My thoughts and prayers are with those who were injured in today's crash at Daytona, as well as their families.
A last lap crash at the Drive for COPD 300 at Daytona saw one of the worst crashes I've seen in a long time. As you probably have seen or read, a car got airborne, hit a gate, and some parts of the car ended up in the grandstands. The car was destroyed, but all drivers in the incident walked away unharmed.
The problem was where the car hit. There was a pedestrian gate right at the point of impact. I actually used said gate when I came up from the infield on Thursday. There was a post that the car hit which essentially broke the car in two. It sheared the axle and the engine right off the car. One of the tires ended up in the grandstand, injuring several fans.
The good thing from all this is we see how safe tracks are. A car traveling 190 mph could cause catastrophic damage and loss of life if they enter the stands. As we have seen in recent years, crashes involving cars getting airborne are unfortunately becoming the norm. The fence did its job - the car and most of the parts stayed on the race track. The race car did it's job protecting the driver. The only problem was the gate that the car hit. If the accident had been almost anywhere else, we probably wouldn't be talking about injuries.
I think we're fortunate that NASCAR, International Speedway Corporation, Daytona International Speedway, and the race teams are extremely focused on safety. That could have been a major tragedy. I realize that several fans are still in critical condition and some have serious injuries. There is always that risk when you attend a NASCAR race. It is always possible to get injured. The closer you sit to the action, the better the chance of injury.
Daytona will have some work to do to, but I think we all can agree we are fortunate this was not worse than it was.
A last lap crash at the Drive for COPD 300 at Daytona saw one of the worst crashes I've seen in a long time. As you probably have seen or read, a car got airborne, hit a gate, and some parts of the car ended up in the grandstands. The car was destroyed, but all drivers in the incident walked away unharmed.
The problem was where the car hit. There was a pedestrian gate right at the point of impact. I actually used said gate when I came up from the infield on Thursday. There was a post that the car hit which essentially broke the car in two. It sheared the axle and the engine right off the car. One of the tires ended up in the grandstand, injuring several fans.
The good thing from all this is we see how safe tracks are. A car traveling 190 mph could cause catastrophic damage and loss of life if they enter the stands. As we have seen in recent years, crashes involving cars getting airborne are unfortunately becoming the norm. The fence did its job - the car and most of the parts stayed on the race track. The race car did it's job protecting the driver. The only problem was the gate that the car hit. If the accident had been almost anywhere else, we probably wouldn't be talking about injuries.
I think we're fortunate that NASCAR, International Speedway Corporation, Daytona International Speedway, and the race teams are extremely focused on safety. That could have been a major tragedy. I realize that several fans are still in critical condition and some have serious injuries. There is always that risk when you attend a NASCAR race. It is always possible to get injured. The closer you sit to the action, the better the chance of injury.
Daytona will have some work to do to, but I think we all can agree we are fortunate this was not worse than it was.
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