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Another spectator view has popped up. Hope to see more soon.
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Ryan Newman just thinks he knows it all. If he's so smart then why did he go to Purdue

Purdue is a great engineering school.

No joke.

I'm sure we'll see many more. Just about anyone who had a camera there will eventually put their footage on youtube.

I'm going to throw this out there and maybe its the quickest solution to the problem. When cars spin around, the roof flaps deploy perpendicular to the relative wind, creating a shit ton of drag, slowing the car down. If my understanding of aerodynamics is correct however, this will also create a higher center of pressure on the car which still leaves the car susceptible to increasing its angle of attack and still giving it the chance expose the bottom of the car to the relative wind. What if they eliminated this buildup of pressure on the top of the car by allowing the roof flaps extend past 90 degrees, maybe 100 or 110 so not only would you get the drag, but also the addition of extensive downforce on the car. Its a simple fix that would surely be more effective than the current flap.

Not only would this work for blowover situations but if possible, it may help reduce weight shift flips as well. Adding an extra flap that will extend past 90 degrees and opens opposite the existing flaps when the car spins to the right could keep the car from rolling over. I drew up something on paint to to explain it better.



Whatta ya guys think?

My Take...

I just finished watching the ESPN broadcast of Kenseth's wreck, from Saturday's Nationwide race. I spent my weekend in Toronto for a photography conference, but my family taped the cup race for me that I watched today.

My biggest worry with the entire weekend is actually ESPN's handling of the Nationwide wreck down the backstretch. The version I saw (MATZELL...thanks bud!) shows a quick cut to Katie Kenseth the second the car comes to a stop. What the fuck? The following part will be repeated throughout this study of this weekends racing events. Motorsport is a inherently dangerous sport, and the possibilty of injury due to the nature of the sports competition is known by all involved, fans, competitors, teams, track and television staff. It is often put on signs throughout race tracks (I have never been to a US NASCAR sanctioned race track, but have been at my fair share of racing events, and they are plastered there. Why does a television station like ESPN cut to the wife of a driver who just tumbled reasonably innocently down the backstretch? The pain felt by Katie Kenseth in moments like that are not something that the public needs to see, and the judgement to cut to her in such an innocent looking, probably not feeling, but an obviously mild wreck due to the solidity of the car. I think ESPN should be ashamed for the way that accident was handled. That should have been a zoom in on the window, show the moment that Kenseth will jump out of that window, and wave to the fans. That's all thats needed.

Now, Carl Edwards......

First off, what a finish . That was insane. My first reaction was immediately for the safety of Edwards. Once I saw him moving, my thoughts were in the stands, but the commentators said nothing went into stands, and the peices that made it thru, looked quit small, but obviously that isn't so. I feel that that is another instance of all parties knowing the risks. Fans are warned, there are rules for the fence area. Edwards knows the risks when he steps into his car, and while deep down inside most of these guys they hate it, they know its part of the cash cow for the networks. Unfortunately, I that we have seen the beginning of the end of today's version of restrictor plate racing. This is going to be analyzed to the nines, and that is not good for the survival of todays plate racing. I see within the next five seasons, either a brand new type of car or engine package for those tracks, or the abolition of the three of the four events. The Daytona 500 is the crown jewel of NASCAR, so they will forever find a way to race there, but wholesale changes, or not racing at the three other events anymore.

Oh and the yellow line rule to me is one of the worst in NASCAR. Not for the wreck today, but for the decision on the Regan/Stewart finish. Racing is a race to the finish line. What happens when a wreck blocks the track from wall to yellow line? Is the winner going to be the first dude to run across the finish line, or the guy who has to win under the yellow line? The last lap at any track should be free game...PERIOD!!!

Just my two cents

That looks pretty logical to me. I think something like that definitely would have helped in the Kenseth flip.

Totally agree with the way espn handled kenseth's flip. I thought it was disgusting the way they immediately cut to Katie and she had to wave the camera away... felt bad for her

I think one of the biggest problem was that only one roofflap deployed, the other one deployed when he was in the air and then it was too late already



You'd expect the other one to deploy right here





Also, this guy lol


WOO FLYING CARS AND DEBRIS WOO

The problem was that Newman hit Edwards and basically put the car in mid air in a way that no roofflaps in the world would have helped, otherwise he only would have lifted off a few inches. A freak occurance really, the roofflaps DID their job.

While I think the plates enhance the chance for this kind of accident, I think that it would be a mistake to *100%* blame the plates *for* the accident. The only thing that the plates do is decrease the distance between cars (hence increasing the bumping and grinding, etc.)

Without plates, the drivers have more wiggle room to prevent these kind of accidents. But flips into the fence have happened in the past even without restrictor plates, yellow line rules, aerodynamics, and much slower speeds. It's a relatively rare type of accident, but it happens.

I too am seeing some over-reaction around the news sites. This is racing: you will not 100% eliminate the chance of cars getting airborne. That's why we have safety devices. And in this case it worked: the catch fence appeared to do its job here.

