NASCAR's investigation on Dale Earnhardt

[WOWZY]

I think their investigation was really interesting. One of the findings that had my attention was that Dale was already in a right forward, leaning position from the hit from Ken Schrader and the final impact from into the wall, rotated his helmet forward and the rebound affect caused his exsposed lower skull to strike the steering wheel from the side. This caused a ring fracture of the skull.



They also said that the left belt had tension on it from the side impact and that the wall impact added to the initial stress and caused it to tear.



I think the investigation made sense.



Your thoughts on this please.

 

[CGoyette]

That day made me sick and I have seen death many times. I was a Dale Earnhardt fan and loved his style. He was a avid sportman who was a gun rights champion. His wife had to fight in court so some sic people would put hit autopsy on the net (news paper would have eventually leaked the photos for mony. Then his wife would have to see that for years to come not right.



I do wish he had worn a neck restraint... . it may have done nothing but it just might have.



Curt

 

[Straight6Jeff]

I think taht it was a terrible trajedy. What is really digusting is the bashing and death threats that Simpson was getting. Simpson products have helped in saving countless lives, but that fact seemed to be lost and forgotten by some. I'm by no means saying anyone on this board, rather I am talking about people I work with who have NO concept of what a race car really is. Ya know the type... couch-racers.

 

[tntway]

cars too rigid?

did they address this?? didn't see the whole report. the same problem happened in the early 80's with the modifieds. four or five guys dead in a short period of time. drivers got with engineers and developed cars with crush zones... guess what...

yup, guys stopped dying. a right front impact in a WC car tranfers almost all of the energy to the weakest link-the driver.



BTW--for those of you not in the northeast, the modified tour is

pound for pound, HP for HP by far the MOST exciting division in NASCAR. NASCAR needs to stand behind this division and get them more exposure and better purses so it doesn't die. JMVHO.

 

[WOWZY]

I missed the first 20 minutes of it but heard nothing about the rigidity of the cars. However they did say that they were gonna use these results to futher driver safety while trying not to fix what isn't broke and causing other problems.

 

[John Berger]

That report was a joke. It contradicted the autopsy photos and the independent medical examiner's conclusion that head whip was the cause of death. All of that misses the point, however. Nothing significant is going to come out of this in a way that impacts the safety for the drivers. They'll still race with plates, but they did increase the size of the window area for escaping. Dale and the other drivers didn't have the option to escape their cars. Well, duhh!!!! NASCAR is so totally and completely full of I TRIED TO BY-PASS THE CUSSING FILTER. It's what happens when you mix big money, the networks and stupidity all in one package. They also completely ignored Adam Petty, Kenny Irwin and Tony Roper. Last I heard, their seat belts didn't break and they suffered the same type of injury. And they're all still dead, too.

 

[BCFAST]

Mr. Berger and I agree...

NASCAR's report has no redeaming value. They are a big business that is trying to save its own skin by not incriminating themselves... ie. , showing negelgence in not MANDATING the safety features used by the ENTIRE rest of the world. Mr. Earnhardt's death was tragic, to be sure, but was (in my opinion) mostly his fault. He CHOSE to wear a helmet from 1970. He CHOSE to not wear a belaclava or neck support... all for the sake of looking cool like his T-shirts and lunch boxes. Had he worn a modern helmet, we wouldnt be able to see the "Man in Black"s tradmark mustache and glasses. As a racer, I cannot fathom the idea of someone going into a known dangerous situation without every available safety item available. Would you ask a police officer to raid a crack house at 3am and would he please leave his gun and vest in the car! Stupidity!! And NASCAR doesnt even require drivers to wear gloves or nomex shoes!! This is truely red-neck round-e-round.

 

[Briar Hopper]

I miss Dale really bad

BCFAST, what you said up above might get a few TDR member's goat , big time...

I agree NASCAR has become, to some extent, the WWF on wheels.

BUT... there are many like me that were born in or grew up in the deep South, and see it as a last bastion of our vanishing heritage... NASCAR's roots run deep, there are still dirt & paved small tracks in operation around the country, with many intelligent, well-educated people spending good $$$ to compete with high-tech chassis & engines. I know. I was one of them. My cousin and I ran a MastersBilt Race Car all over the MidWest for years... these classes are like the minor leagues for NASCAR, they receive extensive coverage, event & supplier advertising in the stock car racing magazines...

