That’s gotta be about the worst place to get hit in a race car.

Ian F said:

golfduke said:

Tom1200 said:

Once Newman is fully recovered (hopefully he will be) I will be interested to hear his take on all of this.

I just wanted to quickly touch on this without totally detailing what I thinks is great debate, but Ryan Newman in the past has been one of the louder critics of modern plate racing.  Several sound blurbs popped up today all saying mostly the same thing- it's gonna take someone getting killed for NASCAR to change anything... 

If the most popular driver in the series getting killed didn't really change much, then I doubt anything will really change. Many of the changes made to the tracks (safer barriers), cars (better cages) and seats (HANS) have really just been symptom treatments and did nothing to change the underlying cause (plate racing).

I agree it will be interesting to hear Newman's take on the crash. My take is he tried to block getting passed by Blaney and paid the price when it went wrong.  Both were just doing what they needed to do to win, and thus it was a racing incident. 

Dal;e Earnhardts death created tremendous change.  Safer barriers, Hans devices, full enclosure seats, foam between the roll bar and outer skin...  There have been massive improvements since then.

Streetwiseguy said:

Ian F said:

golfduke said:

Tom1200 said:

Once Newman is fully recovered (hopefully he will be) I will be interested to hear his take on all of this.

I just wanted to quickly touch on this without totally detailing what I thinks is great debate, but Ryan Newman in the past has been one of the louder critics of modern plate racing.  Several sound blurbs popped up today all saying mostly the same thing- it's gonna take someone getting killed for NASCAR to change anything... 

If the most popular driver in the series getting killed didn't really change much, then I doubt anything will really change. Many of the changes made to the tracks (safer barriers), cars (better cages) and seats (HANS) have really just been symptom treatments and did nothing to change the underlying cause (plate racing).

I agree it will be interesting to hear Newman's take on the crash. My take is he tried to block getting passed by Blaney and paid the price when it went wrong.  Both were just doing what they needed to do to win, and thus it was a racing incident. 

Dal;e Earnhardts death created tremendous change.  Safer barriers, Hans devices, full enclosure seats, foam between the roll bar and outer skin...  There have been massive improvements since then.

All of which already existed in other types of racing Nascar went into that kicking and screaming.

Streetwiseguy said:

Dal;e Earnhardts death created tremendous change.  Safer barriers, Hans devices, full enclosure seats, foam between the roll bar and outer skin...  There have been massive improvements since then.

Not to mention the COT itself, which is much safer than the cars that preceded it.

Dale's death threw the whole sport into an uproar and created massive change.

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

You didn't read what I wrote - yes, Dale Sr's death caused changes to the cars and tracks. It did not change much of the underlying NEED for those changes. At least at the plate tracks.

Plate racing causes drivers to make desperate maneuvers that they otherwise wouldn't make and because the cars are bunched up the likelihood of cars smashing into each other is obviously very high. Also due to the high speeds those crashes are likely to be very heavy.  Cup cars are very stout and this has led NASCAR to be rather complacent, this accident should be a wake up call but it won't be.

It's easy to blame NASCAR leadership, and I do, but the financial reality is team owners can't/ won't withdraw because of sponsor commitments. Drivers want to win the most prestigious event on the calender, if they refused to run plate races they'd be in violation of their contract and have all sorts of legal issues. 

Maybe by some miracle NASCAR will grow a pair and take this near miss seriously. Perhaps if someone explained to them that the current situation is a multi million dollar lawsuit / judgment ripe for the making they'd pay attention.

Thankfully the guy involved survived. 

Tom1200 said:

Perhaps if someone explained to them that the current situation is a multi million dollar lawsuit / judgment ripe for the making they'd pay attention.

A lawsuit? Who would bring a lawsuit in an instance like this?

Phew. Looks like he's already up and walking around a bit.

https://twitter.com/roushfenway/status/1230172755657711616

From Roush-Fenway's Twitter account.  Pretty freaking unbelievable to see that level of carnage and sequence of events to that picture in 2 days.  Looks like he could strap back in on Sunday... 

