That’s gotta be about the worst place to get hit in a race car.

FSP_ZX2 said:

On Monday night I swear I watched that man lose his life on live TV, in one of the worst motorsports accidents I have seen.

Today he walked out of the hospital holding his girls hands. Without shoes.

That is a miracle.

Thank you for the words that I couldn't find to say.  I am stunned.  I was sure with the way they were carefully managing the words and statements that this was not only career-ending but life-changing.  

I hope that every engineer and component builder throughout the industry smiles a little bit today knowing they contributed to making racer safer.

I was about to write that I have a special lady friend that so happens to work at Halifax hospital on the very same floor he was on and she told me he was just fine yesterday. Good to hear he's good and was released.

I imagine LaJoie and Blaney feel a bit better today, too.

In reply to Stampie :

I just assumed no shoes was a Florida thing. 
 

When I totaled my Escort they cut my pants and right boot off in the ER. No one thought to bring me clothes so a week later when I left for rehab I wore a couple gowns wrapped around my waist and my bus uniform shirt and tie.

In reply to Wally :

I didn't need that image, Wally.  Geez........

GameboyRMH said:

irish44j said:

Even in amateur motorsports....see Foley's flight off the side of Pike's Peak in his Evo.....car was reduced to basically the cage, and he pretty much walked away from it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hIsWx5qbQs

There was a stupendous amount of luck involved in that crash, not only in that he never hit the wrong rock in the wrong way on the way down, but that the same cage he was online bragging about the cheatiness of beforehand held up to such a cartoonishly bad wreck. I get the feeling that a diligent and experienced racer wouldn't have survived such a crash...

What hitting the wrong rock may look like.

DukeOfUndersteer said:

I was about to write that I have a special lady friend that so happens to work at Halifax hospital on the very same floor he was on and she told me he was just fine yesterday. Good to hear he's good and was released.

Ruh-Roh... HIPPA violation.

The crash seems to be excellent example of what is critical in surviving most crashes: rate of declaration.

As can be seen in the video, there is a lot of crazy things going on, but the car really doesn't slow down that quickly (e.g. Earnhardt).  This seems to be the key for his rapid recovery.  The big exception of course are crushing and penetrating injuries, which that hit on the roof created a huge concern for.

Well I didn't want to contribute anything to this thread until I found out the extent of Ryan Newman's injuries. I like many others assumed the worst after seeing the wreck and the way the broadcasters and media handled it. Very glad to see that he came out of this well. I'm sure NASCAR will also review every aspect of the wreck and remains of the car and appropriate changes will be made. NASCAR has been very good about reacting to driver and fan safety issues.
 

Ryan Newman is no stranger to being on his roof not only this time but previous times at Daytona and Talledega. In the past he has been vey critical of safety issues at super speedway racing. It will be interesting to hear his perspective at some point in the future.

Newman may end up being the first driver to have two bars named after him.

Dr. Hess said:

DukeOfUndersteer said:

I was about to write that I have a special lady friend that so happens to work at Halifax hospital on the very same floor he was on and she told me he was just fine yesterday. Good to hear he's good and was released.

Ruh-Roh... HIPPA violation.

Thats what i asked her! That gonna be hippa violation? haha

Wally said:

Newman may end up being the first driver to have two bars named after him.

All the bars in that cage but no diagonals in the roof plane. That seems like a basic design element missing to me. 

Ross Chastain gets the 6 for this weekend.

Stunning news to see him walk out of the hospital.  Hopefully nascar takes note though, and realizes how ridiculous it is to keep bunching them up for one lap shootouts. 

I think many of us old Grayhairs that have been involved in racing since the early 60's and watched so many bad (fatal) wrecks almost automatically assume the worse because of our historicaly perspective.

Tonight i can say that picture of him walking out with his daughters is the best picture I've seen on the interweb in a long long time.

DukeOfUndersteer said:

Dr. Hess said:

DukeOfUndersteer said:

I was about to write that I have a special lady friend that so happens to work at Halifax hospital on the very same floor he was on and she told me he was just fine yesterday. Good to hear he's good and was released.

Ruh-Roh... HIPPA violation.

Thats what i asked her! That gonna be hippa violation? haha

You could easily avoid using names.

So glad he's okay.  I checked a video and that wreck was just plain nasty.  It could have been a lot worse.  

I think I need some educating here, though.  I had to google "plate racing" and learned it was restrictor plates.  The purpose of those is to have the cars make less power.  Why is that problematic?

In reply to infinitenexus :

As the cars go faster the better the chances of going airborne and possibly into the stands.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wySxP-tWZQU

In reply to infinitenexus :

It keeps any one car from making a break from the field. It also allows WOT corner entry on banked ovals, so you wind up keeping the pack bunched up through corners, which is normally where you see them spread out. These factors (and others) result in  a mad dash for position in the last couple laps of the race. 

