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Dumb NASCAR driver....

#21
mmbongo said:
Didn't they say that Elliott Sadler's crash at Pocono this year was the highest recorded G forces they've ever had? He can definitely thank his head restraint.

Nascar did great with the safety, but they were just years too late. Indy Car mandated head restraints and seat belt rules years before Nascar. Steve Olvey even tried to take his ideas to Nascar (get his book....Rapid Response....great read!!) and they scoffed at him. As a result, all those drivers died because of poor safety equipment.
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Yeah, there isn't any great footage, but that was one of the worst as well. I am NOT a jeff gordon fan, but it angers me when people say he is a P....that dude has taken some seriously hard hits.

PS, Earnhardt has himself to blame for his fatal injuries. The HANS would NOT have done any good with improperly mounted and loose belts.
 
#25
mmbongo said:
I stand by my original statement that this was the worst crash in Nascar.

Sr's 'crash' was not worse than this, but the 'outcome' obviously was. When I say 'worst crash' I mean the most destruction, the most G's, the most overall carnage. After Bodines crash you couldn't even tell it was once a racecar. Sr's car just had a smashed front corner. Plus if 'death' = the worst crash, there were many just as bad as Sr's crash. Adam Petty? Kenny Irwin? JD McDuffie? Tony Roper? Blaize Alexander?

Richard Pettys crash? Hella bad too. However, you never saw the driver hanging out. Look at Bodine. There's nothing left around him. The rollcage is gone. Dude is in open air going about 100mph at this point. I'd put Richards crash in 2nd place.

Next would be Dale Sr's crash at Talladega was it? Where he kinda did the same thing Bodine did but the car/cage stayed intact as he never hit a blunt object head on like Bodine did.

Richard Petty never hit a blunt object either, which is why I still say Bodines crash was worse.

OH..an interesting tidbit..Geoff Bodine was the guy that brought full-face helmets into Nascar. Ironically, look at how it saved his life. Earnhardt wouldn't wear one.
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Look up Micheal Waltrip's crash @ Bristol in the late 80s-early 90s. Basically all that was left was the seat he was strapped into.
 
#27
CART driver Alessandro Zanardi getting T-boned. As you can clearly see in the pic, his legs were ripped to pieces on impact. Amazingly he survived.
Alex+Zanardi-1.jpg
 
#28
TomA1234 said:
This shows just how good engineers have got at making crashes safe... (non NASCAR content) I saw this happen live. The driver got away completely fine!
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that was actually Mark's fault, not Heikki's, unfair he got painted with the blame. Mark just mistimed pulling out of the draft. Heikki was pulling to the left to take the racing line, start braking, and give Mark the inside, and Mark was still trying to follow him for the draft. Mark was just caught off guard by how much earlier Heikki's Lotus had to brake to make the corner as opposed to his Red Bull.

also, Dale's death was his own fault. he refused to wear the HANS device, and he died of a basal skull fracture...a properly secured HANS device would have easily prevented this, and he would still be around today if he had worn one. his death was instrumental in HANS becoming mandatory in motorsports around the world, though.
 
#32
hdracer said:
There is no telling how many lives have been saved because of the safety NASCAR have put into the cars after his death. Carl Edwards for one probably owes his life to Dale's death.
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If there was a series that really looked for safety it was CART. There is a book written by Stephen Olven (CART's medical director) I highly recommend it.
 

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