GO TO NASCAR.COM AND CHECK OUT THE MICHAEL MCDOWELL CRASH IN THE 00 CAR....THANK GOD FOR SAFER BARRIERS AND THE COT.

I know that this isnt a word to be used with a wreck like this but, "awesome" is what comes to mind. What's awesome is the fact that this car did everything it was "supposed" to do in a event of the wreck like this. The safer barriers, awesome. The seating, awesome. The restraints, awesome.

That was a violent wreck, but it's so awesome that all this money and technology paid off. I think that Micheal will agree. Glad to see nothing happened, its just awesome that in such a violent impact its possible to walk away.

I've seen a lot of wrecks over the years, some worse than others but that was far and away one of the hardest hits I have ever seen. The severity of the hit reminds me of the late Lee Anderson's hit at Toledo yet both of these drivers were able to walk away to race another day. While I am not a proponent of the COT and barely can stand the look of it. I have to admit that between the safer barriers and the design of the car along with the HANS Device everything worked in concert to provide a safe wreck. Kind of an ironic statement about a safe wreck but the car did its job. The initial hit was bad enough but the flips and rolls afterwards were major league severe too.

I was talking to my wife when it happened and I can't repeat what I said but she responded that it must have been bad for me to respond at all. Bad wreck but a lucky day of survival for Michael McDowell. One thing I noticed was that the officials were keeping the cameras away from the car. I wonder why NASCAR was being so secretive or should I say guarded as to the condition of the car.

Amazing! Maybe they'll stop putting kids in NASCAR that don't belong there in the first place, but have $$$ behind them. He needs more time in Busch (Nationwide) and the Craftsman series before he kills himself or somebody else.

Brian

I don't like the look of the COT either. I think they could have designed a car that had more room for the drivers as well as other saftey features that still resembled the street version. However it seems to be proving safer along with the HANS and soft walls. There have been some hard crashes since we lost Dale and those safety devices may have saved a few guys alone. As far as the cameras go maybe they were worried about Michael being hurt or worse and didn't want to show that...I have not saw the wreck yet so this is just a guess. Remember the 2001 500 before Dale crashed the big one where Tony flipped in the air? They cut to his in-car camera and his head was slumped down he was either knocked out or dazed and it didn't look good. Or maybe the COT was in bad shape not what NASCAR wanted to show? Or it is a Toyota maybe it had some unapproved parts that NASCAR let slide by and didn't want Jack Roush to notice them! ha ha. Glad he is ok.

are you serious? McDowell had no bearing on the crash, he was just along for that ride. If you want to blame anyone, blame the engine builder for Yates because Gilliland blew his motor in his qualifying attempt and laid oil down. Track cleanup had to put speedy dry down and the blowers didn't get everything off when McDowell went out. His RR tire hit some of that speedy dry and made the car loose going into turn one. About the only thing you can blame McDowell for doing is turning the wheel to the right in hopes of saving it.

You might want to review the footage before posting again rather than ranting about younger drivers and how they don't belong.

And McDowell has plenty of experience behind a stock car to know how to drive them. Star Mazda, Grand-Am Cup Series, Rolex Sports Car Series, and ARCA rank as reputable series and Michael has ran in them all with success.

Youth and enthusiasm, although I am sure he will be sore today.

One hard hit, he had just enough time to realize he was about to take a helluva hit about the time he hit.

Pretty helpless feeling when you realize you are just along for the ride, and you hope it don't hurt too much.

And it was kind of interesting how the car hit, left front first it seemed, as if the car was already rotating around, which was a good thing in this case.

have a good day,

schinde

Boyer and McMurray went out after the blown engine and before McDowell and they didn't seem to have any trouble. They cleaned up for an hour after the big crash because McDowell threw oil, water and debris all over turns one and two, not because of the previously blown engine.

Yes I saw the cloud of dust, yes I saw the car break loose, then I saw an inexperienced stock car driver turn the wheels right to save the car. When he did that, the car caught, unloaded, and went straight into the wall. It simply went where he was turning the wheels. How many Nationwide/Truck starts and wins does he have? A more experienced driver wouldn't have overcorrected so much. ARCA is a great series but it doesn't make a CUP driver, especially with the hard to drive COT. Rolex Prototypes, Champ Car, Star Mazda, Formula whatever and gokarts championships DO NOT make a CUP driver. Go to the lower NASCAR series, like Keselowski is, and prove you belong. McDowell has raw talent, is articulate, good looking, has many $$$ behind him, that's why Waltrip hired him.