Wouldn't a potential solution be to slow the cars down though?  Granted I've never really followed NASCAR much but reducing speed should help safety (moreso than potentially unsafe aerodynamic changes) and a simple way to reduce speed is to reduce power, and a restrictor plate seems like a pretty straightforward way to do that.  Is the problem that restrictor plates result in most people having roughly the same power so they just stay bunched up?

Restrictor plates were implemented  by NASCAR to slow the cars down after Bobby Allison's car became airborne and into the catch fence at Talladega injuring numerous fans. As technology increased for engines, chassis and aero the cars kept getting faster and the hole size in the plates kept being reduced to slow the cars down yet the cars kept getting faster. NASCAR then started to implement aero and handling packages to make the cars harder to drive thus slowing them down but still the cars keep getting faster. Hard to believe but these cars are so finely tuned (engine and aero) that as little as one square inch of tape place in the right place on the grill can change the handling and speed of the car at race speeds.

The result is cars are so equal you get the pack racing which makes drafting and pushing so important and drivers have to do to be competitive. Also the safety improvements have probably lulled the fans and drivers into a false sense of security to take more chances. The result is the accident that happened to Ryan Newman. There are no easy answers or NASCAR would have already implemented them. It's also not as easy as eliminating super speedway tracks like Daytona and Talladega as speeds at tracks like Michigan and Texas are producing speeds in excess of 200 mph. NASCAR is between a rock and a hard place in keeping fans interested, fans and drivers safe and costs for race teams down. NASCAR is introducing a new car design to address these issues for the 2021 season. Who knows how this will effect stock car racing. Used to be there were always more cars at races then spots in the field then mainly because of cost not enough cars to  fill the field. As a result NASCAR reduced number of starting spots from 43 to 40. There are no easy answers.

In reply to infinitenexus :

The plate does slow the cars down, that's its purpose.  It restricts the amount of air going into the engine reducing the power it makes.  Without restrictor plates the cars would be going faster. The cars are fairly close powerwise with and without them so you'd still have packs but they'd probably be going about 20 mph faster. 

When Dale died and they started racing RWD V8 Camry's i stopped watching.  Hope Ryan gets well soon.

I'm not as big of a NASCAR fan as I am an F1 fan, but did make sure to watch Daytona.  As Wally pointed out, the restrictor plates were designed to slow the cars down, which has worked.  The car designs allow for equal performance and the plates seem to make that even closer.  I like NASCAR because of that.  I was on the edge of my seat watching the small adjustments the drivers had to make to make sure they were in the right draft, the hookups between small packs to chase down others and the constant passing.  Most people complain about F1 (and many other series) because they end up being a bit of a parade lap with very little passing.  Heck, F1 gets excited when there's more than 20 passes in an entire race where NASCAR can have that many in a single lap.  Although Newman's wreck was horrible (and just seemed to be two cars getting a bit squirrely, not necessarily overaggressive driving), that last lap was awesome to watch.  I don't think lowering the speed of the cars would reduce the wrecks.  I believe Newman's crash would have been just as bad at 185 mph. 

Moving to true production cars or different car designs, instead of the COT design, will see bigger teams begin to dominate and leave the rest of field.  You'll lose the close racing and end up like F1 where the well funded teams win most of the races and the lower funded ones will get lapped most of the time.  For most of the Daytona race, there were several rookies and lower funded teams still in the top 10.  I'd hate for that to change. 

In my opinion (which is worth zilch), NASCAR really does a lot of things right and it's what makes it popular.  Sure, it's just "turning left the whole time", but if you pay attention to the jockeying for position, the pre-setup planning for passes and the strategizing to find drivers to follow or lead, it's pretty darn exciting.  Add the whole celebration, fan access, driver stories and "media" of it all, and it really can't be beat.

I was watching Newman's recover news closely and was VERY happy to see that picture of him leaving the hospital with his daughters.  I think the safety built into those cars is simply amazing.

-Rob

infinitenexus said:

I think I need some educating here, though.  I had to google "plate racing" and learned it was restrictor plates.  The purpose of those is to have the cars make less power.  Why is that problematic?

You are on the highest funded team in the field, and I am on the lowest. Your engine makes the most power in the field, and mine the least, when unrestricted. But because of the way a restrictor plate reduces power, our engines now have virtually identical output. You're also a best driver in the field, and I the worst, such that on a more challenging track you'd still just as likely beat me even if we traded engines/cars. But since our spec chassis and aero package allows us to run flat-out around the entire track, the driver skill difference is largely irrelevant.

NASCAR wanted parity, and they got it in spades. You and your car simply can't go enough faster than me (or anybody else) to ever create a gap. And while you qualified at the front, and I at the back, all I (or anybody else) have to do is hook bumpers with the car in front of me to temporarily create one much faster car and shoot through the field like shot through a gun. At that point, what are your options for winning?...Driving like it's a video game and taking an unusually risky/dangerous crapshoot is all you've got.

I say throw in some engine rules that make teams choose between output and reliability at plate-levels of power, and take away enough grip to slow them in the turns.