nascar and safety, yeah right

[harvick#1]

its happened before and it needs to end now, especially for the safety of all those on pitroad. its insane how Nascar doens't put an end to the crap of pitting early before the green light, then constantly speed down pitroad.

what would happen if Jr lost a wheel like Vickers and go crashing into the pit wall.

Nascar really needs to end this tail end of the line BS and actually put laps on a guy doing this crap. they try and gain time for repairs, but rules are rules adn you can't break them.

way to step up again on safety :rolleyes: :up:

[tstran17_88]

June Bug broke two rules and got the same penalty as the Shrub.

My brother was pizzing and moaning about that too.

[RaceFanStan]

IF it had been Mark Martin, nobody would be pizzing & moaning ...
but because it is Dale Jr some fans are crying foul ...
Dale Jr salvaged a 5th place finish with a wrecked racecar, pretty darn good imo. http://www.motorsportforum.com/forums/images/icons/tongue-anim.gif

hey, that's the racing luck, sometimes things go your way, sometimes they don't.
It would be best for the heartbroken to dry their eyes & get ready for Dover. http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g202/gr8link/misc/tiss.jpg

[NickFalzone]

They either need to enforce the rules, or not have rules at all. For NASCAR to say "well... Jr didn't really put anyone in danger on the 2nd speeding penalty, so I guess it's alright" is bull****. The only reason he didn't put anyone in danger is because his car held together. No one knew 100% if his car was going to stay in one piece, not even Jr. I guess like most other NASCAR safety rules it will take a injury or death for them to start enforcing it.

Also you're right about Mark Martin. But lets say it was Franchitti or Hornish that did that, guys on the outside pulling stunts like that. We all know they would have gotten a drive through, not even a question.

[harvick#1]

IF it had been Mark Martin, nobody would be pizzing & moaning ...
but because it is Dale Jr some fans are crying foul ...
Dale Jr salvaged a 5th place finish with a wrecked racecar, pretty darn good imo. http://www.motorsportforum.com/forums/images/icons/tongue-anim.gif


as I said to start, "its happened before"

this is a serious safety issue, thats why there is a pitroad speed limit :mad: there is no point having helmets on the crew members if they get hit going 100 MPH

the penalty Nascar enforces is bul****, tailend of the longest line for breaking 5 rules

and its not like a he was going 5MPH over, it was alot more than that.

once again this is just like Danica, just cause its Jr., I'm bitching, well guess what, It happened to Jr. and Nascar is too afraid to penalize, yet they throw the book on the underfunded teams. as Nick says, let someone die from this and then Nascar will take notice, thats what almost happened before nascar enforced the helmets on all Crewmembers and officials.

for all the saftey things Nascar tries to claim, how can they possible put peoples lives in danger in that situation, 99% of the time, it may be safe, but that 1% can be tragic for the Crew members, Nascar officials, anyone one pitroad.

[NickFalzone]

Stewart wasn't sure how Jr got away with it either. From ESPN:

"NASCAR initially penalized Earnhardt one lap for speeding past the safety workers, but rescinded it after further review. Stewart, who inherited the lead when Earnhardt wrecked and held it after the ensuing pit stops, was baffled by the non-call.


"Now how does that work?" he called.


No one was quite sure, but Earnhardt rallied to finish fifth."

[oldhippie]

sometimes it is better for a driver to be more lucky than good :p

[jeffmr2]

Great recovery and a testiment to the durability of the COT.
I'd love to know how fast he was going down pit road,i was expecting a lap penalty at least but there again it was nascars golden boy.

[tstran17_88]

IF it had been Mark Martin, nobody would be pizzing & moaning ...I disagree with that assertion. Not everyone is a MM fan and I can see a lot of the DE fans complaining.

It drives me batty when NASCAR arbitrary enforces a rule one week and not the next. I agree with Shrub and June Bug being sent to the tail end of the longest line because of pitting when pit road was closed…they were consistent there.

But up until the Coca-Cola 600, wasn’t speeding on pit road a drive through penalty?

[call_me_andrew]

Nascar really needs to end this tail end of the line BS and actually put laps on a guy doing this crap. they try and gain time for repairs, but rules are rules adn you can't break them.

I agree. When the penalty is no worse that the result without the penalty, it's not really a punishment.

I would just give the driver a $5,000 fine for the first speeding violation in a race, and then add an additional $5,000 to every violation after that.

[JovialJooles]

...
for all the saftey things Nascar tries to claim, how can they possible put peoples lives in danger in that situation, 99% of the time, it may be safe, but that 1% can be tragic for the Crew members, Nascar officials, anyone one pitroad.

NAscar only took safety seriously after Dale Earnhardt died. They did not get involved with any of the moves the other racing series were making to share information, eg F1 & IRL & Champcar were sharing info for quite some time and NASCAR refused to get involved.

Safety to NASCAR is about protecting your assets, not keeping people safe.

Therefore, as Dale Jr is their biggest asset, turning a blind eye to pit road speed limits and the safety of the people on pitlane is acceptable as it was to the benefit of their biggest asset and the 'show'. No-one got hurst, so don't do anything. It wasn't only pit road too, he was pelting round the track under caution, with a damaged car and safety crews on track...

