Sports

Head over wheels

Drivers reveal what's racing through their minds as their cars fly apart during those highlight-reel crashes.

By JOANNE KORTH
Published February 11, 2005

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DAYTONA BEACH - As his 3,400-pound race car lifted into the air like a feather in the wind, driver Ryan Newman distinctly heard the plastic nose piece scrape the ground.

Funny, the things you remember.

A collision with the outside wall during the 2003 Daytona 500 rendered his 750-horsepower engine broken and eerily silent. With Newman along for the ride, the No. 12 Dodge spun down the banking, danced vertically on its nose, slammed onto its wheels, did a half-turn and half-pivot before barrel rolling three times.

Parts spewed.

Grass divots flew.

Sheet metal ripped.

The car came to rest upside down, a mangled heap. Newman removed a large piece of sod from his lap, unbuckled his safety harness, dropped onto his head and twisted through the window opening. Walking to the ambulance, he waved to the crowd to signal he was okay.

"The wreck was scarier for me afterward when I watched what I actually went through," Newman said. "The wreck was much scarier than I had thought it was."

As NASCAR's Nextel Cup series returns to Daytona International Speedway to begin the 2005 season - Saturday marks the start of preparation for the Feb. 20 Daytona 500 - conditions will be ripe for the startling multi-car pileup known as the Big One. Anyone who has driven in NASCAR long enough knows what it's like to be strapped into a stock car while it flips, rolls and hurtles at nearly 200 mph.

To saddle a tornado.

"Being involved in a crash at Daytona or Talladega is like going to Disney World or Six Flags and going on a roller-coaster ride," Newman said. "But on this roller coaster you go every which direction - up, down, left, right - all at the same time. And you have no control over it. You can't see where the track leads because there is no track."

* * *

Many of NASCAR's most spectacular-looking crashes occur on the high-banked sister tracks of Daytona and Talladega, wide-open superspeedways where speeds are held below 200 mph by power-sapping restrictor plates, causing cars to travel in large packs mere inches apart.

Daytona is 2.5 miles long with 31 degree banking, nearly as steep as the roof on a house. Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama is 2.66 miles - the circuit's longest oval - with 33 degree banking, a layout that allows cars to ride three abreast all the way around. At either track, a nudge is all it takes to trigger pandemonium.

Like the final lap of the 2001 Talladega race, when Bobby Labonte went from challenging for the win to skidding down the backstretch on his roof. Or the 1991 Pepsi 400 at Daytona in which Darrell Waltrip barrel-rolled 11 times. Or the 1996 Talladega race in which Ricky Craven's car nearly tumbled over the catch fence into a field.

"I learned that when it gets really quiet, brace for impact," Craven said.

Drivers who remain conscious while their cars corkscrew describe similar experiences. When a car is airborne, it gets strangely quiet and things seem to happen in slow motion. Impact is like hitting a fast-forward button. Drivers grip the bottom of the steering wheel, put their heads down and wait for it to end.

"Normally, a wreck is over before you can react or even understand it," Craven said. "The exception to that, and I remember this clearly, was when I wrecked at Talladega. I actually flipped over and hit the wall and went over the top of Mark Martin's hood. I hit hard and thought, "Wow, that hurt, but at least it's over.' What I didn't realize was that I was in the air and it was actually the early stages of the wreck.

"It seemed to last an eternity. Talladega was like strapping into a roller coaster and thinking, "Wow, this is not as much fun as I thought, but it won't last much longer.' And it keeps going and you think, "It's got to be over soon.' "

* * *

Among the scariest crashes in recent years was the ride Elliott Sadler took at Talladega in 2003. Airborne for two seconds - it's longer than it sounds - Sadler's No. 38 Ford flipped in the air and landed on its roof. It skidded upside down through the infield grass before barrel rolling five times up and back down the Turn 1 banking.

"All of a sudden it just gets real quiet and I'm looking at the dirt and the asphalt," Sadler said. "The whole pirouette or whatever was so much slow motion the whole time. Then when I started hitting, everything sped up. I never got knocked out the whole time. I remember every bump and every bruise, and I'm sitting there telling myself the whole time: "Don't get knocked out. Try to remember what's going on.' "

Inside a race car, drivers are trained to process even the smallest bit of information. After all, this is a sport in which adding a half-pound of air pressure to the left front tire can make the difference between a winning setup and something that steers like a cement mixer.

So, whereas someone in a passenger car might not remember the small details of an accident, racers are keenly aware of their surroundings at all times, even in midair.

Newman can give an amazingly detailed account of his wild ride one-fourth of the way into the 2003 Daytona 500, right down to the split-second decision he made to keep his foot on the gas pedal as he veered toward the wall. Hit in the right rear quarter panel, Newman feared taking his foot off the gas would allow the car to spin and hit the wall on the driver's side, the most dangerous scenario for injury.

