05-05-2012, 11:32 PM
I was watching the NASCAR Nationwide race earlier today at Talladega. Knowing Talladega, there was going to be a large wreck at some point (Carl Edwards' last lap wreck in 2009, the 2003 wreck on lap 5 involving 27 cars, the list is enormous) and having watched the Nationwide race at Daytona, a similar track earlier this year, I knew it would involve fast cars trying to move into places that just weren't big enough.
I didn't know it would be THIS bad, though.
After a wreck that could have taken out 10 cars with a few laps to go merely resulted in two cars sliding around the track, the field restarted with Kyle Busch and Joe Nemechek side by side with Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick behind them. Coming down the backstretch on that lap, Micheal Annett drove up between the duos of Busch-Keselowski and Nemechek-Harvick, being pushed by Joey Logano. Nemechek and Busch moved closer together, Keselowski and Harvick followed, and Keselowski collided with Annett.
This is the result.
Watching it as it happened in real time, it was obvious that Eric McClure hit the wall extremely hard -- as the announcer put it, "What a vicious hit!" Normally, even after the hardest hits, drivers will just get out, shake their head, and take the mandatory trip to the in-field care center -- such as Elliott Sadler's hard crash at Pocono two years ago.
This time, there was a conspicuous lack of driver exiting the car as the safety crew came around and took down the window net.
The safety crew came around and took down the window net.
It's NASCAR Wreck 101: When you crash out of a race and can't drive around, either to get back in the race or onto pit road, you lower the window net to tell the safety workers you're okay.
Never in the 9 years I've watched NASCAR has a driver not lowered the safety net.
For the next ten minutes, there was no official word on McClure's status, but the crowd of 10 or so NASCAR officials by his car was not an encouraging sign. Eventually they relayed that he was conscious and talking to the safety crew members, but it was another 5 minutes before they cut off the roof of his car, put him on a stretcher, and airlifted him to a Birmingham hospital.
Never in the 9 years I've watched NASCAR has a driver not walked away from a crash under his own power.
There's still no official word on his status, but I (along with thousands of other people, I assume) am waiting and hoping he's not seriously injured. When you crash so hard they have to replace the wall, it was a hard hit.
I didn't know it would be THIS bad, though.
After a wreck that could have taken out 10 cars with a few laps to go merely resulted in two cars sliding around the track, the field restarted with Kyle Busch and Joe Nemechek side by side with Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick behind them. Coming down the backstretch on that lap, Micheal Annett drove up between the duos of Busch-Keselowski and Nemechek-Harvick, being pushed by Joey Logano. Nemechek and Busch moved closer together, Keselowski and Harvick followed, and Keselowski collided with Annett.
This is the result.
Watching it as it happened in real time, it was obvious that Eric McClure hit the wall extremely hard -- as the announcer put it, "What a vicious hit!" Normally, even after the hardest hits, drivers will just get out, shake their head, and take the mandatory trip to the in-field care center -- such as Elliott Sadler's hard crash at Pocono two years ago.
This time, there was a conspicuous lack of driver exiting the car as the safety crew came around and took down the window net.
The safety crew came around and took down the window net.
It's NASCAR Wreck 101: When you crash out of a race and can't drive around, either to get back in the race or onto pit road, you lower the window net to tell the safety workers you're okay.
Never in the 9 years I've watched NASCAR has a driver not lowered the safety net.
For the next ten minutes, there was no official word on McClure's status, but the crowd of 10 or so NASCAR officials by his car was not an encouraging sign. Eventually they relayed that he was conscious and talking to the safety crew members, but it was another 5 minutes before they cut off the roof of his car, put him on a stretcher, and airlifted him to a Birmingham hospital.
Never in the 9 years I've watched NASCAR has a driver not walked away from a crash under his own power.
There's still no official word on his status, but I (along with thousands of other people, I assume) am waiting and hoping he's not seriously injured. When you crash so hard they have to replace the wall, it was a hard hit.
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