Frankly I wish Jeff Gordon would have hit the wall a little harder. Might knock some sense into him.

There is concern about the upcoming race at Texas. TMS president asked Nascar if they could have a Sprint car test date a few days before the race because of concerns about tire wear after watching the Vegas race. Nascar says no. Another missed opportunity to be proactive. They will react if tires blow out again and put a driver in the hospital or worse.

I don't think it matters who complains about putting safer barriers on the inside of the track. If track owners had wanted them there, they would have been installed already.

Does anyone remember when they ran restrictor plates at Loudon? Look at what it took for them to react then. I do agree that there wouldnt be as much of an uproar if it was Robby Gordon, but Rick Hendrick makes a good point. The teams have spent a lot money on safety, why shouldnt the track owners open up their wallets as well. Lets not forget the track wasnt last week as well.

sorry for the mistakes in my first comment. i hope sjh isnt watching

It was actually the Sept. 2000 event at New Hampshire that was run with restrictor plates and that turned out to be an abject failure on all accounts. It was a bad reaction, one that wasn’t the answer to the problem there at the time. Dale Earnhardt was right after that event when he said: “If they want sorry racing for the fans, that's what they want. If I was a race fan, I wouldn't buy a ticket to a restrictor plate race on a short track. We're supposed to be racing Winston Cup. Elite racing. To degrade us down to Late Model Stock racing is pretty bad.”

Race tracks should be scrutinized as much as car owners and the drivers. Make the tracks safe regardless of the cost. One has to spend money to make money. This coming from a former small business owner. Boogity, Boogity, Boogity

I think SJH makes an excellent point.

If I were President of NASACAR, the first thing I would do is REMOVE the safety barriers. Seriously.

Look, no one is anti-safety. But the number of cautions and red flags has turned this product into week-after-week of four hour marathons. There was- not too long ago- a time where a real NASACAR event could be run in three hours with four-five cautions routinely.

You folks are from Maine- so this is a good analogy: NASCAR has a hockey helmet problem. The NHL mandated helmets to protect players’ heads- and stick fouls and injuries to the head sky-rocketed. Putting the helmet on players’ heads removed the collective responsibility to police your stick to keep your peers from getting hurt. If you are increasing safety, while decreasing responsibility to keep one another safe, you aren’t advancing anything.

NASCAR’s never ending emphasis on safety has achieved a similar effect. They’ve made everything ostensible “safer”- and accidents are through the roof. The lick Gordon took this weekend was because of the safety improvements- not in spite of it.

Face it, everything racing is sacrificed to the safety mandates: the endless cautions for debris, the prolonged cautions for clean up, etc. And for what? These guys simply don’t race with that respect generated from fear anymore. Daytona isn’t marred by endless crashes because of the plates or competition- but by the fact these guys don’t think they can get hurt. You wouldn’t see half the craziness, the running with wounded, ill-handling cars- if these guys thought they could get hurt.

Remove the safer barriers and drivers would drive with respect. Fewer cautions, fewer accidents, better safer racing.

New Hampster did not have SAFER barriers on the inside walls last season.

There are drivers that hit the wall EVERY week, and no one says a word. Jeff Gordon hits the wall one week and suddenly every track is not making an effort to be safe. It is a double standard.

I think some safety improvements are worth changing Nascar. The Safer barrier is one of them. However, the biggest problem here is that a whole new car was created in the name of safety and good drivers are getting hurt in it. If I'm not mistaken, these cars have less grip, less vision, and a bad match-up to the Goodyears attached to them.

Sounds like a very safe car.

The truth is that there is not Fisher Price cars or race tracks. If you are going to be a driver, suck it up and drive what you are given on the track scheduled to be run. If not get in your million dollar motorhome and go, so someone else can drive. I'd give all that I have to drive a race on any track in a cup or wide car.And I would do it for free.Well, maybe just the first race.
It's all about tires folks, not freaky things that happen such as Gordon's crash. You can not predict an accident. On Sunday, someone could go over the fence because it should have been an inch higher.

Hey folks... please remember to post a name on your comment. No need to provide an email address if you don't want to but it makes it easier if someone wants to respond to your comment. Thank you.

The lick Gordon took this weekend had nothing to do with safety improvements,he simply drove the car in too hot and it didnt stick. the same mistake drivers have been making since they started racing.
I have an idea, lets make it mandatory that the drivers can not wear helmets, then the drivers will be forced with taking the collective responsibility of policing each other. Then when there is a mistake and nascar has to put one of those blue tarps over the next car that hits the wall, we can say they just werent responsible enough. These guys have been running into each other since they were running moonshine on the dirt roads. People competing on oval circuits will always run into each other, wether its on foot, on skates, or in cars. The safer you make it the more ecxiting it will be. Can you picture this? TONY STEWART-"Im not going to run quite so hot into turn four this time Zippy, Im nervous it might hurt if I hit the wall."

Yeah right, police each other

justracethecar

Tony would never say that. That's a Jeff Gordon speech.

The problem I see is with the "safer" cars. This is the first full season with them and we saw last year that they do not handle well. Now the tires are a problem. And when did we ever see so much debris come flying off the old cars when they hit? They just disintegrate or their always on fire or something. I think someone is going to get badly hurt before the season is over.

Thats right the ole cars just burned a lot and all the pieces stayed on even with the car tore up, but people died in them just the same. The tore up Gordon car has one good thing, he walked away just fine. Casey Mears he walked away just fine. Jr's car only needed new panels and then he ran some practice laps for seat time.The old car with a side impact and JR would have been headed to the next track early.