I was also in the Sports Car Club of America, and the Alabama Sports Car Club, and raced a 911 that belonged to a friend. This was during the wonderful years of the 935's dominance, with the Whittingtons and the Pauls, and their funding from running drugs. (so even the sporty car guys got a little dirty laundry to hide, eh?) I was at Lime Rock, and Mid- Ohio, and Road Atlanta, every chance I got, driving or not... from 1974 on, Derek Bell and Hurley Haywood have been 2 of my all-time favorites to watch...

I'm well-educated, and well-rounded, yet, I also love all the things you would label "redneck". That doesn't make me redneck. But if the boot fits, I'll wear it.....

Don't look down on Winston Cup Racing, rather look down on NASCAR for regulating it into a circus... yes, few things can hold a candle to the mighty Porsche at full scream on the Mulsanne straight, but they also race for 24 hours at Daytona, the Mecca of the southern redneck. Racing is racing, the world over. I love it all, anything with wheels and an engine. Even Unlimited Offshore, the Cigarette boats. There are few complaints on here about CART's horrible management... or Bernie Ecclestone's "follow-the-leader-of-the-year" Formula 1... .

Nothing personal, BC, I respect and admire your accomplishments, and envy the company you keep !

 

[John Berger]

BCFAST - Your comments do irk me, but that's OK. Wouldn't be the first time and I've been on the other end of that shoe Your comments still don't address Adam Petty, Kenny Irwin and Tony Roper. They all wore full face helmets and still ended up dead. Dale Earnhardt had, what were to him very good reasons to race the way he did. And don't forget, he survived some devastating wrecks with his car and equipment exactly like it was in February.

Briar Hopper is correct when he says that NASCAR is one of the last bastions of Southern and American heritage and it is being regulated into a circus. I wish the drivers would revolt, but there is a better chance of snow at the equator than that happening.

 

[BCFAST]

No personal disrespect was meant...

... I'm just pissed off at NASCAR for allowing idiotic practices to continue and unnessesarily risk the lives of good men (and women) and even the fans in the bleachers! Dale's crash wasnt a big deal... there have been far, far worse. Having had a scarily similar crash last year, I really think the blame is 2-fold: full helmet with neck restraint, and #2, the cars are too stiff. I was just looking at the new "Humpy Bumper"... what crap! Take out or downsize some front-end tubing so the car will crush some. We always build our cars to have a bomb-proof drivers' compartment, and the front and back of the car are collapsable (hate to lose the motor, etc... but better than being hurt).

I've been to Cup races at both Daytona and Michigan. NASCAR fans are the most educated fan base of any sport I can think of. No one around me needed a program to know exactly who-was-who. And I had a good time there, except for the BS fixed outcome and unnessesary yellows for TV commercial time!

As far as NASCAR goes, they are simply covering their butts. I wouldnt believe 10 words of any report of thiers. And, as for my 'redneck' comment: to me, a redneck is a stereotypic southern person... a cartoon character... who commits the same stupid mistake over and over... . sorta like NASCAR! If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention!

 

[John Berger]

You know the part that I liked best, and to me at least, it summed up the whole fiasco: When Mike Helton was making excuses for not using the black boxes because of the potential for cheating. He acknowledged cheating and dishonesty in his comments right in the middle of a press conference that was primarily designed to give the impression that NASCAR is an upstanding and honest entity. What an idiot. That whole show was designed as a college lecture, but did little to alleviate NASCAR's complicity in the deaths of alot of drivers due to inaction on the part of the sanctioning body. Drivers have been dying of basil skull fractures since J. D. McDuffie perished at Watkins Glen, probably before his death. The most outrageous part of all of this is that nothing was done after Adam Petty died. I guess we know what the lives of the driver's really mean in the bigger picture. The link below contains a good article that about sums it up as far as I'm concerned. I wonder which driver is next?



http://www.speedfx.com/viewpoint/matt/vmm082701.shtml