NASCAR Must Protect Fans Before It's Too Late

Not sure why, but I get in trouble when I refer to NASCAR folks as dumb. That won't deter me from skewering Bobby Allison, who is missing air in his tire when it comes to cars, spectators and danger.

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"It's as safe as we see modern entertainment," the racing legend claims. "If you're at a hockey game and the hockey puck comes into the grandstands and hits you in the head and kills you, it's not safe. If you're at a football game and a football hits you in the head and kills you, you're not safe. If you're at a baseball game and the baseball hits you and kills you, you're not safe."

Uh, did the man just say a person could die from taking a football to the head? And did he actually compare flying pucks and baseballs to a 3,500-pound airborne automobile, such as the No. 99 Ford of Carl Edwards that crashed into the catch fence Sunday and luckily didn't kill dozens of people at Talladega Super Death Trap Speedway? Yes, we've seen a puck kill a teen girl in Columbus in 2002 and a handful of fans die over the years after being struck by foul balls. But at least they have a chance to avoid those small, objects at lengthy distances, and it should be noted that in NHL buildings, protective netting hangs in the end zones these days.

If a car comes hurdling into the stands, Bobby, I don't think spectators will be able to duck away or catch it with their gloves. I do think there's a good chance they die on the spot.

Such are the old-school attitudes that plague NASCAR. Every time the sport deals with a mainstream media crisis -- the latest being the violent, special-effects-like Edwards wreck that sent debris shooting into the stands and injured seven spectators, one of whom was still hospitalized Monday -- too many good old boys hunker down and resist common-sense advice from "outsiders'' like me. In their minds, spectacular crashes are a vital part of the entertainment value, ignoring the frighteningly close proximity of fans pressed against the fence in the first dozen rows. Of all drivers who should grasp the peril, it's Allison, who was involved in a scary airborne wreck at the same track in 1987 that ripped a 150-foot hole in the fence, injured several fans and prompted the advent of restrictor plates for safety. But when reached by the Associated Press, Allison not only seemed to celebrate the Edwards crash but bragged that his was more dangerous.

"Well, it's scary, but it's exciting for the fans. It always has been," he said. "Part of the attraction of Talladega is the potential for danger.

"It was pretty spectacular, but it was nothing compared to what I did. My wreck was way bigger -- way more guard rail, way more cars involved.''

And way out there, I'd say.

That's why I applaud Edwards for his tough, biting commentary after he somehow climbed from a burning car with barely a scratch. Mincing no words, he said restrictor-plate racing at tracks like Talladega is a recipe for death.

"NASCAR just puts us in a box,'' Edwards said, "and we'll race like this until we kill somebody and then they'll change it. I'm just glad nobody got hurt today. I'm glad the car didn't go up in the grandstands and hurt somebody.

"That's the first time I've flipped a race car. I was nervous about where I was gonna end up and then I hit the fence, and I never hit the fence with something other than the side of my car. I don't know exactly which part of my car hit the fence, but I was real nervous that that was the top of the cage and that would have been really, really bad ... What if a car goes up in the grandstands and kills 25 people?''

If they keep tempting fate, it will happen.

The catch fence did its job, bending but not breaking as Edwards' car ripped into pieces 500 yards from the finish line. But that doesn't mean the next crash will bring as much good luck. Consider it a fortuitous opportunity for NASCAR officials to: (1) end the lunacy of restrictor-plate racing; and (2) reconfigure the front seating sections at tracks. In this sense, it's up to the sport to protect the fans from themselves. As pointed out by race winner Brad Keselowski, who nudged the left rear of Edwards' car during a block attempt and started the spinning that led to the wreckage, some fans want to experience the dangers and seek the same thrills as the drivers.

"I don't want to wreck anyone, but to say a no-contact sport is fun, I don't buy that," Keselowski said. "These guys want to see contact just as much as I want to give it and take it. There has to be some element of danger in this. It's no different than football. The fans want contact. If we hadn't had contact out there, everyone in this media center would write how boring it was.

"This is NASCAR racing at its finest. I found myself laughing in the race car halfway through it because I was having so much fun. I hope the fans had fun, too.''

Oh, crash victim Blake Bobbitt was having loads of fun as he rested in a Birmingham, Ala., hospital, perhaps wondering why he didn't sit in the 85th row at Talladega.

Allow me to present an idea that might prolong some lives: How about a tiered effect for the seats behind the fence? As we see in outfield areas at baseball stadiums, elevate the first row of the stands about 25 feet above the track, slope the rows on a steep rise for optimum sightlines and place a soft wall behind the catch fence. That way, instead of being in the direct path of a flying vehicle, a fan can look down at the action with peace of mind. I'm no architect, but I might know how to save lives better than NASCAR officials do.



They have to admit they've been very lucky not to have a fan fatality at a major race. The rest of motor sports hasn't been so lucky -- a fiery 1955 crash at Le Mans that killed more than 80 spectators, two accidents in the late '90s that killed a collective six fans at a CART race and IRL race. Ryan Newman was involved in the Sunday wreck, meeting Edwards' car as it spun and projecting it into the air. He also is an engineer who needs to be heard about restrictor-plate racing.

"Two days in a row, we've had a car turn around and get upside down," said Newman, referring to a Matt Kenseth episode Saturday that didn't involve spectators. "We need to develop something to keep the cars on the ground. That's not just for the drivers, but for the fans, as well.

"NASCAR has got to do their job to get the cars on the ground and make the cars safer. Because I'm pretty sure we are coming back to Talladega, and I'm pretty sure we are coming back to restrictor plates, and I'm pretty sure that we are coming back to three-wide and four-wide for most of the races. What we can do to make everybody safer is what we need to come out of here today.''

Yet there was Dale Earnhardt Jr., tweaking the traditional NASCAR media for celebrating such wrecks. He's right -- you can't have it both ways.

"You have to understand that, for years, we've had wrecks like this every time we come to Talladega, ever since the plate got here, and it was celebrated. The media celebrated it, the network celebrated it, calling it 'The Big One' and just trying to attract attention to the race,'' he said. "So there's a responsibility with the media and networks and the sanctioning body itself to come to their senses a little bit and think about, you know, the situation. You can't sit here and jump up and go, 'Wow, what I saw today was crazy.' I don't think it's right, unless you're a driver. I think we have been saying this for years -- racing like this is not a whole lot of fun. It's just something we have to go out there and do.''

Monday, after the crash received huge play on national talk shows, the NASCAR hierarchy delivered the usual lip service about its commitment to spectator safety and possible penalties for unsafe driving. But no one ever talks about dramatic measures such as elevated seating. Rick Humphrey, president of Talladega Superspeedway, said he'll examine whether the fences should be built higher.

"The system in place did its job," he said. "It is designed to put the race car back on the track and it certainly did. We'll certainly continue to look at videos and see if anything else needs to be done. We'll look at everything to see what we can do to prevent this. Let me just say how fortunate we feel and how blessed we are that nobody was really hurt seriously."

But ...

"Racing is a dangerous sport in general," Humphrey said. "Certainly, Talladega has created some very exciting racing and exciting finishes and along the way there have been some incidents that people have been rather outspoken about. We've had several caution-free races here, too. The racing here is unique. I don't think anything drastic needs to happen.''

Until someone dies.

Don't say they weren't forewarned.