Just... insane...

Fantastic news!  The photo says it all.

If he gets a medical pass, he might very well be back in the car on Sunday.  If only to get starting credit for points.  He did end up with 9th place points, so there would be some incentive. 

Good to see regardless.

I dunno.  If I saw myself in that photo, with my two daughters, I'd consider it a wake-up call and retire.

I have doubts that they'd clear him to race this week, but who knows. If I was him I'd be looking at getting into broadcasting, his racing luck got all used up on that one. He could get a medical waiver to still be championship-eligible even if he misses some races, like Kyle Busch did a few years ago (and ended up winning the championship, due to the win-and-in playoff format and devaluing of actual points accumulation) but we'll see.

BTW, something I just thought of, which is a bit unrelated but kind of related, is that Max Chilton stepped away from Indycar due to not wanting to race on the ovals until they added their super-strong safety windshield. Granted, I think Indycar on ovals is even more dangerous than NASCAR on superspeedways, but if it can happen there, who's to say some drivers won't say "just sign me up for the regular tracks, find someone else for those other four."

Orrrrrrr... "Ooops I pulled a hamstring right before the superspeedway race, I need medical waiver plz. Oops it happened again right before the next superspeedway race..." Like athletes who don't want to play in the All-Star game.

irish44j said:

Even in amateur motorsports....see Foley's flight off the side of Pike's Peak in his Evo.....car was reduced to basically the cage, and he pretty much walked away from it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hIsWx5qbQs

There was a stupendous amount of luck involved in that crash, not only in that he never hit the wrong rock in the wrong way on the way down, but that the same cage he was online bragging about the cheatiness of beforehand held up to such a cartoonishly bad wreck. I get the feeling that a diligent and experienced racer wouldn't have survived such a crash...

1988RedT2 said:

I dunno.  If I saw myself in that photo, with my two daughters, I'd consider it a wake-up call and retire.

I agree.  Newman has perhaps 2 of the... 5? scariest NASCAR crashes in the medern era.  Something about three strikes...

1988RedT2 said:

I dunno.  If I saw myself in that photo, with my two daughters, I'd consider it a wake-up call and retire.

Professional race car drivers aren't wired like normal people.

He's got plenty of time to get to Vegas 

In reply to Wally :

That's cold. They made the man walk out of the hospital with no shoes. 

Stampie said:

In reply to Wally :

That's cold. They made the man walk out of the hospital with no shoes. 

ER booties.  BTDT. 

Stampie said:

In reply to Wally :

That's cold. They made the man walk out of the hospital with no shoes. 

Two things, first sarcastic and snarky- 

"You'll get your shoes when you pay your bill, sir!" 

Second, and more realistically, I wonder if in all of the whirlwind craziness of his past 36 hours, he and his family honestly just forgot about shoes and didn't think to bring/pack/buy any.  Pretty sure his racing footwear was likely cut off of him, haha. 

Wally said:

He's got plenty of time to get to Vegas 

What a world we live in!  I don't disagree that the restrictor plate racing has gotten crazy dangerous, but at the same time after a collision like that to be literally walking out of the hospital a little less than two days later!?  They have certainly gotten their money's worth out of the design that's gone in to the safety systems in those cars and tracks.

There is a lucky man.

On Monday night I swear I watched that man lose his life on live TV, in one of the worst motorsports accidents I have seen.

Today he walked out of the hospital holding his girls hands. Without shoes.

That is a miracle.

@z31maniac given the litigious age we live in I would expect a family member or competitor who had been severely injured might sue.  There have been numerous discussions about the safety of plate races and given the nature of juries it's not inconceivable for a big payout to be the result.

Thankfully these cars are built as stout as they are but if a guy who races/raced sprint cars tells you it's dangerous you should listen.

I also don't expect the guy to retire, as has been said race car drivers aren't wired that way.

Glad to see he's headed home, very heartwarming to see a dad with his two girls.