In my opinion,

Brian

What about the accident that killed Dale Earnhardt... did he need more experience?


Mcdowell simply hit a dirty spot that the previous cars were lucky enough to miss.

Mike

Give me a break. McDowells crash and Earnhardts crash were totally different. As I recall Earnhardt was hit in the left rear by another car and turned into the wall (Sterling Marlin). There was nothing Dale could have done.

I stand corrected. You are all right and I'm wrong. McDowell deserves to be on the track with Gordon, Stewart, and Johnson. He does have multiple gokart championships, impressive prototype and Star Mazda victories - on road coarses, and four ARCA wins in a car with CUP support and CUP $$$. I'm sure he'll be competing for Sprint victories very soon. GO MICHAEL GO!!! I'm ordering my Aaron's Dream Team hat/shirt as I write this!

Brian

Earnhardt caught the apron and overcorrected before he caught Sterling with his right rear.

I'm just saying that it happens. Some guys would have just let the car spin out instead of trying to save it...

No-one said he has earned his way into the top drivers list yet, but there was a major contributing factor that led to this crash.

Mike

Pretty sure 99% of the racing community will tell you if your car breaks loose to the left that you will turn right, its just reaction.


starts and wins have no bearing on how much a driver tries to correct his car, thats all reaction and reflexes. My passenger car starts sliding to the left, what do I do? Turn to the right in order to correct it. And how many Nationwide/Truck starts do I have? Zero. Its common sense, car turns left, you turn right, old school dirt track mind there.


No, those series don't MAKE a cup driver, but they do help. Where is your complaints about Aric Almirola in the same aspects? He's only had three Cup starts to his name, so his COT ability is pretty much the same as that of McDowell. And in some ways, you could say that some of the Nationwide drivers aren't COT ready because they don't drive that type of car in the Nationwide series, they run the old Cup car. In my opinion, if you run in at least the ARCA series then you're basically running the same type of car in the Nationwide series, so you are preparing yourself for the Cup series.


Isn't that why a lot of drivers get hired, pure talent with a little cash behind them? You think the likes of Jeff Gordon or Jimmie Johnson would be in Nascar if someone didn't take a bargain on them and push them forward. Sometimes it works (Gordon, Johnson, Landon Cassill, Joey Lagano, Marc Davis, Kyle Busch) and sometimes it doesn't (Chase Austin, Casey Atwood, Erin Crocker), its just a gamble that some teams want to take. And doesn't Keselowski fall into this category a bit as well? Has talent and now has the $$$ behind him to do well. Compare him to his brother Brian and then talk about how much money backing you truly can mean in terms of having a quality driver.

If you want to blame anyone for McDowell's cup ride, blame Dale Jarrett. If it wasn't for Jarrett retiring this season, you probably wouldn't have seen McDowell in his cup ride. I know Waltrip wanted him in a Nationwide ride, but when Jarrett announced he was retiring, Waltrip had to put his next best driver in that ride rather than possibly losing good sponsorship money, and McDowell was that guy.

DV Great Points:

1. I'm glad you know how to drive your passenger car when it breaks loose. Maybe Waltrip will call you to drive next for the #00.
2. Dirt drivers turn hard right when the car breaks loose....Correct. On asphalt this = eat the wall....HARD (See McDowell crash).
3. Since you brought it up, IMO, Almirola doesn't belong in Cup either. He just satisfied the diversity quotient.
4. Last I checked Brad K is in Nationwide, not CUP = Not driving over his head = Paying his dues.
5. Jarrett, Yates engine builder, Bruton Smith, the Easter Bunny, and Santa Clause were all responsible for the crash, not McDowell.
6. As I said before, I already ordered my Aarons Dream Team hat/shirt. GO MICHAEL GO!!!


Lastly, Mad Mike said, "I'm just saying that it happens. Some guys would have just let the car spin out instead of trying to save it..."
Mad Mike I totally agree. Thanks for stating what I tried to say but nobody understood. I believe a more experienced driver would have spun and not tried to save the car.

Brian

I don't know... That was a real fast part of the track and trying to spin it could have been equally devastating.

I don't think any of us can say what he should have done from watching it on tv...

Mike

Brian

They should put you in the #00 with Arby's on board again When will we see you at the track again?

