2017 Nascar Thread

I just can't agree with the statement that there's "no way more are getting hurt," particularly when you look at sports in general. I think the spotlight that has been shone on football and it's issues with brain injury have made everyone, including race car drivers, approach things more cautiously.

Cars are getting faster, which makes the impact when they hit a wall much worse. Efforts have been made to make the cars safer, the equipment safer and the tracks safer, but the body can only absorb a finite amount before something bad happens.

Looking at sports outside of auto racing and seeing how much bigger, stronger and faster today's players are you simply can't say that football isn't more dangerous than it used to be. The vicious hits on the field are scary.

Ernest Hemingway was credited with saying there were only two true sports; bull fighting and auto racing...everything else we're just games. His take was that true sports were only those in which you could lose your life.

If you're the kind that always steps to the line, more power to you and good for you. But that doesn't give you the right to look down on someone else who's counted the cost, so to speak, taken stock of his situation, and has made the decision to step away. Having seen parents and in-laws with badly diminished mental faculties in their latter years, it wouldn't take much for me to make a change if what I was doing might lead to that.

 

So the new helmets, seats, harnesses,safer barriers, car frame and more and u DONT think it's safer than back in the no restrictor plate having, open face helmet wearing, unsafe barrier days?

 

You're are correct in addressing the secondary safety devices. $ is invested here because there is visible evidence that NASCAR is making the sport safer, which is true. They have made massive leaps in safety tech since Earnhardt's death. They've reduced fatalities. That was the point of SAFER barriers, HANS device, more stringent tech inspections. However, the skull is the primary safety device. No amount of $ can improve physiology. The cars are going through turns faster than ever due to all the aero-dependent engineering that has entered the sport in the last twenty years. You can look back into the early '90s and cars went slow enough in the turns that you could do the classic "Bump & Run." Nowadays, the cars are so twitchy in the turns that getting within 18" of a rear quarter panel with your nose will send the other car into the wall.

They're -sort of- trying to reduce cornering speeds with the new aero packages. I think they need to make a BIG leap though and remove the front splitter altogether, nip a bit more off the spoiler and biggest of all: slim up the tire and make it soft again (bias ply). The drivers need to re-learn how to save a tire through a run like they used to do by backing off in the turns. Some sticky ol' gumballs promote some terrific, lower speed slipping and sliding in the turns. Did you know right side tires are an inch wider than left sides? I think the tires are 12 and 13" wide on the contact patch. I say reduce that contact patch to 10 and 11" and see what happens.

 

I'm not saying that at all. I'm quite sure those things have saved a lot of lives. I've followed racing for a long time. I remember when Nomex driving suits were introduced. I remember Dan Gurney showing up at Indy in the first Bell full face helmet. I also remember when multiple drivers (in all forms of racing) died each year.

I'm simply saying that there's no way to make auto racing totally safe. If those safety devices you mentioned were available 25-30 years ago, I'm sure that a number of those deaths would have been prevented. But as speeds have risen drastically so have other kinds of injuries that might not prove fatal.

We have so much more knowledge about head trauma these days and you know that probably every driver out there has hit the fence or another car at speed. And going back to the football analogy, we know that you never truly recover from multiple concussions.

Maybe more aren't getting hurt. Maybe it's just that finally medical knowledge has made drivers aware of dangers that just don't show up immediately. Maybe common sense is finally prevailing.

 

I agree. Perhaps there aren't MORE head injuries occurring, rather, medical tech is finally able to adequately recognize and diagnose head injuries and drivers are not masking their injuries as much.

Thankfully perhaps, gone are the days of racing with your swollen eyes taped open (Rudd), broken back (Earnhardt), broken ribs (Allison), broken wrist (Elliott, Wallace), CO poisoning (Mast), and broken leg (Stewart).

 

I had forgotten about the taping the eyes open..my have times changed

 

I mean some people would do ANYTHING for the opportunity... I know I would....

 

Comparing NASCAR drivers to NFL football players is equal to comparing Elite Endurance Athletes to Elite Anaerobic Athletes. And yes, there is some data to support this, but I'll warn you, it's a pretty lengthy read. This is not related to head trauma.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3806174/

 

3 words: BIAS PLY TIRES

https://youtu.be/qKDHNBBzz0o

 

You love bias ply tires lol

 

You love bias ply tires lol

 

NASCAR stages road course test at Charlotte Motor Speedway
"Sources said Charlotte could incorporate the road course as early as the All-Star Race, which is scheduled for May 20. It’s more likely the road course would be used for the fall Chase race on Oct. 7. Fans have been clamoring for a road course in NASCAR’s playoffs and Charlotte could offer the perfect solution."

http://www.motorsport.com/nascar-cu...urse-test-at-charlotte-motor-speedway-866949/

 

I think the road course at Indianapolis would be a good addition. I look forward to each year when they run the Indy cars on it.

 

I agree, but IMS is out of the "family," so sanctioning fees might make it cost prohibitive to sell tickets. Alternately, I'd take the IMS road course layout over the snore of an oval configuration. Charlotte is already in the SMI family, and on the schedule. All current tracks signed contracts stipulating that no changes would be made to the schedule for 5 years. I've long said Charlotte has too many events in an already saturated market. Converting one of those events (ideally the Fall race, in the CHASE), could legitimize the multiple dates at the track. As much as many of us would like to see them run at some of the premier American road courses (Road Atlanta, Laguna Seca, or Road America), I think as fans, we have to take what we can get for now.

 

Don't guess Smoke will get a date for Eldora in awhile then. I really don't see the cup series returning to dirt anytime soon anyhow. Love to watch the Camping World Series trucks run on the dirt. Great show!

 

I hate SMI tracks... Feel like the entertainment value isn't as good as Talladega ($200 and free camping vs $320 plus split the cost of $300 for 2 camp sites among the group) (ticket cost for 2 people btw)

 

@MadDaddy ever been to crisp Motorsports park in cordele? Is it worth it to camp there

 

WTF is this? Looks like I'll be attending more Late Model races and less Cup races this year:

http://www.espn.com/auto/story/_/id...cted-announce-monday-change-how-awards-points

 

Yeah, SMI has been a bit slower to incentivize affordable tickets.