When best drivers talk about safety, NASCAR should listen

STEVE DeSHAZO: NASCAR needs answers

Date published: 4/30/2009

By Steve DeShazo

SPEED KILLS, as every grisly driver education film warns. The paradox for NASCAR is that controlled speed is also pretty darn dangerous.

Carl Edwards' frightening flip at Talladega underscored the perils of restrictor-plate racing. It came at the end of a highly competitive race and served--along with a 13-car crash on lap seven and 10-car pileup with nine laps to go--as a perfect bookend argument for those who are screaming for change.

Fans and writers can lobby all they want. But when three-time defending Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson spoke out Tuesday about the need for action, it carried much more weight.

NASCAR mandated horsepower-sapping restrictor plates at its two biggest tracks (Talladega and Daytona) more than two decades ago after Bobby Allison's car blew a tire and nearly sailed into the grandstand. The move was made with safety in mind--both for fans and the rivers who were topping 220 mph on the huge ovals.

Fans may be more secure now, but the drivers may be even more at risk than they were before--even with developments like SAFER walls and the HANS device that prevents the kind of neck trauma that killed Dale Earnhardt in 2001.

That's because in restrictor-plate races, it's virtually impossible to pull away from the field. This leads to four-wide racing at 180 mph and almost no margin for error in a three-hour race.

Fans eat it up because it's riveting competition, with the constant chance for spectacular collisions. Drivers hate it because one false move, by themselves or one of their competitors, can mean an early shower, broken bones--or worse.

"Talladega is short for 'We're going to crash, we just don't know when,'" said Ryan Newman, who was involved in the crash that sent Edwards airborne. Edwards, who escaped major injury, later said: "We'll race like this until we kill somebody, then [NASCAR] will change it."

It shouldn't have to come to that--even though it took Earnhardt's death to convince NASCAR and its drivers of the value of SAFER walls and neck restraints.

CROWN ROYAL 400 WHEN: Saturday, 7:30 WHERE: Richmond International Raceway TV: Fox (channels 5, 35) RADIO: WFLS-FM 93.3 DEFENDING CHAMP: Clint Bowyer POLE QUALIFYING: Tomorrow, 5:30 p.m. NATIONWIDE RACE: Lipton Tea 250 (Tomorrow, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)

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Date published: 4/30/2009