Daytona, Sunday, 05 July 2015 - Monday, 06 July 2015. The Coke Zero 400. What a race! I'm not real sure whay they waited so long to start, though...a wet track would have been the perfect backdrop for this race. I mean, that is what racing in Daytona is all about, right? Opportunity to see wrecks...
Here's my take: I guess it is going to take someone else getting killed in Daytona before NASCAR realizes that this type of racing, while exciting because of all of the carnage, is ridiculous. I stayed up until 03:00 Monday morning to get an opportunity to watch Austin Dillon literally cheat death, live on NBC.
I think restrictor plate racing at Daytona and Talladega should probably been done in actual stock cars, like off the lot Ford Fusions, Toyota Camrys and Chevrolet SSs...LOL
Seriously, pack racing, described perfectly during the broadcast as "being in rush hour traffic, but going 200 mph," is just catering to the lust for violence in NASCAR. Rubbing might be racing, but having a car almost go through the catch fence is good for ratings, I guess...
NASCAR, Speedway to review last-lap crash
AFP 18 hours ago
Daytona Beach (United States) (AFP) - A horrific crash at the end of the US stock car race which ended early Monday morning at Daytona will be reviewed by speedway and sanctioning body officials.
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) and Daytona International Speedway were coming to grips with the multi-car wreck that took place at 2:41 Monday morning after rain delayed the start of the race by more than three hours.
Austin Dillon's car went airborne and slammed into the retaining fence surrounding the speedway oval before flipping and skipping to a halt in the infield grass, its parts scattered across the track.
"I'm shocked Austin Dillon is even alive," said runner-up Jimmie Johnson, a six-time NASCAR season champion. "It was just a frightening moment. I expected the worst."
Dillon escaped without serious injury but debris went through the fence and struck spectators. One fan was hospitalized, treated and released, while a dozen others were examined at the track, eight declining treatment and four treated and released, again amazingly none with serious injuries.
Safety fears were a major topic Monday as NASCAR and speedway officials began their investigations.
"We'll work closely with NASCAR," Daytona International Speedway president Joie Chitwood said. "We're going to learn from it and see what else we can do to be better."
One who knows the safety issues all too well was race-winner Dale Earnhardt Jnr, whose father was a NASCAR legend and seven-time series champion before being killed in a wreck at the end of the 2001 Daytona 500 on the very same track due to a skull fracture in a last-lap crash.
"That was terrifying to watch," Earnhardt said of seeing the wreck behind him. "You think about a car getting that high in the catch fence, you wonder what might happened to the fans in the stands, start praying everybody is OK there."
Dillon, whose car finished on its roof and was then struck by the car of Brad Keselowski, said he suffered a bruised forearm and tailbone.
He said NASCAR must look at reducing speeds.
"It's not really acceptable, I don't think," Dillon said. "We've got to figure out something. I think our speeds are too high, I really do. I think everybody can get good racing with lower speeds and we can work on that and then figure out a way to keep cars on the ground."
Johnson said the only way to safeguard fans from debris is to slow race speeds.
"Keep the cars on the ground, slow us down, would be the only way to do it, I would say, and even then, there are no guarantees," Johnson said.
Contact between the cars of third-placed Denny Hamlin and fourth-placed Kevin Harvick set off the chain-reaction wreck at the finish behind Earnhardt.
"The catch fence kept his car inside the racetrack," Hamlin said. "I am not sure what else we can really do about it. They are freak incidents that make that happen. You want to make the sport as safe as possible, but we're going to make those mistakes.
"We're running a decent speed. Do we want it to go in the air? No, but it's just going to happen sometimes."
Austin Dillon says severity of wreck hit when he talked to brother
By Nick Bromberg 21 hours ago From The Marbles
Austin Dillon started looking at videos of his crash not long after he emerged from the infield care center on Monday morning.
Dillon's car launched into the catchfence at the end of the rain-delayed Coke Zero 400 at Daytona. After making contact with Denny Hamlin's car, Dillon's car flew over two lanes of cars and slammed into the fence above the wall. Five fans were treated for minor injuries from his car, which came to rest upside down between the track and pit road.
