By Mike Mulhern
JOURNAL
REPORTER
LONG
POND, Pa.
Jeff
Burton predicts that there will be soft foam on the walls at New Hampshire
International Speedway when NASCAR returns there in September.
Much of the debate in the Winston Cup garage about the deaths of Adam Petty
and Kenny
Irwin has focused on mechanical devices that teams could install on cars --
toe-loops on the accelerator pedals, new engine-kill switches and automatic
brake-pressure engine-kill switches -- but Burton says that the key is to
soften the walls at Loudon.
''I believe we need to work on the walls; we don't need to work on our race
cars,'' Burton said yesterday. ''And I think we'll have foam on the walls when
we get back to New Hampshire.
''Obviously, there is a problem at New Hampshire. If you go back and track the
number of drivers who have been injured at New Hampshire for the length of time
the track has been in existence, the number is high. It's high. And you cannot
ignore that.
''And I think that, through tragedy, we will hopefully learn something.
That's the only thing good that can come from any of that stuff, learning
something. It would be irresponsible not to do something different, because
what we're doing now is wrong. And I believe there will be something different
when we go back.''
Burton has been talking long and hard with NASCAR's Mike Helton about the
entire safety issue after Irwin's death at Loudon two weeks ago, which came
just two months after Petty's death.
''The reason NASCAR doesn't want to say anything about walls is they don't
know how to do it better right now,'' Burton says. ''The problem with making a
change is you might make it for the worse, and they sure don't want to do that.
And there are a lot of unknowns about stuff other than concrete. We know what
concrete does. Even though there are some negatives in concrete, there are some
positives in knowing what the negatives are. When you change something without
having the opportunity to really research it, there are a lot of unknowns that
might cause a problem. That is their concern.
''I do believe, and I've had a lot of conversations with NASCAR, that they
will do what is safest when they know it's safe. There is no question their
heart is in the right place. Those guys suffer just like all of us do when
somebody gets hurt or killed. They don't want to see that.
''But what they will not do is just react to something. They want to make
sure they respond to it. And there is a big difference.''
One problem NASCAR faces, Burton concedes, is the issue of one of those Styrofoam
blocks sailing through the air.
''The problem is trying to figure out how to keep it from flying up in the
stands,'' Burton says. ''Those Styrofoam blocks weigh 60 pounds.
''But I think we're beyond problems like that now, with all the fencing we
have. I can't imagine that a block would get into the stands anyway. However,
it could be a problem if it bounced back into the middle of the track and
somebody hit it and then it flew up.''
Eyewitnesses to Irwin's crash have said that his front tires were locked up
hard while his rear wheels were still spinning, indicating a hung throttle, but
Burton said he's still not convinced.
''There has been a lot of emphasis placed on throttles hung, but we don't
know that the guys' throttles hung,'' Burton said.
''I think NASCAR has to do something . . . but I'm not sure that anybody at
NASCAR is convinced the throttles were hung in the first place.''
One other possibility raised in Irwin's death is that the insulation pad on
the floorboard might have jammed under the throttle.
''That many people having throttles hang in the same corner of the same race
track in the same situation is improbable, if not impossible,'' Burton says.
''So I'm not convinced that we're having a throttle hanging problem. That is
what everybody wants to blame it on, because that's what the obvious answer is.
But it may not be that.
''If you look at my wreck at Loudon a couple of years ago in practice -- and
nobody but my wife and my doctor knew how badly I was really hurt -- and if you
look at Dennis Setzer's wreck that Saturday in the Truck race, and if you look
at the two fatalities, in two years, that's four wrecks in the same corner at
the same race track.
''And all four of them had to do with cold tires, either early in the race or
early in a run.
''I've been racing 27 years, and I've only had one throttle hang, at
California. I didn't wreck, but just because it happened in an opportune place.
Now, once is too many, I understand, but it really hasn't appeared to be a
problem.''