Post by Diamondback on Sept 7, 2007 15:17:46 GMT -6
A question that pops up from time to time, and one happened rather recently on teamspeak.
I don't remember who asked, but a discussion had arisen about pit road speeds, and why nascar has them.
Well, I found a little visual aid. Very brief, and no sound, but this is pretty much why.
It is the season finale at Atlanta in 1989. Elliott is pitting under caution, and all hell breaks loose on pit road. The only one that saw what was about to happen was Elliott himself, and all he had time to do was take the car out of gear so that it would roll away from the scene. (His words, via tv interview after retiring from the race.)
The car didn't appear, at least in this clip, to be heavily damaged. If you had seen the car after returning to the track, however, you would have noticed just how violent this accident was. The entire rear end was pushed over five or six inches to the drivers side.
As for the who and why... the driver of that yellow #5 was Ricky Rudd. He was, at the time a 10+ year veteran. The reason he lost control was because he missed his pit stall and stood on the brakes. (If you look very carefully at the beginning of the clip, you see Rudd's crew entering his stall as he approaches, and watch him slide by.)
This, however, was not the first such incident. Earlier that year, at the summer Talladega race (Tally used to host events in April and July. In the mid to late 90's that date was moved to October, and the fans, drivers, crews, and support personnel rejoiced. Ever been down south in the dead middle of summer?), two rookie drivers whose names I can't really remember had a similar run in. Injuries were rather minor compared to Elliott's incident in Atlanta. The cause, however, was the same. Came in too hot, missed his stall, and locked the brakes. (I want to say it was Stan Smith, but don't hold me to that.)
No, I'm not that smart that I can remember single races twenty years into the future. I've got both these races on vhs somewhere, and have had them since raceday. I'm a racing freak, and I was raised as such. Back in the day, when the schedule was a paltry 29 races long, guess what the family did on off weeks.
Yep. Plug in a tape!
I don't remember who asked, but a discussion had arisen about pit road speeds, and why nascar has them.
Well, I found a little visual aid. Very brief, and no sound, but this is pretty much why.
It is the season finale at Atlanta in 1989. Elliott is pitting under caution, and all hell breaks loose on pit road. The only one that saw what was about to happen was Elliott himself, and all he had time to do was take the car out of gear so that it would roll away from the scene. (His words, via tv interview after retiring from the race.)
The car didn't appear, at least in this clip, to be heavily damaged. If you had seen the car after returning to the track, however, you would have noticed just how violent this accident was. The entire rear end was pushed over five or six inches to the drivers side.
As for the who and why... the driver of that yellow #5 was Ricky Rudd. He was, at the time a 10+ year veteran. The reason he lost control was because he missed his pit stall and stood on the brakes. (If you look very carefully at the beginning of the clip, you see Rudd's crew entering his stall as he approaches, and watch him slide by.)
This, however, was not the first such incident. Earlier that year, at the summer Talladega race (Tally used to host events in April and July. In the mid to late 90's that date was moved to October, and the fans, drivers, crews, and support personnel rejoiced. Ever been down south in the dead middle of summer?), two rookie drivers whose names I can't really remember had a similar run in. Injuries were rather minor compared to Elliott's incident in Atlanta. The cause, however, was the same. Came in too hot, missed his stall, and locked the brakes. (I want to say it was Stan Smith, but don't hold me to that.)
No, I'm not that smart that I can remember single races twenty years into the future. I've got both these races on vhs somewhere, and have had them since raceday. I'm a racing freak, and I was raised as such. Back in the day, when the schedule was a paltry 29 races long, guess what the family did on off weeks.
Yep. Plug in a tape!