Dillon said Tuesday his groin and tailbone are sore, but that he doesn't have a headache from the crash. He started to watch the videos of his crash after he showered following the race and the severity of the wreck became apparent when he talked to his brother Ty, who drives in the Xfinity Series.
"I watched a lot of videos, and just watching it in live speed, it is violent looking," Dillon said. "It's a wicked crash. When you see the fence just – the thing just blows apart. But for me, I think it kind of set in when I got to talk to my brother. He wasn't – after the race, I already got into the infield care center, I was pretty much fine. I wasn't shaken, and I was just kind of telling my parents, I'm okay, I'm okay, and talking to them. You could see how upset they were, and I hadn't seen the real footage of the wreck. I knew it was bad but I didn't know how bad.
"When I talked to my brother ... it was another level because he was upset, and hearing him on the phone upset was – it was like, man, I'm going to have to watch this, because he's a tough guy, and to hear him be upset about it and worried about me, it was like, all right, I need to look at this wreck, and I did, and you can see where a guy watching it from home not knowing how I was and the pit crew kind of running out to the car, it was pretty dramatic right there for 30 seconds, 38 seconds or so."
A broken radio cord added to the drama after the race. As crew members from various teams rushed towards Dillon's car to see if he was OK, his team was radioing him and asking him if he was OK. But Dillon's radio was not working. He could hear his crew but they couldn't hear them.
"And then also, the worst part for family members is you want to let them know you're okay after a wreck through the radio because they're listening, and the radio cord had ripped or something had ripped to make it ... The steering wheel had done its job, it kind of had released and was up in the roof. I grabbed it and pulled it back to me and keyed the mic to let them know I was okay, but they weren't able to hear anything. ... I was saying I'm okay, I'm okay, but it wasn't going through, and I could hear in their voice how scared they were, and they were saying, 'Talk to me, Buddy, talk to me,' and I couldn't respond to them. So that was a time for them I'm sure it was just painful because they didn't know how good I was. Luckily the guys had gotten there fast enough, gave everybody the thumbs up to let them know that I was fine."
NASCAR vice president Steve O'Donnell said the sanctioning body would not punish the crew members who exited their pits to rush to Dillon's aid but would like to talk to them about the incident. Cars were still coming towards the finish line after the accident as Dillon's car came to a rest following the incident.
Four of the fans treated for minor injuries from debris from Dillon's car were treated on-site at Daytona. One fan was taken to the hospital and released a short time later.
"I think we need to, and we can [prevent cars from flying in the air in crashes]," Dillon said. "And that's why I said that they've taken the car to NASCAR and they'll look at the car and figure out ways to keep them on the ground. I think we're trying to keep them from getting in the air, and we'll do what we can.
The way the racing is set up now ... it breeds these kind of wrecks. It's three-wide pack racing, and at Daytona it's tighter than Talladega, there's less room. I think if you're at Talladega, this wreck might not happen because it's a little bit wider. But it's just a part of the racing that we're in right now.
I think we can do things to help slow down some of the wrecks and might keep us from catching air, but we'll just have to see the direction that NASCAR goes, and maybe they'll ask the drivers their opinions, and we can give them a good opinion to kind of go together to make the racing still stay the same. I feel like we can create good racing because up until that wreck we had some really good racing Monday morning, but I think the wreck kind of tarnished a great race."
I love how these guys are coached so well to say the right things:
1. It was not a great race. It never is, really. It's a great finish, 10 laps with 20 cars three-wide at 200-mph seven rows deep, gripping it hard, because the previous 151 laps were a lot of crashes and a couple of pit stops...
2. "I think we're trying to keep them from getting in the air..." Really?!? No kidding, but you could have fooled me...
3. 'NASCAR vice president Steve O'Donnell said the sanctioning body would not punish the crew members who exited their pits to rush to Dillon's aid but would like to talk to them about the incident.' Wow, that's mighty nice of them...hey, that dude just flew into the fence at 200 mph and the carcass landed right in front of your pit box...so we get why you ran out there, but you shouldn't have...those are the rules......
Of course, just my reaction/opinion...