"I actually drove the car into the wall without ever lifting, drove the car into the wall wide open, knowing I was going to hit it," Newman said. "But I wanted to hit it with the right side. As it started to spin down and head for the grass I felt the car pick up and catch air and I said, "Oh, we're going over.' "

The car moonwalked on its nose for about two seconds.

"The only thing I could hear at that point was the front valance, which is plastic, dragging across the grass and the wind coming around me," Newman said. "That's all you could hear."

From the time Newman's car left the ground to the time it finally came to rest, nearly 10 seconds passed.

* * *

Though horrific looking, crashes in which cars tumble and tear apart are safer than a sudden impact. The crash that killed Dale Earnhardt Sr. at the 2001 Daytona 500 did not look as bad as the time he tumbled at Talladega in 1996, but at Daytona the force of Earnhardt's front-end impact with the wall was absorbed all at once.

When a car flips, energy dissipates a little at a time. At Talladega, Earnhardt walked away under his own power, though clutching his shoulder, as did Sadler in 2003.

"It seemed like every time the car would hit and I'd flip again, you'd run a mental checklist," Sadler said. " "Okay, I'm still here. I still know what's going on. I can still feel everything in my body.' When the car finished, I was hurting pretty good. I had a headache and I was just sore feeling, so when the (safety workers) got there I was like, "Just give me a second to get my bearings.' "

In recent years, several safety innovations have made drivers more secure. Form-fitting seats, six-point harnesses and head-and-neck restraints combine to create a cocoon. But years ago, drivers were more vulnerable. Ricky Rudd and Darrell Waltrip both lost consciousness during spectacular crashes at Daytona more than 15 years ago.

In the 1984 Busch Clash, an all-star event, Rudd's car was headed for the inside wall when it went airborne. He remembers being glad the car hopped over the wall - until it landed.

"It almost reminds me of the game tape in the NFL when you hear way too much stuff," Rudd said. "I remember getting hit and it was like listening to a recording of somebody else getting hit on those game tapes and hearing your breath go, "Uhhhh.' I remember that. But that was the last thing I remember. Then it was lights out."

In the 1991 Pepsi 400, Waltrip was unconscious for most of a wreck in which his car barrel-rolled 11 times. Just before his car left the track, he radioed crew chief Jeff Hammond with a simple message: "I'm in big trouble."

"The thing starts off the track and I feel it go airborne and that's really the last thing I remembered," said Waltrip, a retired three-time champion who will call this year's race as a member of the Fox broadcast team.

"Even if it doesn't knock you out, it just stuns you to the point where you just bam-ba-bam-ba-bam-ba-bam-ba-bam-ba-bam-bam-bam-boom-bam and you say, "Oh, I'm upside down.' And you're done and sitting there thinking, "If I can get out of this damn thing I'll get my backup car and try it again.' "

No one is immune from the perils of Daytona. In the 1988 Daytona 500, Richard "The King" Petty was involved in a harrowing crash that caused him to briefly lose his eyesight. Petty's car lifted off the ground rear end first, did a half flip, slammed onto its roof and began tumbling. It rolled four times with its back end on the trioval retaining wall and flipped a fifth time. Petty was then hit by Brett Bodine, sending him spinning for four complete revolutions.

"The next thing I remember was this guy stuck his head in the window and says, "How you doing?' " Petty said. "But I went blind. My eyes were open, but I couldn't see anything. I said, "I'm all right, but I can't see anything.' He said, "Don't worry about it. It'll come back in three or four minutes.' It was all from centripetal force."

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Even in the most dire circumstances, racers keep their cool. Labonte, while skidding on his roof down the Talladega backstretch in 2001, had the wherewithal to hit a fire-extinguisher button to put out a fire under the hood, which, at the time, was actually above the hood.

"It was like slow motion, "Oh, yeah, I need to do this,' " Labonte said. "They're talking on the radio and you can barely hear them by now. It all comes to a stop and is pretty much a slow-motion process. You might end up being more calm during the crash than prior to it or right after it, possibly."

In 2000, Rudd's first season with Robert Yates Racing, he made his debut in the Bud Shootout exhibition race at Daytona. On the final lap, he and new teammate Dale Jarrett made a deal to pass the leader, but the deal fell through and Rudd ended up on his roof.

"I thought, "This is the last lap, I hope I make it to the finish line sliding,' " Rudd said. "I was just sliding. If it had been tumbling it would have been different, but I was just sliding along thinking, "If I keep going, I'm still going to finish seventh.' "

Jarrett got the victory, and a $115,000 payday. Rudd's car came to rest, still on its roof, just short of the finish line. Uninjured, Rudd crawled out of the car in 13th place, one of three drivers who failed to complete all 25 laps.

Funny, the things you forget.

Big crashes at Daytona and Talladega.

