes a hit like that, it damages the "baffles" and they must be replaced before the race can continue. There are always additional baffles on hand for just such a situation.
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It's hard to believe that those foam pieces do anything at all the way they break apart, but I guess they do.
 
FenderBumper said:
It's hard to believe that those foam pieces do anything at all the way they break apart, but I guess they do.
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It takes force to break something.

Conservation of energy. If the car can transfer it's energy into another object [occurs quickly], it has less energy to radiate [occurs less quickly]. The car can transfer it's energy into the steel wall, which can collapse and transfer the energy to the foam, which breaks down. In the case of a rapidly tumbling car, usually the energy is transferred to the individual parts that come flying off at high speed.
 
Magnethead said:
It takes force to break something.

Conservation of energy. If the car can transfer it's energy into another object [occurs quickly], it has less energy to radiate [occurs less quickly]. The car can transfer it's energy into the steel wall, which can collapse and transfer the energy to the foam, which breaks down. In the case of a rapidly tumbling car, usually the energy is transferred to the individual parts that come flying off at high speed.
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Very well put. I wonder if those foam blocks are designed to keep the steel tube from bending too far and kinking so they don't need to be replaced after every hit.
 
The steel tubes and the foam are part of a comprehensive design which disperses the energy of an impact, as we all know. The hollow steel tubes flex and the foam further disperses the energy. The foam is designed to disentigrate. WIKI describes the "system" pretty well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAFER_barrier
 
TMI (Team McClure Inc.) announced today that due to injuries sustained last Saturday following a crash at Talladega Superspeedway, Eric McClure will be sidelined for Friday night’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Darlington Raceway. Jeff Green, the 2000 NASCAR Nationwide Series champion and teammate to McClure at TriStar Motorsports will drive the No. 14 Hefty(r)/Reynolds Wrap(r) Toyota at Darlington.
More here: http://www.catchfence.com/2012/nati...o-sub-for-eric-mcclure-at-darlington-raceway/
 
That barrier he hit, fully compressed to the WALL. They need a thicker Safer Barrier.
 
Article on what the impact did to the car.....

“The steering column went up quite a bit,” Ward said. “But from what they’re telling me, that’s pretty common with a frontal impact like that. … From what they’re telling me, I don’t think he actually hit the steering wheel that hard.

“It just kind of moved up. His helmet or face didn’t really go down into it that hard because of the HANS and the seat belts. There wasn’t anything in the car that we could say was bad. Everything did what it was supposed to do and everything held up.”

The car was originally built at Rusty Wallace Racing, where Ward was shop foreman. The seat was manufactured by MasterCraft.

“There wasn’t any failure in the safety of the car,” Ward said as he oversaw preparations for the team at Darlington Raceway, where Jeff Green will substitute for McClure. “It was pretty much an in-house Wallace car. … A lot of people touched the car, whether it was us or RWR. To all those people, I commend them.”
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Complete article here.
 
MOEJOE said:
That barrier he hit, fully compressed to the WALL. They need a thicker Safer Barrier.
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Looks to me like the barrier did a great job . It was supposed to collapse and absorb the energy ,right ?
 
ted@economy said:
Don't rightly know . Is Nascar saying it needs improvement ? Or some fan ?
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If you want to take Nascar's word as the word of God, go ahead, but not everyone does. I'd like to think Nascar looks at every impact to see if it's safety measures need improvement but I'm not going to assume that they do.

Whos idea was it for safer barriers? Did Nascar take the lead? Why does Nascar continue to race at tracks with areas of bare concrete walls when we/they kow that safer walls are available? Why hasn't Nascar made the roof hatch mandatory?

Finally, do you think the safer walls are fine the way they are and wait for Nascar to tell you they're not?

There are many questions, that's for sure,.
 
To me , race fans telling Nascar what to do is the same as Star Trek fans telling Nasa how to run the space program . Well intentioned but utterly useless .
 
ted@economy said:
To me , race fans telling Nascar what to do is the same as Star Trek fans telling Nasa how to run the space program . Well intentioned but utterly useless .
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Fair enough.

Too me, race fans accepting everything Nascar does as true and righteous is of more benefit to some than others. Brian France, in other words.

But we all make our own decisions and offer our individual opinions here on the internet.
 
ted@economy said:
Looks to me like the barrier did a great job . It was supposed to collapse and absorb the energy ,right ?
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It did what it was supposed to do, until the steel outer barrier came in contact with the wall. The foam shape is really cool. It tightens up as the car gets closer to the wall. If the barrier had been another say 10 to 12 inches out. The V-shape could have been deeper, and more foam exploding upon impact means less car getting pushed toward the driver.

I say, make it better.
 
Eric McClure says he always dreamed of coming into the NASCAR media center but not under these circumstances.

McClure: "I'm doing OK. About as well as could be expected. Definitely sore and battling some things this week. But I'm thankful."

Eric McClure on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio says he "remembers bits and pieces of everything" about his Talladega crash.

Eric McClure said the biggest battle was internal bruising. He's consulting with doctors to see when he'll get back in the race car.

McClure said that he lost his brakes sometime after the restart.

Eric McClure says he had a "heart-sinking feeling" after heading straight for the wall with no brakes.

Eric McClure has four girls aged from 21 weeks to five years.
 
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