[heavenbound]

Originally Posted by yoopr

Hope this doesn't sound Morbid but if it wasn't for Dale's Death there might have been 2 drivers killed Sunday when they hit the wall.

No lie, cause David hit hard, very hard.

[Mr. Ford95]

Marlin's didn't look bad until you realized he was doing 190 mph when that car hooked dead right into the wall. He couldn't even prepare for it because he was nice and relaxed since he was going down the backstretch.

Been a few that have survived since 2001 yoop. Remember Jeff Gordon at Pocono last year?? The hit reminded me on Jerry Nadeau's career ending crash at Richmond. Martin last year at Lowes in the fall race, yeah he missed the SAFER wall but he still had the HANS on and a car that would crush easier than those circa 2001. Junior had that scary looking crash at California a few years ago where he bruised the heck out of his ankle. Kyle Petty at Bristol around the same time recorded the highest ever g-force(at the time it was the highest because the black boxes had just been installed on all cars.) Looked like a normal, back'er into the fence deal going into Turn 1. Recorded G's told different, 180 some odd G's and Petty said he felt it. He was sore for a few weeks after that one though it looked like a soft hit.

[yoopr]

They said that Reutimann had one of the hardest, if not the hardest hits, there have been.
Dale Sr. had a Angle hit on the Wall-Reutimann just flat out hit it square.
Combination of HANS and new walls saved his butt.

[thebaldeagle655]

Reutimann hit the wall with a G-Force equal to 17000 lbs. This information was from the seat manufacturer, sorry can't remember his name, on one of the Sirius channel reporters. Would have killed anyone without the equipment they run today. Dale Sr.'s unfortunate death has undoubtedly saved many lives in not only NASCAR but other forms of racing as well.

Now to the original question, ony time will tell just how good Jr. is. So far he has proven to be a high caliber driver but without equipment to keep him going he can not progress. Maye he does need to leave DEI and either go his own way or join up with Childress.



Could there be a "3" on the track again?

1. Richard Childress stated that the ONLY way he would allow the 3 car to be raced as a "3" would be with an Earnhardt driving it.

2. Jr. last year stated he would love to run the "3", BUT only after he had already won a championship elsewhere.

3. Robin Pemberton when asked stated that yes, the "3" number was the property of NASCAR and "could" be reassigned but that NASCAR officials had discussed this possibility, the "3" would NOT be retired, but not reissued to another team, RCR will be allowed to keep the number and use if if and when they feel like it.


SO ---- Maybe not next year but we may see Jr. in a 3 before long. Probably running around in the back with Kenny Schrader and Michael Waltrip

[Mr. Ford95]

Actually RCR still owns the rights to the number 3, another team would have to buy the rights to that number. Once Nascar issue's you a number, it's yours as long as you want it. They will not take it from you. This has been discussed many times about whether DEI would get the number. They would simply have to buy it from RCR who is unwillingly to give it up.

The Reutimann hit was actually less of an impact than Dale's, per NASCAR. They would not state what it was, but they said it was only half of Dale's. Either way, it was still a hard a$$ hit that hurt just watching it.

[Mr. Ford95]

bald, the seat was a Lajoie seat. Those are the safest known seats on the market.

Looking at side by side replays of Reut's and Dale's, Dale hit at a more deadly angle than Reut. Reut bounced off at more of a glancing blow, Dale just flat stopped dead, he never bounced off the wall with any type of glancing blow. Dale hit at the 11 o clock position which allowed the car to drive into the wall, Reut hit at just past 12 so the back end was swinging around which caused the brunt of the hit to be lessened since he was bouncing off the wall instead of driving into it. Anything between a 9 to 11 o clock hit on the wall will hurt worse or if you hit dead flat on the drivers side as your head has the potential to actually smakc the wall like Jerry Nadeau's did at Richmond. Ask Skinner when he broke his shoulder at Chicagoland after hitting at a 9 position. The lateral force was too great for his bones. Or Johnny Benson at Daytona who did the same when it looked like a slight nudge of the wall. At least Reut is safe and sound. Just have to keep getting safer, which the COT will do. Gets the driver's further inside the car to give them more crush zone on the drivers side. The cars will crash much like the Open Wheel cars do, they explode. Ward Burton found out at the Bristol test Wednesday. Didn't hit hard but the car was trashed way beyond repair.

[yoopr]

If I had a choice, and people don't have many choices when they Wreck, I'd much rather hit a angle shot at the wall then a head on shot.
The entire point was that after Dale's wreck the safer walls have saved lives.
Proof positive when Reutimann crashed

[Mr. Ford95]

Every wreck is different with different variables. Yes, the safety advances have saved a number of lives since 2001. The COT will further advance that even though a small wreck can end your day.

[yoopr]

What do you think of the COT? I only saw a small glimpse of them the other day and from what I heard the drivers saying about them they weren't too pleased with them.

When they were hooked up, which didn't seem to be often, they looked really fast.

[Mr. Ford95]

I like it, looks like the cars from the early 90's, for example, the cars you see in Days of Thunder only with a splitter like the Truck Series has and a wing like Honda's have. They are slightly wider than the current one's which will help with grip and downforce. Jr was quoted as saying the car felt great at Bristol. Said it gets into the corners real well, drives better than the current one's there. That is surprising since everyone kept saying the cars were nothing but a 4 wheel slide thru the corners on all the previous test tracks. Either they were playing peek a boo or they suddenly found the right setups.