Originally Posted by Stevensville Mike:
No matter how disgruntled they might get, always remind your fellow fans not to stand at the fence.
And also a great reminder to never turn your back to the track when they are racing.
I can not believe i saw in the video people standing up against the fence and others running up to it. maybe you can't stop loose parts from flying higher up in the seats but allowing people to get right up next to the fence at any track seems like a big risk. As most on her have also, I have seem too many cars go through or over fences to want to be that close.
maybe nascar doesn't get them in the air like open wheel does but they have proven they can do it and standing on the fence at start/finish of last lap of daytona doesn't sound like the safest place to be.
Had to really had that subframe ground thin for it to snap loose at firewall like that. Like a pretzal. And Nascar is supposed to really check these cars out. Shows they nreally know what they know. Only Body Panels?
The frame did exactly what it should have done, absorbed the impact and sheared off, that's the reason he hopped out of that car as stated above, you must have weak points when you build a cage strong enough not to shear apart it's self to protect the driver.
Same with sprint cars shearing at the motor plate.
Keep in mind that this fence that did an excellent job of protecting race fans in an extreme situation is one of the best in motorsports.
Take a moment and examine some of the "catch fences" at your local race tracks. There's some pretty scary fences out there that really need attention. With some, about all they do is keep fans from leaning over to take a picture as cars exit the turns. It some instances, it would be safer to have no chain link fence at all.
And yes, some of the top sanctioning bodies in the country go to those tracks.
Safety fences can only do so much, no matter how well they are constructed. In 1987, a spectator was killed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway when a tire that came off of Tony Bettenhausen Jr.,'s car was struck by Roberto Guerrero and sailed above the catch fence -- not through it. The spectator was standing on the top row of the grandstand when it struck him in the head. Had he been sitting down, it would have cleared him and bounced harmlessly outside the track.
I shudder to think how many people would have been seriously injured or killed if the Tony Renna testing crash in which the car went through the fence at Indianapolis had happened on race day. What if the race car that crashed through the fence at Mt. Vernon, Ill., a few years ago had done so in the main grandstands rather than one for the pits? How many more people would have died?
Yes. The Daytona crash was at a high speed oval. But, it is incumbent upon everyone in racing to examine the safety equipment available for fans and drivers. It doesn't take 200 mph to kill.
Perhaps the best that can happen as a result of this tragedy is a self-examination of those measures.
Originally Posted by bigmojo5:
Keep in mind that this fence that did an excellent job of protecting race fans in an extreme situation is one of the best in motorsports.
Take a moment and examine some of the "catch fences" at your local race tracks. There's some pretty scary fences out there that really need attention. With some, about all they do is keep fans from leaning over to take a picture as cars exit the turns. It some instances, it would be safer to have no chain link fence at all.
And yes, some of the top sanctioning bodies in the country go to those tracks.
Safety fences can only do so much, no matter how well they are constructed. In 1987, a spectator was killed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway when a tire that came off of Tony Bettenhausen Jr.,'s car was struck by Roberto Guerrero and sailed above the catch fence -- not through it. The spectator was standing on the top row of the grandstand when it struck him in the head. Had he been sitting down, it would have cleared him and bounced harmlessly outside the track.
I shudder to think how many people would have been seriously injured or killed if the Tony Renna testing crash in which the car went through the fence at Indianapolis had happened on race day. What if the race car that crashed through the fence at Mt. Vernon, Ill., a few years ago had done so in the main grandstands rather than one for the pits? How many more people would have died?
Yes. The Daytona crash was at a high speed oval. But, it is incumbent upon everyone in racing to examine the safety equipment available for fans and drivers. It doesn't take 200 mph to kill.
Perhaps the best that can happen as a result of this tragedy is a self-examination of those measures.
Originally Posted by bigmojo5:
Keep in mind that this fence that did an excellent job of protecting race fans in an extreme situation is one of the best in motorsports.
Take a moment and examine some of the "catch fences" at your local race tracks. There's some pretty scary fences out there that really need attention. With some, about all they do is keep fans from leaning over to take a picture as cars exit the turns. It some instances, it would be safer to have no chain link fence at all.
And yes, some of the top sanctioning bodies in the country go to those tracks.
Safety fences can only do so much, no matter how well they are constructed. In 1987, a spectator was killed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway when a tire that came off of Tony Bettenhausen Jr.,'s car was struck by Roberto Guerrero and sailed above the catch fence -- not through it. The spectator was standing on the top row of the grandstand when it struck him in the head. Had he been sitting down, it would have cleared him and bounced harmlessly outside the track.
I shudder to think how many people would have been seriously injured or killed if the Tony Renna testing crash in which the car went through the fence at Indianapolis had happened on race day. What if the race car that crashed through the fence at Mt. Vernon, Ill., a few years ago had done so in the main grandstands rather than one for the pits? How many more people would have died?
Yes. The Daytona crash was at a high speed oval. But, it is incumbent upon everyone in racing to examine the safety equipment available for fans and drivers. It doesn't take 200 mph to kill.
Perhaps the best that can happen as a result of this tragedy is a self-examination of those measures.
Jim Morrison
Editor
Hawkeye Racing News
All great points Jim but its not excuse not to learn from this crash as we've learned from about every other crash, Or at least the ones that cause injury or death.
Me and Pops talked about this last night, Racing is a dangerous sport, On and off the track. we talked about sitting close vs far, And ultimately came down to you could fall down the steps at home.
Certainly, pay attention, learn what can be learned. Yet Sh*T happens will always be in effect.
Back in the 80s NASCAR had a class with frames that did not give in a crash. The modifieds of that era were killing drivers pretty regularly. So to my eye, that frame did its job, the only thing it did wrong was run into a cleaver.
Maybe just maybe if they would learn that mirrors aren't supposed to be in racecars a wreck wouldn't happen from blocking. Nothing from Earnhardt's death was learned from that I'm guessing.
You would think that after the Nationwide race crash, the track would clear out the bottom aisle of fans and not let them walk or stand there. But watching the Cup race, there were fans scattered throughout the aisle down by the fence throughout the race, walking past, I am assuming. Granted, it looked more sparse at the apex of the tri-oval, but fans were there all race long.
