• Give A Gift
Jerry Markland

How’s this for a true tale of absurdity?

The emails start flowing in from the trackside photography services each year at the same time—just after practice starts for the Daytona 500. Emails with subject lines like “3-car pileup,” “A bunch of torn up cars,” and other cringe-worthy titles stacking like 3-megabyte bricks in my inbox. And the barrage keeps coming.

Next, it’s a burst of emails with crash shots attached from NASCAR Camping World Truck action, more from a NASCAR Sprint Cup session, a bunch during the Sprint Cup Unlimited and more again from the truck race on Friday night. And then we had Saturday’s DRIVE4COPD 300 NASCAR Nationwide race that sent Kyle Larson’s car cleaving through the protective catch fence on approach to the checkered flag. 28 fans were strafed with shrapnel mostly from Larson’s car and, if we’re fortunate, everyone will fully recover from their injuries.

Those photos came in soon after the crash with subjects of “insanity,” “INSANITY 2,” “INSANITY 3,” and so forth, with depictions of tattered steel cabling, destroyed cars and mayhem in the grandstands. In the days since the crash, what we’re left with is an aftermath that does indeed fit the definition of insanity.

As long as the risk of death and injury isn’t visited upon the audience sitting trackside, watching stock car drivers tumble through the air—and often along the very same fencing that partially stopped Larson’s car, has become a routine part of the show.

Let’s give that a moment to breathe.


Unless some fundamental changes are made to the sport, you can go ahead and put it on your calendar for next year, too. Without addressing the madness of that reality, NASCAR’s seasonal debut at Daytona will continue to carry the risk that a 3,800-pound car might hurl itself at the race series’ spectators.



That driver, Regan Smith, turned himself across the hood of a competitor, triggering the melee that dominated the news cycle. “My fault, I threw a block,” said a rather contrite Smith. “I’ll take full blame for it. But when you can see the checkered flag at Daytona, you’re going to throw a block and you’re going to do everything you can to be the first car back to the stripe.” Smith, who admitted he was at fault and his move was intentional, went unpunished.

I’ll also let that one marinate for a moment or two.



Let’s look at it another way. If a driver can admit to making a dangerous move that sent 28 people to the hospital and the track’s medical center, and it doesn’t even warrant a slap on the wrist, what would be considered a punishable offense?


There are also things that can be done to the cars themselves to reduce bumper-to-bumper racing on the big ovals. Whether it’s a Handford-style device like the one used in CART that allowed slingshot passes while making it nearly impossible to ride in car’s wake, or a new solution that prevents the Daytona 500 from looking like the vehicular equivalent of an overcrowded Japanese subway, breaking up pack racing is long overdue.



Maybe it’s because the cars are far more exposed, but most IndyCar drivers have altered their outlook on the big ovals, and will now give up a corner in the name of safety and prolonged lives. That’s a sane culture change, and one that had been missing prior to Las Vegas.


NASCAR has the clout to commission and fund a study into creating next-generation safety barriers. And if it wants to, it can also make changes to its cars to cease pack racing. It can rein in its drivers to make sure the next time someone wants to pull a Regan Smith maneuver, they’ll know long before they turn the steering wheel that dire consequences await.



This Is A Developing Story

Related Stories

2 of 200
200 images