What A Race Finish
Community
The Coke Zero 400 at Daytona just finished. What a crazy wreck! Amazing no one was killed.
I'm running 2nd in my Fantasy League. I picked Jr. to win this weekend. That was a bad crash for sure. Wish they would change the rules for Daytona so they do not have such big crashes at the end. I do not like bump drafting either.
The problem is that talladaga and Daytona are built for high speed. When Bill Elliott went 212 mph at talledaga they knew they had to slow them down before drivers died. Most of the drivers like plate racing because it levels the playing field.
Before he retired, NASCAR let Rusty Wallace run Talladega with no restrictor plate. He turned 242 MPH. 43 cars, inches apart, couldn't help but kill someone.
At that speed G forces on turns start doing things to your body. At 240 you risk momentary brain issues like "grey out" from insufficient blood flow. With all those cars inches away from each other that's a disaster waiting to happen. I remember that issue being brought up with Indy cars at that speed. I dont know how many Gs Austin Dillion hit when he wrecked but the body can only handle so much even with all the restraints.
I'll bet every driver that has ever won the Daytona 500 restictor plate race likes it. They might say they don't like it but they know if they didn't have them a lot more people would be killed. Another 10 mph might have put #3 right in the crowd. Earnhardt loved those races. Jr said his dad said those are the races we should always win. The average driver has a chance to win those races like Trevor Baine did. Last night Kyle Petty said that this was why so many of the drivers like Daytona and talledaga because anyone can win. A lot of strategy in those races.
The restrictor plate is not the only way to limit speed. It was used because the Fords of Bill Elliot, Davey Allison, and a few others were dominating everyone. The Ford head breathed better than the Chevy, so instead of mandating a rear-end gear like ASA did, they used a restrictor plate. NASCAR has a long history of picking GM winners. They have been doing it since the 60's.
Shuteye is right about Rusty Wallace running 242 at Talladega. Kicker is, he wasn't anywhere close to top speed. They made him shut it down because they were at the limit of the car's engineering to protect him in the case of a crash.
I watched them talking to him about it and he said he wasn't sure exactly how fast he could have went, but at that point they stopped him, he still wasn't pushing the limit.
The Indy car thing and G forces was related to Texas Motor Speedway. The indy cars could run so fast on that track that the g-forces exceeded the bodies ability to handle it and the drivers started blacking out. Guys would crash for no apparent reason and have no idea what happened. Someone finally put pen to paper and figured out what was going on. It wasn't an immediate thing. It was something that would wear on a drivers body till it would finally black out.
I've never heard of anything related to NASCAR, g-forces and blacking out.
Drivers may like restrictor plate racing now, but they hated it in the beginning! Back in the beginning of restrictor plates, they blew tons of motors. The drivers never knew if they were going to finish the race or not. The plate restricts air flow, and starves the motor making it run hotter than normal. Guys blew motors all the time in the plate races back then! Naturally, they've figured it out over the years and you don't see it much anymore.
Rusty Wallace gave me a Rusty Wallace pen knife. Any driver that wanted to test at Dover International Speedway had to get permission from my daughter. She knew all the drivers and I was a Rusty fan back then. He had a lot to do with the track being paved in Cement and was in on a lot of the design and testing.
Wow, that's cool Lex.
I have a good high school friend who worked for Rousch and was on Mark Martin's pit crew for several years. He was a very smart guy and Jack Rousch offered to pay for his college if he would go get his engineering degree. He already had two small kids at the time so he passed on the offer.
Last I talked to him, he had taken a job with Penske and given up being on a pit crew. Just too much time away from home.
At the time, the 25 acres next to his house was owned by Dale, Jr.
Its always fun to sit with him and listen to his stories. Don't get to see him much anymore. I think his parents moved closer to them, so he doesn't have a reason to come back here anymore.
It was funny to me he was on a pit crew. In high school he was a very laid back guy and never got upset or in a hurry. His nickname was "Sammy" cause he had blonde hair and wore it like Sammy Hagar at the time. LOL
I think they should govern the cars to 50mph and only allow people to watch on TV or from 1/4 mile with Binoculars....;^)
Literally everything is now offensive or dangerous. All the things. Even that thing you're thinking right now. Stop it.....
Don't slow em down too much. Dover is banked so hard you will roll down the track on the turns.
