| The other side of the fence |
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I sat here thinking all week, fresh off of a wonderful, wacky road trip to Charlotte for the Uaw-GM 500. On the 9 hour trip home,(I live near Tampa Florida), I spent time thinking about Nascar, about safety, about greed, about sponsors and about fans. I thought about how the sport was born, how it has evolved and where it is heading. As I preview this week at Martinsville and the Old Dominion 500, I have decided to try to "jump the fence" and view things from Nascar's side and see if I could justify their actions.
The biggest issue right now is safety and I am going to talk about that next. But first, let's look at this weekend. My top 5 prediction is as follows: Qualifying: Rusty Wallace, Kenny Wallace, Gordon, Stewart and Rudd. Top 5 finishers: Rudd, Stewart, Rusty, Dale Jr and Jarrett. As we all know, this is the last short track race of the year and as hot as the tempers have been, this is going to be a brawl. I expect quite a few drivers going to the Big Red Trailer after the race and egos as well as race cars all bent up. Martinsville is a track where anything can and will happen and I really feel Jeff Gordon is going to this race with the mindset to just finish. Doesn't matter where, just be running at the end. I think this could get him into trouble and he really should just run hard. But, I fully expect him to just try to get by and protect the points lead and worry about racing next week. Now.. everyone's favorite subject, SAFETY. I spent this past week researching websites, newspapers, watching TV and trying to fathom how Nascar could just stand back and do nothing. Every article, interview, opinion, all said the same thing.. REACT ALREADY!!! I even said it in my last article. But then I read an article by Marty Smith on Nascar.com and it put things in perspective. Before I begin, let me thank Marty for giving me his permission to use excerpts from his article. His article appeared on Oct 10, 2001 on Nascar.com and all rights and what have you belong to Marty Smith and Turner Sports Interactive. The story was titled "A look at the state of safety in NASCAR" and as I started to read it, I thought "here we go again, another writer mad at Nascar for doing nothing." Boy was I wrong. Let me put on my Nascar hat. Why hasn't Nascar mandated the Hans device? We know it works. Do we?? Marty pointed out the fact that we don't know what exactly will happen in a major head on impact like that which killed our drivers. The device will undoubtedly stop the head from whipping forward and prevent the basilar skull fractures but what happens to the brain? Marty writes "What would happen if a driver, wearing a NASCAR-mandated head restraint, slammed the wall head-on and lived, but during the crash his brain hit the front of his skull so hard he was rendered a lifeless vegetable for the rest of his life? What then?" He then adds "The brain is suspended in fluid, encapsulated by the skull. There is no device that can stop the brain’s movement, even if a restraint device stops the head. " I never thought of that. There are issues we need to look at. Tony Stewart doesn't wear it because he is unsure of side and rear impacts and the adverse effects that could occur. Nascar is looking at these issues and they are valid. Granted these devices are meant to decelerate more so than flat out stop, but what kind of forces are we talking about? Just for fun, take an egg in your hand and whip your arm forward as if to throw it, but at the full extent of the throw, hang on to the egg and stop your arm. The shell wont crack, but you can be sure the yolk will have busted up against the inside of the shell. The Humpy Bumper..... Why aren't we mandating that? Why aren't we at least letting the teams use it if they so desire? Hat switch... Marty once again brought up a valid point as explained by Michael Waltrip. "The Humpy Bumper deal, that’s cool, that makes the front stiffer," said Michael Waltrip. "It gives something else to collapse before you get into the engine and all the other things. But one thing we don’t need to forget about , the scariest wreck in NASCAR since the beginning of time has been the T-bone. " He continues with "If somebody talked about a T-bone 20 years ago it’d make you cringe. So when you put a Humpy Bumper on the front of a racecar and it hits another guy, it’s just gonna hit that much harder. It’s not gonna crush as easily. Hitting a wall, it’s great because the wall doesn’t give. But when you hit another car with that bumper, that’s not great. I think Humpy Bumpers are a wonderful idea, but I think it needs to be put in the driver’s side door. That would provide protection for a wreck like Steve Park’s. Steve is very lucky to be here today." Again, I never thought about the impact of the Humpy bumper from car to car. All our focus and all the testing is from car to wall. Nascar is looking into the bumper and crushability issues and again there are valid points that need to be addressed. Everyone out there who blames Nascar, let me ask you this. How many of you wear your seat belt in your car? How many wear a helmet on a motorcycle? Do you make passengers in your car wear their seatbelt? In all states seatbelts are mandatory and in most so are helmets. If someone dies because they didn't have a seatbelt on, who's fault is it? All across the country everyday, the debates rise over seatbelt laws in passenger cars and helmet laws on motorcycles. We know the dangers, yet we make our own decisions. If my kid or brother or friend or spouse or whoever raced and didn't wear the proper safety equipment, I would be all over them to stop being selfish and consider those that will be left behind. Maybe Joe Gibbs needs to talk to Tony Stewart. Maybe Tony's parents should get involved. Maybe the families of those not wearing some sort of head and neck device should get involved. Is it really Nascar's job? With all that said, the only thing I can really argue against Nascar at this point is this: Why can't Nascar give explanations like Marty Smith did? If Mike Helton gave some answers like that and said "this is why we haven't mandated it yet" "These are some of the issues we are looking into". I think the fans and media would be more understanding. Mike, don't be afraid to tell us what concerns and issues you have. But don't make it seem like, "It's our way or no way!". I will give you the benefit of the doubt and I hope others will too. I hope we find some solid answers and implement changes before the unthinkable happens again. Will I blame Nascar? No. Will I wish something had been done sooner? Yes. |