2020 NASCAR Thread

Because there was probably a dipshit producer screaming into his earpiece that “we need to have SOMETHING!!”

 

And much of that may hinge on tests, procedures and surgeries that have yet to be determined in such a short period of time. ER is triage. ICU or CCU is where the doctors can concentrate on what's next.

 

Well said.

Obviously more details will come out later, but you're absolutely right that this at least takes some of the immediate fear out of the picture.

 

The only time I can remember NASCAR using the black curtain during my time at NASCAR.com was for the Jerry Nadeau wreck at Richmond in 2003. I was working in the office and got an instant message, out of the blue, from the beat writer to work up a Nadeau obit. The severity of the accident and the lack of information on his condition had us thinking he had been killed.

Thankfully, he survived but it ended his career. And as of 2017, was still suffering the effects of the concussion.

Former NASCAR driver still suffers concussion symptoms from a wreck in 2003

 

Jesus, every time a reporter or anchor does something stupid I hear the "a producer told them to do it!" excuse.

No, a producer didn't tell her to tweet out anonymous sources telling her he was "stable." She is far more likely to have a producer in her ear telling her that "stable" isn't a fucking condition.

The "producer in the ear" myth needs to die.

 

One of the things that's mind-boggling to me: if your "sources" aren't willing to put their names on it, why are you willing to put your name on it?

This isn't a trade rumor. It's a man's life. Don't dick around.

 

Covering cops one night I called a hospital for a condition update of someone who was in a wreck or something. Anway - the report was that the person was "stable" - a day later found out the victim died - the stable was because the body was being kept alive for organ donation. Not saying that's the case. I'm kind of guessing stable but unwilling to say more is that the true nature of the injuries is unclear,

 

I know this is crass, but...I truly can't believe Newman survived that. (Full disclosure that we don't yet know the extent of his condition.)

The engineering that allowed him to survive is fucking remarkable. To every person who has ever worked on any race safety measure...again, remarkable work.

 

And what blows me away is that most of the yahoos talk about how "safe" the cars are because guys climb out and walk away, 98 percent of the time. That's because every fatality has resulted in an improvement on the safety timeline, particularly after the wake-up call NASCAR got from Dale's death.

But there's not a single person in NASCAR's R&D Center who believes they've made the "ultimate crash survival" vehicle yet, and that's why they aren't resting on their laurels. You can't expect a human being to go immediately from 190 mph to zero, or experience crazy G forces, or take a double-hit to the rollcage like what Newman had tonight.

Besides the danger of being trapped in a burning car while unconscious (even with the automatic extinguishers), the other safety weakness I've always been concerned about is the driver window netting, particularly if a blunt piece of metal was able to penetrate into the cockpit. There's no rollbar there, mainly because the driver has to be able to easily get in and out -- and it's probably a low probability that an upside down car might get T-boned in a vulnerable area.

I'm certain the No. 6 car is on it's way back to Concord where it'll undergo the same type of examination that the NTSB does for aircraft accidents. NASCAR will figure out if there's a reasonable solution, just like it did after it mandated the netting following Richard Petty's scary crash at Darlington. Perhaps they'll add stiff metal bars in the mesh, or a crosspiece that attaches to the rollcage.

The cars are way "safer," but they're not "safe." And I don't think they ever can be considered that, if you're going to race at high speeds and close quarters. And the drivers are well-aware of that, even if they won't say it out loud.

 

Claire Metz has been in journalism longer than some longtime members of this board have been alive.