Anyone else would have been penalised.

How many debris cautions have we seen over the last several years that saved Jr going a lap down? It became a running joke between me and my brother. As soon as Jr was the last car on the lead lap and the leader was approaching...Bingo.

I'm actually a big Jr fan, but the bias toward him is one of the things I don't like about NASCAR. It's not doing him any favours in the long run. But at least he is showing his true quality now he is with a decent team. :)

[nigelred5]

I agree. When the penalty is no worse that the result without the penalty, it's not really a punishment.

I would just give the driver a $5,000 fine for the first speeding violation in a race, and then add an additional $5,000 to every violation after that.

Do you really think Jr would blink at $5 grand? He'd speed every trip down the pitlane for a $5k token. Make it $50 K for such a blatant infraction and it might get someone's attention.


I agree with JJ. NASCAR only truly cares about safety when it hurts their bank account. i still believe the COT was more about equalizing the field as much as possible than about overall improvement of driver safety.

Does anyone believe their drivel that the local yokal EMT's stationed at some of the races are better equipped to handle the potential traumatic injuries that could occur at a race? I'm not trying to dog local volunteer EMT's, especially since I used to be one, but it's a large load of B.S. They simply don't want the primary liability exposure of a permanent travelling medical/ rescue team like the teams that the IRL has and CART was famous for. NASCAR should have been first in line trying to get their hands on the Champcar mobile trauma unit.

[ms0362]

They'll change the rules. They ALWAYS change the rules

[Galveston dunes]

Ok enough about the pit road deal.
How about when the Montoya stopped his car in front of a crash crew and two of them just stood there while Jaun slithered out of his car.Then niether went to his aid to check for flaming around the helmet or gloves.Just stood there.
I read the report that those particular members were for the driver not the car, which,by the way, was going better than some of my backyard bar b ques, but still not to come to his aid and drag him out of the car nor spray his suit with retardant.
The heck with pit speeds lets protect the drivers from danger as well as the pit crw workers.

[Saabaru]

All that happend was NASCAR got caught playing favorites with Jr. Maybe they should put chicanes at cach end of pit road. :rolleyes:

[harvick#1]

Ok enough about the pit road deal.
How about when the Montoya stopped his car in front of a crash crew and two of them just stood there while Jaun slithered out of his car.Then niether went to his aid to check for flaming around the helmet or gloves.Just stood there.
I read the report that those particular members were for the driver not the car, which,by the way, was going better than some of my backyard bar b ques, but still not to come to his aid and drag him out of the car nor spray his suit with retardant.
The heck with pit speeds lets protect the drivers from danger as well as the pit crw workers.


this is once again, Nascar penny saving and not hiring a full-time medical safety crew, the IRL has it and they are great, why Nascar has to have temps every week is insane.

[Galveston dunes]

I'm not defending anyone nor disagreeing with anyones comments just stating the defense written by NASCAR was the two people were for the drivers safty and not for the cars. a team of 5 showed up seconds after Jaun was free of the car and started to extinguish the fire.
My point is why not after examining Jaun, go to the car. It was a fire in the rear and could have caused sever problums at the point where Jaun chose to stop it.

[COYOTE14]

Safety in Nascar??? After watching a rerun of this years Vegas race & watching Tony Stewart & J eff Gordon's crash I have to agree with Ryan Newman about a "dedicated traveling safety team" to cover all Nascar events & would be able to meet the medical needs of all the drivers & pit crews.Newman said there are"educated people out there" who understand what drivers go through during a crash & who understand what drivers needs are immediately following the crash.{these quotes are from a interview from Scenedaily.com on 3/4/08.I have a E.M.S.background & was shocked the way the Vegas safety crew walked a limping & disoriented Tony Stewart to a passenger car....I don't buy that the ambulance could not drive up the banking...the wrecker did!! Even if the ambulance couldn't get up there they do have a gurney & backboard on the unit...Jeff's impact was Head On & Hugh!!...How many G-forces was it?? Did anyone @ the scene check his Hans device to see if it was cracked before they let him out of the car & let him walk away to a ambulance...OH YEA,THATS NASCAR SAFETY...You would NEVER see this type of care in Champ Car/Cart...I.R.L...A.L.M.S. They all have a 'dedicated traveling safety team" at all events.IT'S CALLED CONSISTENCY! Ask Alex Zanardi or Cristiano da Mata....IT WORKS!!!!..Thanks for letting me sound off

[tstran17_88]

You would NEVER see this type of care in Champ Car/Cart. They all have a 'dedicated traveling safety team" at all events.That's funny...they don't even have a series, yet they have a 'dedicated traveling safety team'. :laugh:

[COYOTE14]

My bad!!!...But I hope you get my point.......

[oldhippie]

I'm not defending anyone nor disagreeing with anyones comments just stating the defense written by NASCAR was the two people were for the drivers safty and not for the cars. a team of 5 showed up seconds after Jaun was free of the car and started to extinguish the fire.
My point is why not after examining Jaun, go to the car. It was a fire in the rear and could have caused sever problums at the point where Jaun chose to stop it.
the safety crew might have wanted to put montoya back in the car and let it burn ;)

heehaw