Stewart and McMurray slam into non-SAFER walls at Dover
We’re sick of talking about the lack of SAFER barriers at NASCAR tracks. You’re probably sick of reading about the topic.
But it’s increasingly clear that track executives and NASCAR itself aren’t sick of being criticized for their half-baked approach to wall safety. That’s a damn shame. Because accidents like what happened at Dover on Friday keep happening. And will keep happening until those in charge figure out that it’s OK to invest some money to look like they have a slice of compassion for the drivers that help make the tracks and the sport millions upon millions of dollars.
During practice for Sunday’s race at Dover. Danica Patrick’s car started smoking off turn 4. As she slid off the corner, her car started dropping fluid on the track before she spun; flames emanating from the rear of the car.
Tony Stewart and Jamie McMurray, the two drivers trailing Patrick, had plenty of room to avoid crashing. But the fluid on the track made that impossible. Both had no grip coming off the corner and they each slammed into the frontstretch wall off the exit of the corner.
A frontstretch wall that is simply bare concrete.
Both Stewart and McMurray walked away from their cars and were released from the infield care center. But McMurray was seen holding his left elbow after the impact and Stewart is only months removed from suffering a burst fracture to a lower back vertebra. The three-time champion walked gingerly to the ambulance and Patrick, his teammate, said she didn’t know if Stewart was feeling “perfect” after the impacts.
As a kickoff to its race weekend, Dover announced that had “completed” safety improvements to the track. Those safety improvements included the addition of 479 feet of SAFER barrier along the backstretch of the track and into turn 3. But that was it. There was no mention of the frontstretch anywhere in the press release.
It’s worth noting that Dover has installed SAFER barrier – an extra layer of wall that has energy absorbing foam in the middle that can help reduce the possibility of driver injury – on the inside frontstretch wall. Yet the outside is conspicuously bare, especially where Stewart and McMurray hit.
That crash was exceptionally fluky – the two drivers don’t crash if it’s not for the slick track left in Patrick’s wake. Though it doesn’t take much imagination to see a driver’s car push too much off turn 4 thanks to a tire failure or other common problem and smash the wall in that same spot.
But racing safety is largely reactive instead of proactive (you’ve seen us mention that before too). Tracks didn’t scramble to install more and more SAFER barriers until Kyle Busch’s leg and foot bones shattered in his Daytona crash.
Dover isn’t solely to blame for that bare concrete wall, of course. Installing SAFER costs a lot of money, and as we’ve said before, there’s no massive business incentive for a track to spend money to put SAFER everywhere possible without a NASCAR mandate. It’s important to also remember that tracks are run like businesses and the two biggest conglomerates, International Speedway Corp. and Speedway Motorsports Inc. are public companies that distribute earnings reports to shareholders.
But businesses also owe it to the product they promote and nourish to provide the best environment possible. Knowingly accomplishing superficial wall safety improvements isn’t fulfilling that obligation.
“It shouldn’t even be a question whether or not tracks have SAFER barrier all the way around,” Patrick said. “It should be mandatory. It shouldn’t be a financial decision.”
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
