In a scene reminiscent of the worst movie in history, Carl Edwards was leading the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway when he was wrecked on the final lap just a few feet from the checkered flag. And when the cars came to a stop, Edwards climbed out of the No. 99 Claritin Ford Fusion and made a dash for the finish line on foot — just like Ricky Bobby did in “Talladega Nights.”
I think I am going to be sick after writing that but there just isn’t any other way to describe it. I absolutely hated that movie and to see it play out on live television was almost too much. Now, if Edwards had gone up and mouth-kissed race-winner Brad Kesolowski, I would have turned in my NASCAR credential and switched my fandom to water polo.
Seriously, the crash was horrific and resulted in injuries to seven fans seated along the front stretch.
And given the ride that he had just taken, Edward wasn’t lost for words in the post-race interview concerning his feelings about NASCAR and restrictor plate racing.
“NASCAR puts us in a box,” Edwards said. “We will race like this until they kill somebody, and then they will change it.”
Edwards words hadn’t even cleared his lips and the paramedics were already rushing to the scene to immediately assess those who were hurt.
Two people were flown to area hospitals but the most severe injury appeared to be a broken jaw.
As for NASCAR’s reaction and whether anything would be done to either slow the cars down or decrease the banking angle at the track, the answer is still up in the air.
A late-Monday press conference didn’t leave many in the NASCAR press corp. with a warm fuzzy feeling about the issue.
The following comment came from NASCAR Vice-president of Corporate Communications Jim Hunter: “In regards to Sunday’s late race incident at Talladega Superspeedway, it’s extremely unfortunate that a few fans suffered minor injuries. No one wants anyone to get hurt while attending one of our events and our thoughts are with each of the fans injured this weekend. Safety is, and always will be, NASCAR’s No. 1 priority, and we are glad that each of the safety devices at Talladega yesterday worked properly, including the roof flaps and the catch fence. As most of you know, we are constantly evaluating safety initiatives. It’s something we do every day we are at the racetrack, and it’s something we do every day at the R&D center.
“We tried letting the competitors police themselves when it comes to blocking and bump drafting. After reviewing all of those procedures, we might have to start making some judgment calls of our own and penalize, issue penalties for drivers who blatantly block and abuse the bump drafting. We are going to take whatever measures we need to in order to ensure the races are as safe as possible for everyone.”
So, what are we being told here? I am not really sure but it sounded like NASCAR was blaming the entire incident on a driver making a poor decision. And that may be the case but drivers make poor decisions at other tracks all of the time — they don’t result in a car ending up four-feet from clearing the inside catch fence and slamming into the crowd.
I admit Edwards and Kesolowski made mistakes but if NASCAR or International Speedway Corp. thinks that the track configuration and intense speed didn’t play a part in the No. 99 getting airborne, I am not buying it.
Here is what I know. It is called racing because you are trying to go faster than the other guy. Yes, there is an element of danger. Yes, people can get hurt — even die. But does that mean that every precaution in the world shouldn’t be taken to ensure the unthinkable doesn’t happen.
Had Edwards cleared the fence, this column would be totally different. I think the fact that Edwards didn’t end up in the stands is a testament to the safety measures that NASCAR has in place. I just hope they don’t sit back and say, “Hey, it worked. We don’t need to change anything.”
Even though Hunter proclaimed that all of the safety measures performed properly, we still had fans get injured. I saw a huge piece of metal get thrown into the stands. We were lucky. Several drivers have shared that same feeling. But just because we were lucky last week doesn’t mean we’re always going to dodge that bullet.
NASCAR, I implore you to assess the Talladega situation so that what Edwards said about people dying can be avoided.
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