Here's my take: I guess it is going to take someone else getting killed in Daytona before NASCAR realizes that this type of racing, while exciting because of all of the carnage, is ridiculous. I stayed up until 03:00 Monday morning to get an opportunity to watch Austin Dillon literally cheat death, live on NBC.
I think restrictor plate racing at Daytona and Talladega should probably been done in actual stock cars, like off the lot Ford Fusions, Toyota Camrys and Chevrolet SSs...LOL
Seriously, pack racing, described perfectly during the broadcast as "being in rush hour traffic, but going 200 mph," is just catering to the lust for violence in NASCAR. Rubbing might be racing, but having a car almost go through the catch fence is good for ratings, I guess...
NASCAR, Speedway to review last-lap crash
AFP 18 hours ago
Daytona Beach (United States) (AFP) - A horrific crash at the end of the US stock car race which ended early Monday morning at Daytona will be reviewed by speedway and sanctioning body officials.
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) and Daytona International Speedway were coming to grips with the multi-car wreck that took place at 2:41 Monday morning after rain delayed the start of the race by more than three hours.
Austin Dillon's car went airborne and slammed into the retaining fence surrounding the speedway oval before flipping and skipping to a halt in the infield grass, its parts scattered across the track.
"I'm shocked Austin Dillon is even alive," said runner-up Jimmie Johnson, a six-time NASCAR season champion. "It was just a frightening moment. I expected the worst."
Dillon escaped without serious injury but debris went through the fence and struck spectators. One fan was hospitalized, treated and released, while a dozen others were examined at the track, eight declining treatment and four treated and released, again amazingly none with serious injuries.
Safety fears were a major topic Monday as NASCAR and speedway officials began their investigations.
"We'll work closely with NASCAR," Daytona International Speedway president Joie Chitwood said. "We're going to learn from it and see what else we can do to be better."
One who knows the safety issues all too well was race-winner Dale Earnhardt Jnr, whose father was a NASCAR legend and seven-time series champion before being killed in a wreck at the end of the 2001 Daytona 500 on the very same track due to a skull fracture in a last-lap crash.
"That was terrifying to watch," Earnhardt said of seeing the wreck behind him. "You think about a car getting that high in the catch fence, you wonder what might happened to the fans in the stands, start praying everybody is OK there."
Dillon, whose car finished on its roof and was then struck by the car of Brad Keselowski, said he suffered a bruised forearm and tailbone.
He said NASCAR must look at reducing speeds.
"It's not really acceptable, I don't think," Dillon said. "We've got to figure out something. I think our speeds are too high, I really do. I think everybody can get good racing with lower speeds and we can work on that and then figure out a way to keep cars on the ground."
Johnson said the only way to safeguard fans from debris is to slow race speeds.
"Keep the cars on the ground, slow us down, would be the only way to do it, I would say, and even then, there are no guarantees," Johnson said.
Contact between the cars of third-placed Denny Hamlin and fourth-placed Kevin Harvick set off the chain-reaction wreck at the finish behind Earnhardt.
"The catch fence kept his car inside the racetrack," Hamlin said. "I am not sure what else we can really do about it. They are freak incidents that make that happen. You want to make the sport as safe as possible, but we're going to make those mistakes.
"We're running a decent speed. Do we want it to go in the air? No, but it's just going to happen sometimes."
Austin Dillon says severity of wreck hit when he talked to brother
By Nick Bromberg 21 hours ago From The Marbles
Austin Dillon started looking at videos of his crash not long after he emerged from the infield care center on Monday morning.
Dillon's car launched into the catchfence at the end of the rain-delayed Coke Zero 400 at Daytona. After making contact with Denny Hamlin's car, Dillon's car flew over two lanes of cars and slammed into the fence above the wall. Five fans were treated for minor injuries from his car, which came to rest upside down between the track and pit road.
Dillon said Tuesday his groin and tailbone are sore, but that he doesn't have a headache from the crash. He started to watch the videos of his crash after he showered following the race and the severity of the wreck became apparent when he talked to his brother Ty, who drives in the Xfinity Series.
