Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

Let's all hope he makes a full recovery. Prayers to the family.  

Agree

"but the leader isn't one at a disadvantage"     That sums up how stupid this type of racing is.  I got home from work in time to watch the last 3 laps.  How dumb are we for tuning in to a race where we have to hear "Denny has to be careful not to get too big of a lead......."    What???  Why do they keep "racing" this way, and why do we keep watching it?   There should NEVER be a form of racing where the leader shouldn't be trying to get as big of a lead as possible with everyone else trying to catch back up........instead of waiting for aerodynamics to simply bring them back at a faster pace.   

It's stupid.  

Have they announced the extent or nature of his injuries yet?   All I've heard yet is that none of the injuries are life threatening.   That may or may not translate to Ryan being fine.   I obviously hope he will be, but we don't know that yet.

Correct.  They did not say "alert and talking with non-life threatening injuries" they said serious condition with non-life threatening injuries."  Hoping he is okay, but it can't be great.

On another note, I would like to comment on everyone who is trashing Denny Hamlin, FOX, Nascar, Joe Gibbs, etc for the front-stretch celebration and the victory lane celebration in wake of the crash.  If they canceled the victory lane celebration every time there were cars destroyed on the last lap of a restrictor plate race, there would never be a victory lane celebration.  People are just looking for something to bitch about.  Once it was revealed how serious it was, the mood changed in a hurry.  No need to point fingers at other human beings.  Drivers are numb to these types of wrecks because they see them 4 times per year and this is nothing new.  It is actually a glaring problem with these super speedway races if drivers don't even think twice about cars flying through the air, into the fence and bursting into flames.  It's obviously happening way too often.  

This kind of "racing" has been trash for a long time.  As mentioned above when the announcers say that the leader doesn't want to get too big of a lead, that is the definition of doing it wrong.  

Very fortunate that Newman will survive.  Hopefully no long term injuries for him.  The current batch of drivers have very few that have had to attend funerals for drivers killed in a race they were in.  As the cars have gotten so much safer, the lack of respect has turned into a bit of a gladiator mentality as seen in some of the guys that are routinely in the midst of these super speedway pileups. 

Cars are lots safer, but you can't just keep running a package that routinely causes 20 car pileups with cars bouncing & flipping every which way.  Recipe for disaster.  It also seems to me it has to be unsustainable from a financial perspective as the $ flowing into the sport continues to dwindle each year & that is before the current TV deal ends & what I am guessing will be a sizable drop in annual $ coming into the sport.  I'd hazard a guess there was at least a couple million $ worth of torn up stuff in the Speedweeks events (Clash, ARCA, trucks, Xfinity & the 500).  

Lol.

My son-in-law informed me that Joe Gibbs in a radio interview apologized for his team's celebration.  He stated his team was not aware of the severity of the accident, nor were they aware Ryan Newman had not been extricated from the car.  The crash was severe, the time delay in removing him from the car, the AP reports of a "caved in" roll cage, and the slow release of information led to excessive speculation.  Had NASCAR "toned: down the victory lane festivities, the speculation would have been greater.  I am still concerned over the lack of information. 

I stopped watching it a couple years ago completely and just watch highlights now. My news feed lit up wiht Pray for Ryan Newman which is the only reason how I saw it. Prior to this race many years ago I knew this was a gimmick race. It is the prototyical race that every Nascar and some race fans say that they like. Plenty of passing, lead changes, and for all of the fans that like brutality a big wreck.

I remember back to the 90's when drivers complained about plate racing but it seemed to be a lot safer back then. You had cars that separated from the pack & if you got out of line you got sent to the back. Then 2000 happened when I believe Dale Jarrett won the 500 leading an insane amount of laps after they made changes to the car. Earnhardt complained about the cars saying it was the worst racing ever in Nascar. They changed the cars again and the next races had 20-30+ lead changes and the fans went crazy. They changed again mid 2000 to where cars separated again to make it more competitive but then the fans went up in arms saying we want the lead changes, we want 20-50 lead changes a race amoung 30 people. While they were saying this and the changes were being made the ratings continued to go down when Nascar did what the "fans" were asking for. Kind of the classic example of the fans/customer is not always right.

To bring it around in a sprint car world, think about all the discussions and crying has gone one about race formats and inverts, specifically the Outlaw format. People say starting fast cars upfront is boring, no passing, blah blah blah wahh wahh wahh we want passing (even though there is) we want the whole field inverted. But you actually have competitive racing and challenges for position. Yeah the heat races are boring at times but they have been boring at times for 15+ years. Go to the opposite side of the spectrum which is Nascar Daytona & Talledega where you have all the passing in the world and the lead changes hands maybe 3 times on the final lap.

