Anyone see Carl's crash at Talladega today?, very lucky to walk away from it. Almost had it won too, one of the worst crashes I have seen in a few years.

 

I saw it and was amazed that he walked away but I was even more surprised that some of the fans in the front row didn't get hurt badly when he went up into the fencing. That was one heck of a finish!

 

Luckily the injuries in the stands weren't serious according to what I've heard. Although a broken jaw doesn't quite sound like a piece of cake to me. With some of the hits the drivers took in this demolition derby they were lucky that the drivers also didn't get any serious injuries.

 

i was there. i was sitting just past the start/finish line. that was some scary stuff right there, even though it was down track from me.
i beleive the lady with the broke jaw is going to be hurting for awhile. they had to air lift a couple out.

 

restrictor plate racing. meh. nuff said. I am not one of the people that think 43 cars bunched together in a big pack with no ability to accelerate away from each other,waiting for the big wreck to happen,is anything that resembles racing. I am glad Carl and all the drivers involved in the big one around lap 7 are ok,but NASCAR needs to find a way to let the cars accelerate or do away with restrictor plate tracks totally and replace them with short tracks or road courses.

 

^Road coarses! I know alot of people don't like them but I think they're great. Nothing like watching a 3,500 pound race car weaving around the track!

 

Something does need to change. It's hard to say what it is. I've heard a few people suggest cutting the banks down so that they HAVE to slow down for the corners, just like at most tracks.

I would like to point out that Edwards was the epitome of class after that wreck. A lot of drivers would be pissing and moaning about how Kesolowski wrecked them. Edwards manned up and said pretty much it was his own fault, when pretty much is was his own fault. And congrats to Kesolowski for a great win.

 

But did he actually finish the race????? He ran to the line,,, Is that legal?

 

I believe they placed Carl in 24th. Great guy, no rant against Kesolowski, calm collected interview, his only negative comments were against Nascar's safety standards not protecting the drivers well enough in that type of crash.

 

Negative. The car itself must cross the finish line. He did that out of shock and personal pride ("so near, yet so far"). And Old 93, Carl's comments were directed at Nascar as to fan AND driver safety, concerning restrictor plate racing. JMO, but Nascar is on top of things safety-wise, as far as the fans and drivers. In years past, Robbie Gordon probably would not have survived the hit he took to the inside wall off turn 4 in the closing laps, and the SAFER barriers wouldn't have been there if it wasn't for Jeff Gordon's hit at Vegas last year. And to the restrictor plate nay-sayers---would you have rather seen that crash at say 220,230mph? That's where they'd be if not for the plates. Then we could argue about the number of fatalities.


Pete

 

There are other ways to slow cars down than to restrict engine output. Like was said before to choke off the engine just creates a big group of people that can't accelerate and waiting for a crash.

There's plenty of things they could do to change things up. One perfect example is mandating bigger spoiler/wings. Yeah they might look stupid, but you get more downforce and at the same time more drag. More drag means you can't go as fast down the straights, and more downforce means more available traction for cornering. So with one change you've not only kept a cap on maximum speeds down the straights, but increased handling in the corners where most wrecks start. Safer on both accounts, but still allows for having enough engine power to do more than make one or two big trains of cars following each other around the track.

There are also other things like tires to be looked at....

Restrictor plates need to go the way of the dinosaur, we'd be better off without them, and it'd be actual RACING again.

 

I think the racing was alot better before the COT . NASCAR needs to listen to the drivers . All the safety stuff is good but they need something to race with . All the drivers hate the plate racing . I think they need to get rid of them & just put spoilers on them to slow them down . With the down force even at higher speeds the car would be safer & more stable . All these guys just want a car they can race . Going 200 mph in a big pack for 500 miles just waiting for the last 20 laps ??? Just let them race.. My 3 cents worth ... Does that make any scence ??? >>>Lew

 

"There's plenty of things they could do to change things up. One perfect example is mandating bigger spoiler/wings. Yeah they might look stupid, but you get more downforce and at the same time more drag. More drag means you can't go as fast down the straights, and more downforce means more available traction for cornering."

Guess you don't remember the Superbirds or the horsepower wars of 40 years ago, huh? I'm pretty sure Nascar does.

"There are also other things like tires to be looked at...."

Please forward your knowledge to the Goodyear engineers, I'm sure they'd be interested.

I'm almost positive Nascar has considered many more options to try and slow them down to a reasonable speed, most of which neither you nor I could even imagine. BUT at the same time, they're also marketing SPEED, which SELLS. Did you not watch the race?- Two-car break-aways, at over 10 mph faster than the pack? I thought it was a great race. Did you pick Keselowski to win? Or Ambrose to finish fourth? Hell, even Jr. thought it was fun.


Pete

 

Great post.

What other track besides Dega and Daytona can a single car, privately owned team win at nowadays? I thought it was a great race and now back to the Hendrick and Roush show.

 

a hendrick car DID win the race. the car and engine were bought from hendrick,just because the car wasn't part of the hendrick team doesn't mean that the car didn't come from him. Stewart's car is also from hendrick,do you really think he would be doing so well in his first year as an owner with a car from scratch?