J richard

Never mind...

67King

Well said, Lewis. This is what I was trying to convey when I said that NASCAR was guilty, IMHO, of gross negligence.

Sadly, I think the last sentence quotes tells the story of the only real hope for change. Reminds me of the scene in Fight Club when Ed Norton's character is saying his employer does a simple cost/benefit analysis. They know people may die if changes aren't made. So they simply asssess what kind of legal costs will be incurred and compare that to the cost to drive changes, and go with the less expensive route. There are some cases where litigation is absolutely necessary to drive change. This appears to be one of them.

ltc

Brian France and Tony George, both members of the lucky platinum sperm club, have done more to destroy actual auto racing in the USA than anyone else could have possible done.

They have created entertainment at the expense of talent, safety and common sense.

Jimbo951

I see two problems with a the Nationwide accident.

The first root cause if the design of the track: The dog-leg tri-oval. Having cars come straight at spectators is a problem, but it makes for a great spectating experience. If the cars get into the air, they're going to go straight (Newton's First Law), and that puts them moving toward the fans.

Second problem is the fencing. The main structural member of the fencing is vertical posts. Yesterday it choped the #32 car in half. Two years ago, Dan Wheldon fatally struck one. IMHO, they need to figure out how to offset the horizontal cabling away from the vertical posts, so the horizontal members can push the car back toward the track without the the car striking the vertical posts. The best fence would be a solid concrete wall, but the fans wouldn't like that. Hard to make a safe, strong retaining system, but still allow the fans to see the track.

GuyIncognito

yep.

the other issue is creating enough tension in the fencing/cabling to withstand those impacts...3600 pound stock car doing 200 mph has a lot of energy that needs to be dissipated.

hf1

Or they could just take the cars away, dress the "drivers" in loincloths, give each of them a long stick, and let them pummel each other until there's only one left standing. If viewership starts dwindling, add lions to the show. No fancy fencing needed. Viewers hardly ever got hurt at Roman auditoriums.

GuyIncognito

touche.

multi21

Why are people surprised at this? BA$HCAR encourages this. Drivers purposely crash into other with no consequences. Collateral damage, pfft, who cares, ratings go up.

Crash on Sunday, Sell on Monday. 5 Hr Energy did a commercial after this incident about their driver's stamina after this incident. If you think NA$CAR is racing, or even a sport, you need to step back and take another look.

Remember the Ford Pinto debacle and their bean counters making a spreadsheet on what it would cost to payout lawsuits vs. actually fix the gas tanks that exploded? It was cheaper to settle out than change the design. GUARANTEED the France family is doing the same thing here. What will it take to pay out those injured vs. the ratings boost from this going forward.

In Hollywood they say there is no such thing as bad publicity.

hacker-pschorr

Do the Nationwide cars have the same flaps that open when going in reverse to keep the cars from going airborne?

Not saying it they would have helped here, just curious if these cars have the same safety devices as the "big boys".

GuyIncognito

yes.

nice avatar btw

ltc

See aircraft carrier arresting gear physics as an example.

You need displacement area...something that takes away seats .... Not going to happen

jcs_911

I wrote this after the Weldon crash. Those posts ripped off the top of his helmet. They don't need to be there. The posts can be set back from the fence line and support the fence from the top with a cantilevered arm. Add additional cable and you have a system that will flex, without the posts that are inflexible and do a great deal of harm. But it costs $$, too.

J richard

Just break the worn out mould and move the grandstands to the infield ala F1...

GT3 Techno

Weird...

GuyIncognito

WTF?!?!?