Daytona 500: Feb.14, 1988

After a tap from Phil Barkdoll, Richard Petty's No. 43 car slid sideways down the frontstretch about 100 feet until Barkdoll hit him in the rear and A.J. Foyt his front fender. Petty's car lifted off the ground rear end first, did a half-flip, slammed down on its roof and began tumbling. The car rolled four times with its back end on the retaining fence, parts flying in all directions. It flipped a fifth time and came down on its wheels, two of which were missing. Petty was then hit by Brett Bodine, sending him spinning four complete revolutions before stopping.

* * *

Pepsi 400: Daytona International Speedway, July 6, 1991

The sheet metal was almost entirely ripped away from Darrell Waltrip's No. 17 car after it barrel-rolled 11 times through the grass along the Daytona backstretch.

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Daytona 500: Feb.14, 1993

On Lap 169, a collision between Derrike Cope and Michael Waltrip knocked Rusty Wallace into the backstretch grass. Wallace's No. 2 car barrel-rolled twice, flipped end over end and then barrel-rolled some more. Remarkably, Wallace sustained only two cuts under his chin that required six stitches.

* * *

Winston Select 500: Talladega Superspeedway, April 28, 1996

Ricky Craven got the worst of a 14-car pileup when his No. 41 car got tagged and sent into a barrel roll toward the outside wall of Turn 1. The tumbling car nearly left the speedway but was held in by the catch fence and slid down to the inside of the track. Craven had a sore back and bruises. The race was stopped for 52 minutes to repair the heavy fencing.

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Winston Select 500: Talladega Superspeedway, April 28, 1996

Bill Elliott's No. 94 car spun along the backstretch, went airborne and nearly did a cartwheel before landing hard in the grass. Elliott sustained a broken left femur and missed five races before returning at the Pepsi 400 in July - at Daytona.

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Diehard 500: Talladega Superspeedway, July 28, 1996

Dale Earnhardt Sr. was battling Sterling Marlin for the lead in Turn 1 with 21 laps left when contact between Marlin and third-place Ernie Irvan turned Earnhardt hard into the wall. Earnhardt's No. 3 car flipped on its side and was hit in the roof by three other cars before it was turned upright. After a safety crew worked for several minutes to remove Earnhardt from the mangled wreckage, the driver walked to an ambulance under his own power, clutching his left shoulder.

* * *

Daytona 500: Feb.16, 1997

Earnhardt's car went airborne on the backstretch and landed on the wheels. They were taking Earnhardt away in an ambulance when he realized the engine was still running. He hopped back into the No. 3 Chevy and drove it around to pit road for repairs.

* * *

Diehard 500: Talladega Superspeedway, April 26, 1998

Ward Burton cut off Dale Earnhardt Sr., who slammed into Bill Elliott's No. 94. Elliott and Earnhardt slid nearly the length of the straightaway on their sides, the bottoms of their cars hooked together. Earnhardt's mustache got singed by flames from Elliott's car.

* * *

EA Sports 500: Talladega Superspeedway, Oct. 21, 2001

Battling for the lead in the final lap, Bobby Labonte drove high coming out of Turn 2 to block Bobby Hamilton on the outside. On the backstretch, contact flipped Labonte's No. 18 car onto its roof and he slid several hundred yards before the car was uprighted. While upside down, Labonte calmly hit a fire-extinguisher button to put out a fire in the engine compartment.

Aaron's 499: Talladega Superspeedway, April 6, 2003

Ryan Newman was running near the front of the field when a cut tire on his No. 12 car triggered a 27-car pileup between Turns 1 and 2 just four laps into the race. Out of control, Newman's car bounced off Mark Martin's and shot nose-first up the banking into the outside wall. One of Newman's wheels flew over the retaining fence into an area where there were no spectators.

* * *

EA Sports 500: Talladega Superspeedway, Sept.28, 2003

With seven laps left, polesitter Elliott Sadler was racing for third into Turn 2 when, reacting to a move by Dale Earnhardt Jr., Sadler veered left and clipped Kurt Busch's car. Sadler's No. 38 went airborne, spun 11/2 times, landed on its hood and skidded several hundred yards before tumbling another five times.

* * *

Daytona 500: Feb.18, 2001

The day Dale Earnhardt Sr. was killed in Turn 4, the most spectacular-looking crash of the race occurred on the backstretch on Lap 174 and involved 18 cars. Roby Gordon tagged Ward Burton, who spun Tony Stewart and sent Stewart airborne. The No.20 car flipped three times before landing upside down on the car of Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Bobby Labonte. Stewart was treated for a concussion and released from a local hospital.

* * *

Daytona 500: Feb.15, 2004

Defending champion Michael Waltrip was the victim of an accident involving rookies Johnny Sauter and Brian Vickers. On Lap 71, Waltrip was pinned to the backstretch wall. He was hit again as he spun off the track and, after losing a tire, his wheel caught the dirt in the infield grass and caused the car to flip end over end. He landed upside down and was trapped inside the car for 10 minutes as safety workers tried to extract the 6-foot-4 Waltrip.

[Last modified February 11, 2005, 04:40:07]