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Tuesday, August 21
Drivers' expectations confirmed
Associated Press
| |  | | | Burton |
| |  | | | Petty |
ATLANTA -- Winston Cup driver Jeff Burton was not surprised
by any evidence NASCAR presented Tuesday in its report on Dale
Earnhardt's fatal accident, but he still was comforted by what he
heard.
Burton watched the two-hour presentation on TV from his home in
Cornelius, N.C.
"I was impressed with the thoroughness of it," Burton said.
"It was very revealing, based on all of the factors that went into
it, and that made you think about a lot of things. Everything they
said made sense to me."
NASCAR said its six-month investigation found a broken seat
belt, a collision with another car and angle and impact in which
Earnhardt hit the wall all played a role in the Feb. 18 crash on
the final lap of the Daytona 500.
"The conclusion is not the easiest conclusion to report," said
Dr. James Raddin, one of the lead investigators. "We conclude that
there were a number of factors in which the timing came together to
produce this result."
The sanctioning body said it will install "black boxes,"
similar to flight-data recorders used on airplanes, beginning next
season to help understand the forces during crashes and try to
improve car safety.
"I'm very pleased with the decision to use the data
recorders," Burton said. "I think it shows a major step on
NASCAR's part.
"Someone has to understand the data from the boxes, so it's
more of a commitment than just paying for the boxes or installing
them. It's a show of continued support to make racing safer."
Dale Earnhardt Jr. did not attend the presentation, but a NASCAR
spokesman said president Mike Helton has gone over the report with
him. Earnhardt Jr.'s spokesman said the driver would have no
comment Tuesday.
Earnhardt's widow, Teresa, released a statement praising NASCAR
for "its good faith effort to make the facts known."
While disclosing what it believes killed Earnhardt, NASCAR
didn't say what might have saved his life. He wasn't wearing a
head-and-neck-restraint system or a full-face helmet.
Use of the head-and-neck devices increased dramatically since
February; 41 of 43 drivers in Sunday's Pepsi 400 wore some type of
system, and another, Jimmy Spencer, said he would be wearing one
soon.
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“ |
I guess the public heard some new things today, and maybe we heard a few new things, too. But by and large, a lot of things NASCAR has learned since February have already been implemented. They didn't make a big deal out of it, and neither did the teams. ” |
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— Kyle Petty |
John Melvin, a longtime safety consultant, said the nets
currently in use by some of the Winston Cup teams to keep the
drivers from being flung too far to the right in angled crashes
could have helped in the Earnhardt crash.
"The new part that I found really interesting was the nature of
the first impact to the side," Melvin said. "It threw Dale
Earnhardt to the right and left him vulnerable when he came back to
the left. A net or a better seat or a better safety harness or a
HANS, all the things we've been talking about, could have made a
difference. But you need the total package."
Kyle Petty, whose son, Adam, was killed while practicing his
Busch Series car in May 2000 at New Hampshire International
Speedway, said a lot what has been learned from the Earnhardt crash
already has been used by the teams.
"I guess the public heard some new things today, and maybe we
heard a few new things, too," Petty said. "But by and large, a
lot of things NASCAR has learned since February have already been
implemented. They didn't make a big deal out of it, and neither did
the teams."
The complexity of the report showed why it wasn't released
sooner, said Bill Weber, pit reporter/anchor for NASCAR coverage on
NBC/TNT.
"I think their credibility was called into question earlier,"
Weber said. "People wanted immediate answers. I think right now a
lot of people have seen what goes on below the surface in something
like this, and I think they should be blown away with what has
transpired."
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