That was a fast part of the track and very tricky after a clean up. After reading all the posts, It is fair to say that we almost agree on all levels that it was a ride for which Mike was very lucky to walk a way from, with only a limp..One more flip and it might have tied Ricky Bobby for longest roll over event!
I also, don't like the car of tomorrow, It's too short and stubby in appearance and very suspect at high speed to being twitchy, ask mike McDowell, My wish would have been to maintain the longer and slightly wider appearance of the old cars. Those seem to be quite a bit more stable with less bucking from the shorter wheel base.

Whoa... I think I need to put my hans device on to watch that video again.

Gavin's right!... The only thing I bet we can all agree about might be that if that crash happened in 2000, he may not have survived.

I think the COT has the same wheelbase dimensions of the old car doesn't it? It just looks goofey because the cockpit is blown up larger.

I kinda wonder even in last years car...If he'd have been able to walk away...

I like the C.O.T. more everytime I see them race. I'm a racer though...I don't go to a lot of car shows.

Mike

When gas reaches $2 a gallon......so I guess never! Besides, the older I get the faster I was. Plus my son (now 7) thinks I was great so why would I ruin that mystique?

It's been three full seasons and I really don't miss it, especially after watching wrecks like McDowell had. As you know it takes many, many hours to get the car race ready every weekend. Now I spend time on the lake, catch a few ball games, attend a few races, lounge by the pool, take summer vacations or hang-out with friends and family I never had time for while racing. Whenever I miss it I think of all the reasons why I left the sport in the first place - shrinking sponsorships, higher gas/oil prices, lower payouts, more pit fees, same idiots crashing everybody, crappy track promoters, engine builders, grey areas, blah, blah, blah.....

Remember when you could race a SLM and with start money you could buy four new tires, four pit passes and a case of beer for after the race? Sadly it wasn't that long ago. Now, I honestly wonder how people can afford to race. With that said, I wish all racers GOOD LUCK this season.

Brian

Amen. Im starting my 1st season racing this year and Im starting to wonder when it was that I bumped my head. I have never walked around so often without money in my pocket. Sponsors are pretty much non existent, and my class pays a hundred bucks to win. If there was such a thing as a real pure stock class it may not be so bad, but due to the level of competition and desire to win we nearly price ourselves out of the sport. I am as guilty if not more guilty than many at my track, and because of that I probably will be forced to start the season a bit late. Should have bought a boat I guess!

chad,

That first moment you pull onto the track with that ride for your first race of the year, you will no longer have any question at all why you decided to do this.

There is nothing quite like it, you will know what I mean when you do it.

have a good day,

schinde

Schinde has summed up the feeling in a nut shell. At first it was all about being part of the game.working on someone Else's car, helping with set up, getting greasy .. next my own car.. and putting my vast knowledge base to work ( later find out i was full of SH*T) Then came the first taste of a test and tune ... oh baby!!! it was ON!!! then the first race.... I've big game hunted and fished . The taste of brass filled my mouth as the adrenaline coursed through my veins. I was not ready for the first rush competition provided. Waiting for my turn to qualify, my pulse was maxed out, lips and mouth dry as the Mohave desert, then my turn to rip up the track... WOW.... I hope you enjoy every minute as much as I do!!!

Thanks for the support! No matter what Im seeing this through. Its amazing how much help and support I get and those people deserve it as much as I want it.

WoW........you make it sound almost as good as sex!

That is what I always tell people Matt, no matter what is bothering you in life, sour stomach, too many bills, bad love life, broken bones, angry, hungry, tired, hungover, whatever; it all goes away as soon as you pull onto that track and pull the trigger. Racing is great medicine.

Dave:

As part of the safety initiative, Nascar routinely takes possession on damaged race cars for inspection in their Mooresville facility. When Jeff Fuller crashed at Kentucky a few years ago the car was in NC by monday. That car had the dash bars 18 inches outside the car. It was reportedly a 93g hit, the highest in history. That car has an ISP seat, head restraint and accessories.

McDowells crash featured a pretty hard hit in the left front. The safer barrier tends to slow the car down, making it flip over. The barrelrolls dissapate the energy slowly. The head surround system and belts become very important at that point. The Hans device worked on the initial hit, and like McDowell, was arround for the ride from there on. Unfortunately they offer no protection other than on frontal impact.

I cannot understand Randy LaJoie telling how the seat was built for Dale Jarrett. Next time you need a suit. just go to the suit store, find someone your height, and get whatever he's getting. Hopefully it will fit.

Hopefully this will explain a little to you and your wife.

The Seat Guy