Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
by the Frontstretch Staff
Racing Community Remembers Justin Wilson
~~~~~~~~~~
Stop Making Excuses: IndyCar Needs to Enclose the Cockpit
Sitting in the Stands: A Fan's View
by S.D. Grady
At first, it just looked like one of a half-dozen spins that filled the IndyCar weekend. Sage Karam's car broke loose exiting turn 1 at Pocono, hit the outside wall, and shattered. The rest of the cars sifted their way through the debris field. As the camera zoomed in on Karam's stationary vehicle, in the background Justin Wilson's rolled to a stop against the inside wall, traveling at what appeared to be a fairly slow speed. Yes, he hit the wall head-on, but it would be random indeed to have that impact cause serious injury. Both the cameras and the safety crews remained focused on Karam's car…until it was clear nothing was happening over at Wilson's. He hadn't radioed into his crew, removed his wheel or made any movement.
It took several minutes in the production booth and at home on our DVRs to figure out why Wilson might be seriously injured. Then, we found it—the nose cone that snapped off of Karam's ride during the initial impact with the outer wall managed to impact Wilson's helmet, then shoot back into the air. That's when his car turned left and rolled straight into the wall—it seemed clear nobody was piloting the machine.
No, Karam didn't make some rookie mistake. Plenty of other teams suffered the same sudden lack of control throughout the race. Wilson didn't fail to slow down; he was not at race speed when he entered the pile of pieces. Nobody did anything wrong. It was simply a racing deal that resulted in Wilson's death.
Wilson was not the first driver in the open-wheel series to suffer an impact to the head in the last few years. We all recall the horrific manner in which Dan Wheldon passed away, his head smashing into the support bars of the fencing at Las Vegas. So, then, why isn't the obvious safety measure being implemented in the IndyCar Series? Why isn't there an enclosed cockpit, or at least a deflection shield that could help protect drivers' heads against flying debris?
I've heard the arguments of maintaining tradition within the open-wheel series. Um. Tradition is not an acceptable stance when you are talking about somebody's life. Not buying that one. Besides, it's called an open-wheel car, not an open-cockpit car. Let's just dump that theory.
Others claim it would negatively affect the aero for the car. OK, since F1 and INDYCAR pretty much place speed and performance above everything else, there's something to discuss there. But, hey, haven't there been mandatory adjustments when it's clear the sanctioning body is willing to specify changes when they perceive there to be either a performance or safety problem in the design of the car? Shielding the brain of the pilot seems like it ought to be a higher priority than horsepower. Requiring a closed cockpit would simply be a new challenge to the engineers. The aero would change, but life would go on.
Finally, perhaps the most compelling argument against the closed cockpit is that it could hamper recovery efforts if the car comes to rest on its lid. Well, that's a fair concern. And then, well, just about every four-wheeled vehicle on this planet save for these high-octane speed demons sport an enclosed compartment. If it was such a safety problem to drive in a protected cockpit, wouldn't car manufacturers be selling a whole lot more convertibles than family sedans? Can't the comparatively light pod of an Indy car be moved fairly easily? Would the INDYCAR safety teams need new means to extricate a driver? Yes. Would Justin Wilson have suffered a lethal head wound on Sunday if even a simple Lexan shield had been in place? No. Before I'm buying this point of view, I want to see hard data and research that precludes the installation of some kind of canopy.
Sunday was one of those moments where a sport just has to look at what happened, what has happened in the past few years and think about solutions rather than obstacles. Would drivers be safer in an enclosed cockpit? If the answer starts with yes, then any qualifying arguments must be swept aside in the name of progress. It's time for INDYCAR to buckle down and make it happen. May Justin Wilson's death be the last caused by an impact by debris to the head. It just can't happen again.
Sonya's Scrapbook
Jeff Gordon and Juan Pablo Montoya Swap Rides
S.D. Grady is a Senior Editor for Frontstretch and runs a NASCAR blog called the S-Curves. She can be reached via email at sonya.grady@frontstretch.com. Follow her on Twitter at @laregna and on her Facebook page (she's an author, too!) at https://www.facebook.com/Author.SDGrady.
0
Laps led by Hendrick Motorsports all season at Bristol, including Saturday night. It's the first time the HMS organization has failed to lead a lap at Thunder Valley for both Cup races there since 1993.
1
Top-5 finish for Michael Waltrip Racing on an oval track this season. Clint Bowyer, third at Sonoma added a second top 5 to his resume with a fifth Saturday night.
1.9
Overnight rating for the Bristol Night Race, easily the lowest there in the history of NASCAR's national television contract. By comparison, the XFINITY Series race at Bristol (then called the Busch Series) matched that viewership level back in 2002.
2
Drivers who failed to finish Bristol due to a crash: David Ragan and Kyle Larson. There were only four DNFs overall in the Irwin Tools Night Race, far below average for even the new Bristol.
2
Top-10 finishes for Martin Truex, Jr. after going 14-for-15 in that category to start the season. He was a distant 28th at Bristol after a tire problem and getting involved in a wreck late in the race.
3
Joe Gibbs Racing cars to qualify in the top 3 at Bristol: polesitter Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, and Carl Edwards. All of them finished inside the top 8 in the 500-lap race.
4
Straight top-10 finishes for Carl Edwards, including a seventh place at Bristol. That's a season high.
7
Straight top-10 finishes for Brad Keselowski, including a sixth-place finish Saturday night. That's the longest active streak in the Cup Series.
10
Second-place finishes this season by point leader Kevin Harvick. If all of those were turned into victories that would equate to 30 additional bonus points for this year's Chase.
14
Lead changes Saturday night, seven fewer than we saw in the Spring 2015 race at Bristol.
37.5
Percentage of cautions at Bristol Saturday night that were caused by "debris."
192
Laps led by Kyle Busch Saturday night at Bristol to lead all Cup drivers. Busch has now led 501 laps in the last seven Cup races, more than any other driver ALL season not named Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, or Kurt Busch.
$97,275
Money won by part-time competitor Michael McDowell and Leavine Family Racing for running the full race at Bristol and finishing 31st.
$112,101
Money won by Matt Kenseth for blowing an engine at Bristol and running 42nd.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TODAY AT FRONTSTRETCH:
Who's Hot & Who's Not In NASCAR: Darlington Edition
by Jeff Wolfe
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Monday's Answer:
Q: The Camping World Truck Series makes their third visit to Canadian Tire Motorsports Park this weekend. The 2.459-mile road course is known to be very fast. After Ayrton Senna's fatal crash in 1994, fast road courses were temporarily neutered in the name of safety. How was the circuit changed in order to slow speeds?
A: A temporary tire chicane was setup between turns 3 and 4 to slow speeds prior to the downhill run to Moss Corner in 1995. The temporary chicane can be briefly seen in this review of the 1995 IMSA season here. Ultimately, it ended up only being there for a year.~~~~~~~~~~
COMING TOMORROW
Got something to say about an article you've seen in the newsletter? It's as easy as replying directly to this message or sending an email to editors@frontstretch.com. We'll take the best comments and publish them here!
©2015 Frontstretch.com
--
Feel free to forward this newsletter if you have any friends who loves
NASCAR and great NASCAR commentary. They can subscribe to the Frontstetch by visiting http://www.frontstretch.com/notice/9557/.
If you want to stop your Frontstretch Newsletter subscription, we're sorry
to see you go. Just send an email to
TheFrontstretch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com from the address that you
recieve the Frontstretch Newsletter.
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Frontstretch" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to thefrontstretch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
No comments:
Post a Comment