NASCAR officials check out 'soft' wall crash test
NDN Staff Report,May 7,2003

#4 Mike Skinner hits Ricky Rudd after Rudd hit the wall between turns three and four late in the Pontiac Excitement 400 at RIR

NASCAR executives were in Nebraska on Tuesday to witness a crash test of the impact-absorbing SAFER barrier wall, but it will be at least a month before SAFER is approved for installation at tracks beyond the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Engineers led by Dr. Dean Sicking at the University of Nebraska's Midwest Roadside Safety Facility in Lincoln ran a used Winston Cup car into a full-scale mock-up of a turn at Richmond International Raceway, which is the site of the serious accident Friday involving driver Jerry Nadeau.

The barrier, which earned rave reviews from NASCAR and Indy Racing League competitors at Indy last year, needed modifications to work in the tighter turns found at Richmond and other tracks. The barrier also was installed at Talladega Superspeedway, but only on the track's inside retaining walls.

The tests were observed by NASCAR managing director of competition Gary Nelson and technical director of special projects Steve Peterson.

A SAFER barrier system is in place in the turns at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but because the 2.5-mile track has a longer radius in each of its turns, that same version of the "soft wall" won't work at a place like Richmond.

The barrier segments at Indy are about 20 feet long, Sicking said. Segments for a track like Richmond, however, would be only about 6 feet long, and Sicking's team believes that could be a problem. The shorter segments complicate the way segments slide together.

The SAFER system at Indy has cartridges of foam behind the barrier itself that are different for stock cars and IndyCars.

While working on the issues presented by turn radius, Sicking and his team are also refining the barrier so that the same cartridges could be used for different types of cars. That would allow the barrier to be put up at tracks where, for instance, the NASCAR Trucks and the Indy Racing League are on the track for practices on the same day.

All development of the barrier must be tested before it can be implemented at tracks like Richmond and New Hampshire, Sicking said.

Sicking said it's clear to him how badly NASCAR wants to see the walls go up.

"Every indication we get out of NASCAR is they would like this to happen much quicker than we've been able to pull this off," he said. "The only thing we're getting out of NASCAR is pressure to go faster."

Sicking said Monday morning he hadn't yet seen replays of Nadeau's crash, but based on what he had been told it's the type of incident where the barrier might be beneficial.

"In a driver's side crash, there is really very little crush distance available in the car," he said. "This in one of the impacts where we think the barrier would have had some opportunity to help. ...

"Whether it would have made a difference or not, though, is useless speculation."

Installation of SAFER barriers has been delayed because Sicking "has not been comfortable with the results," according to NASCAR's Jim Hunter.

"He told us he's scared to put anything out there that he's not 100 percent confident with, that's going to hurt somebody rather than help somebody," Hunter said.

"He's getting a lot of pressure from us and the IRL and everybody in the sport to move quicker, but he says in scientific projects you don't want to move faster because you might overlook something."

Richmond and Martinsville (Va.) Speedway are at the top of Sterling Marlin's list of tracks that desperately need SAFER barriers. Marlin was injured at Richmond last year.

"It's a pretty fast track," Marlin said of Richmond. "You run pretty quick through those corners and when you have a deal (a setup to run fast), it's one hell of a shot."

Safety has come a long way since 2001, when seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt died on the last lap of the Daytona 500.

Mike Ford, crew chief for Bill Elliott's No. 9 Dodge, said NASCAR made cockpit safety its top, short-term priority but now needs to look at different areas of the car.

"The cockpit has been the issue the last couple of years and we have come leaps and bounds from where we were," Ford said. "Not to say there isn't more work to be done there -- there are already several issues that have come about. Seats have improved, leg support has been improved, but nothing has been done to the chassis."

Will Todd Bodine's team go to Gateway?
May 7,2003

One week after sweating out a decision to race or not, Todd Bodine and Herzog Jackson Motorsports are doing it again.

The team has yet to decide whether it will run in this weekend's Charter Pipeline 250 NASCAR Busch Series race Gateway International Raceway, but a decision could come soon.

Bodine leads the Busch Series points standings by 40 over David Green and by 44 over Shane Hmiel. The No. 92 team was likely going to skip last weekend's race at Richmond, but an 11th-hour deal came together to send the team to the track.

It could take a similar deal this time. A decision on whether to race at Gateway is expected late Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning. Qualifying is Friday.

Experiencing the highs and lows of racing

By Elliott Sadler
May 7,2003

Richmond International Raceway is about 45 minutes from the front door of my house in Emporia – so it was quite a homecoming weekend, but our luck on the track took a hard hit.

A birthday gift from the fans

Last Wednesday I turned 28 years old. Spending time with the 900 or so fans who made their way to Emporia for the third annual Sadler Fan Appreciation Day was a great present. People brought me gifts, cakes, cards, balloons and the fan club folks brought me M&M's boxer shorts. I was a little embarrassed when they made me open them in front of everyone, but it was really cool because they sent them all over the country to have different fans sign them.

It was a long, hot day – but tons of people came out and we had a good time.

Difficult day at the track

Then we went to the track. I am sorry to say, we were pretty bad all weekend long. A good friend of mine, Jerry Nadeau crashed pretty hard during practice and had to be airlifted to the hospital. Our thoughts and prayers are with Jerry and his family during his recovery.