This Looks Painful

Saturday, April 05, 2008

Crashes in qualifying for NASCAR never look that bad, but every once and awhile you get a pretty nasty one. Well this crash by Michael Mcdowell could possibly have been the worst ever when no one else was on the track.



"I came off of (Turn 4) on that first lap and felt a little bit off, that something wasn't quite right," McDowell said. "I went down into one and I don't know if it was the oil dry or if something happened. I hate to make that much work for the guys back at the shop.

Okay, first off all you just went head first into a wall and flipped your car numerous times. The guys in the shop will understand. Second, how do you walk away from something like that? That was nuts.

McDowell 'OK' after fiery qualifying crash at Texas (FOX Sports)

Posted by Awful Announcing- at 9:36 AM

3 Comments:

AA

Those cars have pretty strong roll cages and other safety features, plus the foam barriers along the wall helped. Also the longer the car keeps going before it comes to a stop helps because the final speed before impact is less. The energy of a moving car depends on the square of the speed. (if you double the speed, the energy increases by a factor of 4).

This was one of the things that made Earnhardt Sr's crash so bad was that he went into the wall at nearly full speed.

Anonymous said...
Apr 5, 2008, 10:42:00 AM  

That reminds me. I have to change my oil. Check the tire pressure too.

Anonymous said...
Apr 5, 2008, 12:31:00 PM  

I've been watching NASCAR races for over 25 years and have rarely seen as hard a hit. The "Car of Tomorrow" certainly is the "Car of Right This Damn Second" - has to be a huge relief to all wives, mistresses and girl friends of drivers everywhere. If you aren't splattered like roadkill after that kind of hit, you're likely to survive anything.

Sportsattitude said...
Apr 5, 2008, 1:09:00 PM  

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