Anyone that says they should slow down the cars in any form of racing , should just stop watching racing. There isn't one driver out there that doesn't know the consequences of racing.

that being said, i do think the plate racing makes the last 10 laps super exciting.

but also like mentioned above several times, i also think it's dumb that the leader makes sure he doesn't get to far ahead of the pack.(yes i understand why they do it ) but it seems like the opposite of what racing is.

Nascar pack racing at the superspeedways would be like if Knoxville decided to start 50 cars in the A main.  A needless recipe for disaster.  Wrecks happen often enough as is.  No point in continually putting guys in positions where they have to race like madmen to be in position to win & then have no escape route if something goes wrong.  

If Nascar brass has any sense (which seems unlikely given how they have cratered the sport), they go to Talladega with a drastically different approach to racing at these 2 tracks.  

Egras - "how dumb are we for tuning in to a race....". I agree with what you said. However.....

The bottom line for NASCAR is the mighty dollar. When was the last time you heard any NASCAR announcer say that a race was sold out? The 500 was, and I believe I saw the TV ratings were way up (at least for Sunday).

Sorry friends - I don't think anything is going to change. NASCAR will start pounding their chest (probably in a day or two when we know more about Newman's condition) about how safe the cars and tracks are and probably is still counting their $ from Speeweeks.

Who else went to bed last night with a sick feeling in their stomach and slept like shit because they were checking their phone every five minutes hoping for good news?

I did stay up checking my phone 

I don't even think if they slow the cars down it would help with the safety. With the current package the leader has to block & the people behind him basically have to move them out of the way. Even slowing the cars down to say 180mph if he gets turned around he still flips, a car still hits him at full speed on the cockpit. The whole purpose of plate/spacer racing was to slow the cars down and make it safer but they have figured out a way to make it more dangerous. At this point with the safety innovation to the frames & walls the drivers would probably be better off a full speed at 220+mph hitting and hitting a wall versus getting turned in a pack and then getting hit by multiple cars going 190 upside down.

Tell me about "double overtime" in a race. Were they tied at 200 laps and then tied again after 10 more laps????

I mean, that's pretty amazing in this day of transponders and technology - to be tied right down to the thousandth, or maybe ten thousandth,  of a second  - not once, but twice.

;)

I haven't watched NASCAR in years.  I don't like the "stages" and the "playoffs." Race fans don't want that crap.  We watch racing for the actual racing, right? That's why we are sprint car and midget fans. The plate racing at Daytona and Talladega is a bad joke and, as previously mentioned, is going to get someone needlessly killed. Racing is dangerous enough without deliberately having the cars bunched up at those speeds. It's like NASCAR is actually banking on these wrecks (I think they are). Back in the old days the cars strung out a lot more and, to be perfectly honest, the races on these tracks were quite boring with only a few cars in the hunt. Heck, there were races where drivers would lap the field. Still, that's what racing can be sometimes. If you look at when Daytona and NASCAR really took off, it was because of that wreck and fight between Allison and Yarborough. I think NASCAR took the wrong lesson from that. Since then we've seen a steady decline toward gimmicks and showmanship rather than actual racing.

In my opinion, they need to "dirty" up the cars so that they spread out more. It might take away some of the action (read wrecks) and passing, but it would be real racing again.

I really like Ryan Newman and worry about his condition. Non-life threatening doesn't really make me feel real good. I mean, Sam Schmidt had non life threatening injuries as did Kevin Swindell, Brad Doty and Jan Opperman. That was a nasty hit that was too much like Bryan Clausen's wreck for my tastes.

What are they reaching for speeds today. I remeber Bill Elliot going 212 and then they made rules to prevent that.

Tracks are too long . I went to Pocono years ago and only watch 30% of the race but never left my seat. Whats the point of a mile and a hlaf racing past trees instead of bleachers.

Even though I may not know you, I 
care what most of you think!

I'm looking past what they have said and weighing it against what they're doing.  A photographer I know was in contact with some friends working the race and was told they chased the photographers away from the scene and put up barriers so nobody could watch from the stands.  A reporter who spent the night at Halifax said that they have been calling family in.  Those actions suggest that though not life threatening the injuries could be life changing.  Things like closed head injury and paralysis come to mind so until I hear an actual diagnosis and prospects for recovery I will take a wait and see approach.  Hopefully all these things were precautions and my reservations will prove to be wrong.

Stan Meissner

Ties have nothing to do with the "overtime".  A few years ago, NASCAR made the decision the fans wanted to have the race end with the cars racing and not end under caution. 

I wish a more comprehensive update would be released.  As with you, the silence is leading to thoughts of "are the injuries ______?.  How serious is serious ?   Is he ______?  

Stan, with all due respect, please let's not speculate right now.

Twitter was full of speculative tweets last night, and some were downright classless. Speculation helps no one.

I'm sure I speak for all us in saying Ryan and his family remain in our thoughts and prayers. God is good.