Is NASCAR Taking Safety Seriously Enough?

Last weekend at Pocono we saw something that was so bad it forces NASCAR to examine the way the racetracks are designed for safety reasons. Our friends at NASCAR have improved the "Car of Tomorrow" for drivers safety and they improved 90% of the walls by adding safer barriers but 90% is not good enough. I applaud NASCAR for the major strides NASCAR has taken when it comes to safety, without the new car there would have been a driver seriously hurt or even killed in this wreck.

In case you missed last week's race, there was an accident where drivers Kurt Busch and Elliot Sadler crashed and hit the inside guardrail, yes I said "guardrail". This is almost the same guardrail that you see on the highway except this one is wrapped around a small mountain of dirt meant to absorb the force of the car and stop it from going into the infield. This system worked fine back when the cars did just 100 mph because, by the time a car got to that part of the track, it slowed down enough to make the crash. Now with the cars going almost 200 mph, this system and way of thinking needs to be retired.

Thankfully, the cars of tomorrow contain all the safety improvements NASCAR has made since the death of Dale Earnhardt in 2001; not one driver here was seriously hurt. Elliot Sadler got out of his car and stretched out on the ground next to it until safety workers could get to him. Elliot hit the guardrail head on at a little under 200 mph, hitting so hard that it sent the car's engine almost back on to the track. Elliot was fine and just got the wind knocked out of him by the seat belts in the car. It completely separated the car's front end from the back. This happens very rarely even though the car is meant to break apart to absorb the energy in a wreck.

The car did its job of keeping the driver safe as nothing came into or left the cockpit. The use of the Hans device probably kept Elliot from being launched out the windshield. Once again I applaud NASCAR in the steps they have taken for safety. I can't say enough about the way the safety devices all worked here. I am sure that when NASCAR came up with all these aspects of safety, they did not plan for a 200 mph head on collision with an unmovable object.

Pocono was planning to redo the inside walls of the track to include a new safer barrier by next year's race. They spent a ton of money by going green and putting solar panels at the track, but didn't think about improving the walls. Not exactly the greatest logic in the world, but that will change by next year. Let's just be thankful that no one was killed this weekend. A driver was able to go home and see his wife and kids.

-Vinny

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Photo Credit: FLC