By Larry Woody / Sports
Writer
When a stock car collides with a concrete wall at high speed, the wall
always wins -- sometimes with tragic results.
The technology exists to "soften" the walls with various types of
padding. In fact, some tracks are already using padding.
So why doesn't NASCAR require it at all tracks, or at least at such
troublesome venues as New Hampshire Speedway where two drivers have died in two
months after crashing into the wall?
A group called Fans for Safer Race Tracks believes NASCAR should be moving
faster on wall safety, and is lobbying sponsors to put pressure on the
governing body.
"It's no longer good enough to say, 'Well, this probably wouldn't
work,' or that clean-up [from shattered wall padding] would take too
long," said the group's spokeswoman, Linda Maddox of Whiting, Ind.
"Fans won't mind delaying a race if it saves one life."
Kevin Triplett, director of operations for NASCAR, said the association is
extremely safety-conscious. He cited numerous examples of safety measures
recently implemented, such as tethers for tires and hoods to prevent them from
flying into the stands during a crash.
Specifically on the subject of wall safety, Triplett said NASCAR considers
the matter "very serious" and currently is evaluating the situation.
"Nobody has more at stake than we do," said Triplett, referring to
the deaths at New Hampshire of Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin, two of the sport's
rising young stars. "We want to do everything possible to protect our
competitors and fans."
However, Triplett cautioned against "knee-jerk reaction" in the
emotional wake of the deaths of Petty and Irwin.
"We've got to make sure the cure isn't worse than the cause,"
Triplett said. "We don't want to rush out and do something just to say
we're doing it. Let's make sure we know what works and what doesn't."
Jerry Gappens, an official with Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.,
agreed with Triplett that the solution is not so simple. He gave this example:
"Indy installed energy-absorbing pads on a wall a couple of years ago
and they almost caused a disaster. During an IROC race Arie Luyendyk hit the
wall and the pads sprang him back onto the track -- right in the middle of the
rest of the field.
"Thankfully it was a small field of IROC cars. If it had been a full
field in a Winston Cup race it could have really been serious. In that
situation it would have been safer for the car to scrape along the wall, rather
than bounce off and back into the middle of the track."
Eddie Gossage, president of Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, also
cautioned against rushing to use untested technology.
"You don't prescribe medicine until you know exactly what's wrong with
the patient," Gossage said. "In the case of these [New Hampshire]
crashes, we're still not sure what happened."
When the Texas track opened three years ago, there was a series of crashes.
NASCAR threatened not to race there until the situation was corrected, so owner
Bruton Smith ordered a $3 million redesign of the brand-new track.
Some are puzzled why similar pressure has not been applied on New Hampshire
Speedway after the two recent fatalities.
Triplett said the track had run years of trouble-free races until this
year's two fatal crashes. He said NASCAR's investigation remains in progress,
and would not rule out changes in the track if deemed necessary.
Maddox said the position of the fans-for-safety association is simple:
"Why wait for disaster to happen?"
She said the technology to make tracks safer is available and NASCAR should
not hesitate to use it.
Maddox cited examples of tracks that may have prevented serious driver
injury with the use of wall padding. She said a few years ago at Tucson (Ariz.)
Raceway Park a driver sustained near-fatal injuries when he crashed into the
wall. Afterward, the track installed styrofoam barriers. Since then a number of
drivers have hit the wall but walked away unharmed, thanks to the protective styrofoam.
Track general manager David Deery confirmed that account.
"We put styrofoam blocks on a 30-foot area of the wall where the
entrance/exit gate is," he said. "We've had a few drivers hit it and
none have been seriously injured."
Deery, however, stopped short of recommending similar styrofoam safety
barriers for every track -- such as fellow NASCAR Racing Series member
Nashville Speedway.
"No two tracks are designed the same," he said. "What works
at one track might not help at another."
Deery said the drawback to the styrofoam barriers is "the huge mess
when it gets hit. The stuff flies everywhere, and it takes forever to get it
cleaned up."
Isn't delaying the race worth the bother if the styrofoam could prevent a
serious injury?
"Yes, to save a life, it would be," Deery said.
Veteran Winston Cup driver Darrell Waltrip said he would like to see NASCAR
do something at New Hampshire, "even if it's just putting up some water
barrels to soften the impact."
Nashville Speedway executive Dave Kohler said "it's not as simple as it
sounds. I once worked at a track in Pennsylvania that used water barriers and
they didn't work very well. When a car hit them, it tended to bounce back onto
the track in the middle of traffic. Also, the water went flying everywhere, and
other cars had to race through it, creating a hazardous situation."
Nashville Speedway uses huge tractor tires as buffers where the quarter-mile
track wall juts out. Many times out-of-control cars have hit the tires and
bounced off, rather than plowing into the concrete abutment.
"They do absorb the impact," Kohler said. "The tires seem to
work."
There are currently no plans to use any type of impact absorbers on the
walls of new $125 million Nashville Superspeedway. President Denis McGlynn said
he is confident the 1.3-mile track will be "as safe as possible."
"We have gone over the design of the track many times and we feel that
it will be a very safe facility," he said.
McGlynn agreed with Triplett, Gossage, Gappens and other NASCAR insiders who
argue that the organization should not rush to use largely untested barriers or
other impact-absorbers.
Maddox, on the other hand, wonders why NASCAR is not frantically conducting
tests and searching for ways to make walls safer.
"There haven't been any significant changes in track walls in 50
years," she said. "With all the technology available and the amount
of money coming into the sport, there's no excuse for that. We're told that it
might be inconvenient and expensive. I guess the question becomes, what price
do you put on a driver's life?"