Nascar press conference (long, NAC)

[Lawrence C Leung]

I too am no fan of NASCAR, but I have followed F1, CART and Sports Cars
closely for the past 20 years or so (to put it one way, I really miss
IMSA, the 962 and those Jags, liking the sound of the virtually F1 V8's
better than the 12's). Your point is exactly my point, Open Wheel drivers
in particular are particularly cautious about contact (EVEN Micheal A!)
because they know of the consequences, a degree of caution flaunted or
even ignored by NASCAR closed wheel drivers. Heck,  as you noted, Dale
(and others) seemed to make a sport of "incidental" contact of the type
that would have disabled many sports cars as well as open wheelers. As
for the frequency of open wheelers going for extended airborne flights, I
still think it's relatively rare. Most open wheeler flights seem to occur
at the start of F1 races, or at the chicanes of either mentioned open
wheel series, i.e. when speeds are slow and cars are bunched. So long
flights of the type that seem more common in NASCAR speedway racing seem
relatively uncommon. The last long flight I can recall was Ricardo
Patrese's when he was teamed with Nigel at Williams. I don't recall whom
he was hounding (I honestly think it was Schey in a Ferrari, but I could
be wrong. Gotta start taking that echinasia (sp?) or whatever is supposed
to help. I just can't remember) but as the houndee was pulling off to
pit, Ricco front hit the houndee's rear and he flew for about half a
straight at what appeared to be over 150 or so. Fortunately Patrese's car
landed on his wheels, and his injuries were very minor to non-existant.
(I don't recall how his tailbone survived it!). The last sports car
flight (I recall) was at LeMans with the Mercyless Benzes two years ago,
and MB promptly pulled out to figure out what was going on. The last cart
flight I recall was Christian Fittapaldi's at a street circuit, which did
have catch fencing which probably saved him from going over the wall.
IMHO, the aerodynamics of the sports and open wheel cars helps them limit
their time of flight, while the nature of "stock" cars is to fly. In fact
it seems that NASCAR seems to expect their cars to fly, hence all of the
designed, and re-designed catch fencing, the roof flaps, etc. All of this
application of technology seems to be AFTER the event application, i.e.
car's gonna fly, so lets limit the flight and risk to spectators. But
enough about flight, as this has little to do with Dale's crash, but it
does have alot to do with the apparent safety attitude of NASCAR.

As for head on, yes, I know, F1 drivers will most likely have crushed
legs and feet, a little less likely in a CART racer due to the longer
mandated noses. And it seems F1 has adopted CART's idea of having high
cockpit sides to help protect the driver, and has mandated longer (than
before, though definitely not CART sized) nose cones to help protect the
driver's feet, as well as changes in the tub's construction for the same
reason. And CART has mandated the HANS device to protect the driver
(don't recall reading if F1 has). So far, I have seen no advances in
passive protection for the NASCAR driver, though ALL of the series have
mandated changes of various types to slow the cars down (F1, narrow
bodies + grooved tires some aero, CART Hansford device at superspeedways,
NASCAR wind fences and spoiler changes+larger carburator (!) restrictors
to improve drivability). Note that NASCAR has concetrated on the cars
only, whereas the others work on a combination of efforts. I think that
too seems to point to a certain attitude of the racing commitees of the
series. 

This is afterall, just my opinion, but safety concerns is part of the
reason why I race in the SCCA instead of the circle track series. The
SCCA believes in safety first and accountability, something I've seen
little of in the other amateur race series found around the US.

LL - NY


On Wed, 21 Feb 2001 08:27:30 -0700 "John Cassidy/Sallyann Mulcahy"
<jcasidy at qwest.net> writes:
>Lawrence,
>
>I am a much bigger fan of F1 and CART than Nascar.  I'm not here 
>trying to
>defend Nascar's politics or archaic design.  I agree that Nascar races 
>are
>much more similar to bumper cars in their driving "technique".  At on 
>point
>in the race, during a pit entrance, Dale Earnhardt rear ended another 
>driver
>while trying to hold off another.   Darrel Waltrip, anouncing, 
>mentioned
>Dale didn't know how to drive a car without the front end all smashed 
>in.
>
>However, I beg to differ your statement that it is rare for a F! car 
>to
>become airborne.  It happens everytime the wheels overlap and touch!  
>I've
>seen it live at Monte Carlo, and many times on the tube.
>
>In addition, in a head on collision with the wall, the driver's feet 
>and
>legs legs in an F1 car are almost always crushed.
>
>Just $0.2 worth.
>
>JC
>