Sure, if there is a way to improve catch-fence design to help reduce the risk of flying debris going into the stands, that perhaps might be worth exploring. Any aerodynamic options to help reduce the chance of these type of accidents might be worth exploring.

But comparisons to Le Mans 1955 are ridiculous. (Remember, there was no catch fence at Le Mans in 1955. If there *had* been a catch fence at Le Mans in 1955, I speculate that there would not have been a Le Mans 1955 disaster.)

I don't care if Ryan Newman went to Purdue or not, he still has a dick attitude.

I don't think it would have helped in Kenseth's flip at all. Kenseth flipped due to weight transfer. No extra roof flap could ever counter that amount of weight being transfered in that small amount of time.

No, no roof flap could have helped. But the cars run 58% left side weight. When the cars snap back to the right like Kenseth's did there's all ready an increased amount of weight on the left side of the car so the transfer of weight with regard to direction is just that much more severe. Perhaps making them run 50/50 weight distribution left to right would lessen the chance of a flip like Kenseth's happening.

Nothing would have helped Carl. Once he was around sideways it became just one of them racing deals. The roof flaps did their job. The car was coming back down when Newman drilled him. There's nothing that could've been done to prevent what happened after that.

Funny how a lot of people failed to see this...


by the way, I found this article and I agree with him.....

It's funny that most of the races this season sucked, and then Dega comes around and it's "HOLY FUCKING SHIT BEST RACE EVER!!!!," or at least of the season so far, and many still find a way to bitch about how safety standards are sub-par yet they did what they supposed to do.

I mean, the worst injury suffered is a fucking broken jaw. It's bad, granted, because you wouldn't be able to speak for at least a week (of course, depending on the severity of the injury), but it's not like getting a gouged eye, having a arm/leg amputated, or even worse, death.

I mean, there are disclaimers telling fans to watch out for flying stuff at ANY sporting event.

I think the roof flap not coming up is something they need to seriously look at, if it had the car probably would have never got off the ground, and it's not an unusual occurence. I can remember several times where a car has spun and that side flap hasn't deployed. I have always wondered if running more weight would make the cars less susceptible to getting airborne in a situation like that, though you'd have to deal with the added stress on the tires, but at Talladega it might not hurt the tires that much.

Kenseth's deal is tough to combat, running even weight would probably help, running stiffer left side springs would probably help, but it might make the cars too much of a handful to drive to justify it.

I think the catchfence and seating needs to be looked at as well, maybe extend the catchfencing up a little bit and put a bigger overhang on it. As far as removing the first few rows, you would have to go pretty high, probably row 20, to have avoided being hit by debris in that wreck. There were a couple pieces that shot out like a bullet towards the higher rows. Given that I think if you put a secondary fence between the grandstands and the catchfence, it would probably catch anything that wasn't held back by the first fence. You might even be able to do something similar to whats done at hockey rinks with the glass in front of the spectators, but use the same Lexan material they use for the windshields so that you would have a clear view and no chance of something slipping through a hole, assuming that wouldn't be too expensive.

All that said, I think all the safety measures did their job but I think there are improvements that can be made so that NASCAR doesn't have to neuter the racing.

Yeah but we've also seen many times in the roof flap era, a car turn around, both flaps deploy, and the car still go in the air and sometimes go completely over. To think you can cure this 100% is completely dumb. Look at Lopez's accident at California Speedway a few years ago in the West Series. Did anyone ever imagine someone going up and over at that spot at that track? I know I didn't.


To the people that are calling for slower speeds, pushing back grandstands, lowering banking, different plates, chicanes (most retarded idea ever Chad)...... it was an accident and get this.... accidents happen

Everyone bitches when Jr. leads the field around single file lap after lap after lap, wanting some action. Well you got it so why are you complaining? This sport will always be dangerous, live with it and have fun. If you don't want to go to a track because you think it's dangerous... give me your ticket and I'll go with a smile on my face.

The only thing I agree with is maybe moving back the seats. I think the fans sit too close to most of the tracks anyways. Not only for safety concerns but seriously, I've sat in row 6 at some tracks and you can't see a damn thing.

All this other bullshit people are spewing about slowing down the cars and chicanes and raising the fence is ridiculous. Did any debris actually go OVER the catch fence? I thought it all went THROUGH the hole ripped in the chain link by Carl's car. And I got news for anybody out there who thinks Dega's fence needs work. The ONLY reason no one was killed in the grandstand is because that fence is built the way it is. Double posts, cross cables, etc. It's designed to bend and absorb the impact of the car so it doesn't completely collapse and let the car go through. Daytona has the same fence. Other than Indianapolis, the two plate tracks probably have the strongest catch fences of all the NASCAR tracks.

Does anyone out there remember the truck wreck at Daytona with a guy named Geoff Bodine? Arguably an even more direct shot into the fence and the fence did it's job then too. Bodine wound up on fire back on the race track instead of in the 12th row. That wreck sent 13 people to the hospital and this amount of bitching didn't happen.

Exactly. I hate all this "we have to do something now" crap. Take a look at the article posted above....



I completely agree with this.