"I watched a lot of videos, and just watching it in live speed, it is violent looking," Dillon said. "It's a wicked crash. When you see the fence just – the thing just blows apart. But for me, I think it kind of set in when I got to talk to my brother. He wasn't – after the race, I already got into the infield care center, I was pretty much fine. I wasn't shaken, and I was just kind of telling my parents, I'm okay, I'm okay, and talking to them. You could see how upset they were, and I hadn't seen the real footage of the wreck. I knew it was bad but I didn't know how bad.
"When I talked to my brother ... it was another level because he was upset, and hearing him on the phone upset was – it was like, man, I'm going to have to watch this, because he's a tough guy, and to hear him be upset about it and worried about me, it was like, all right, I need to look at this wreck, and I did, and you can see where a guy watching it from home not knowing how I was and the pit crew kind of running out to the car, it was pretty dramatic right there for 30 seconds, 38 seconds or so."
A broken radio cord added to the drama after the race. As crew members from various teams rushed towards Dillon's car to see if he was OK, his team was radioing him and asking him if he was OK. But Dillon's radio was not working. He could hear his crew but they couldn't hear them.
"And then also, the worst part for family members is you want to let them know you're okay after a wreck through the radio because they're listening, and the radio cord had ripped or something had ripped to make it ... The steering wheel had done its job, it kind of had released and was up in the roof. I grabbed it and pulled it back to me and keyed the mic to let them know I was okay, but they weren't able to hear anything. ... I was saying I'm okay, I'm okay, but it wasn't going through, and I could hear in their voice how scared they were, and they were saying, 'Talk to me, Buddy, talk to me,' and I couldn't respond to them. So that was a time for them I'm sure it was just painful because they didn't know how good I was. Luckily the guys had gotten there fast enough, gave everybody the thumbs up to let them know that I was fine."
NASCAR vice president Steve O'Donnell said the sanctioning body would not punish the crew members who exited their pits to rush to Dillon's aid but would like to talk to them about the incident. Cars were still coming towards the finish line after the accident as Dillon's car came to a rest following the incident.
Four of the fans treated for minor injuries from debris from Dillon's car were treated on-site at Daytona. One fan was taken to the hospital and released a short time later.
"I think we need to, and we can [prevent cars from flying in the air in crashes]," Dillon said. "And that's why I said that they've taken the car to NASCAR and they'll look at the car and figure out ways to keep them on the ground. I think we're trying to keep them from getting in the air, and we'll do what we can.
The way the racing is set up now ... it breeds these kind of wrecks. It's three-wide pack racing, and at Daytona it's tighter than Talladega, there's less room. I think if you're at Talladega, this wreck might not happen because it's a little bit wider. But it's just a part of the racing that we're in right now.
I think we can do things to help slow down some of the wrecks and might keep us from catching air, but we'll just have to see the direction that NASCAR goes, and maybe they'll ask the drivers their opinions, and we can give them a good opinion to kind of go together to make the racing still stay the same. I feel like we can create good racing because up until that wreck we had some really good racing Monday morning, but I think the wreck kind of tarnished a great race."
I love how these guys are coached so well to say the right things:
1. It was not a great race. It never is, really. It's a great finish, 10 laps with 20 cars three-wide at 200-mph seven rows deep, gripping it hard, because the previous 151 laps were a lot of crashes and a couple of pit stops...
2. "I think we're trying to keep them from getting in the air..." Really?!? No kidding, but you could have fooled me...
3. 'NASCAR vice president Steve O'Donnell said the sanctioning body would not punish the crew members who exited their pits to rush to Dillon's aid but would like to talk to them about the incident.' Wow, that's mighty nice of them...hey, that dude just flew into the fence at 200 mph and the carcass landed right in front of your pit box...so we get why you ran out there, but you shouldn't have...those are the rules......
Of course, just my reaction/opinion...
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2012 Total Memorabilia Tony Stewart Melting
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2012 Total Memorabilia Tony Stewart Melting
Triple 1/1
Quad 1/1
Jumbo 1/1
Hot Rod Relics 1/1
05 Studio Portraits Bob Feller (45/56, 80% complete)
I collect Tony Stewart, Bob Feller, Steve Yzerman, Victor Martinez.
www.dunnere.weebly.com