Really glad you got to be there for it.
The boy knew you were in attendance. When they said Dale Jr had it by 2/10th's he jumped up and started dancing, "I know WCG is dancin' right now!" lol
Just glad Mike Mac was ok after that high speed meeting with the wall - wow.
Tell that boy I was doing the jig :D
Here’s a good story on McDowell....Wait til you all see the pics I got, FR will probably crash again. I better put them on Rock You or Photobucket show.
:D
Friday, April 04, 2008
If it could happen to Earnhardt ...
FORT WORTH, Texas - Let’s be clear about this. Dale Earnhardt saved Michael McDowell’s life Friday.
There’s no reason to parse words about what happened in Samsung 500 qualifying. When McDowell’s No. 00 Toyota slammed headlong into the Turn 1 wall as he began his second qualifying lap, anybody who was paying even the slightest bit of attention had to have his or her heart go up in the throat.
The car got over on its top and started flipping, and you know that’s supposed to be a good thing because it dissipates energy. Still, as you’re watching it’s hard to keep from cringing.
When the car finally came to rest, after what seemed like forever, you just hoped for the best.
When McDowell climbed out and walked to the ambulance, you had to be amazed, relieved and I really don’t know what all at the same time.
A lot of people have worked very hard on developing and installing the steel and foam energy reducing barriers that line the walls now at NASCAR tracks. A lot of smart people have worked on improvements to the seats and other features inside the car that make drivers safer.
And NASCAR deserves credit for keeping safety as a primary focus as it developed the cars now used in Sprint Cup racing.
All of that might very well have eventually come to NASCAR’s top series had Earnhardt not died in the 2001 Daytona 500, but it was Earnhardt’s wreck that completely changed stock-car racing’s attitude about safety.
If it could happen to Earnhardt, it could happen to anybody. Drivers might not have said that out loud - some did - but they all felt it. So safety stopped being something that “scared” drivers discussed and became a priority.
I don’t think NASCAR was ever callous about safety. The early stags of the “car of tomorrow” project and “soft-wall” research began before Earnhardt died. But the death of the seven-time champion gave safety matters a priority they otherwise simply would not have had.
SAFER barriers have been up everywhere for about three years now and the more times they’re hit the more the people who make them learn about how to make them better.
Everything - the wall, the car, the in-car safety features - had to work together Friday to keep McDowell from being seriously hurt.
So, quite frankly, did good fortune (or, depending on what you believe, divine intervention).
Every bit of the development and improvement and innovation that’s been done since 2001 contributed to what happened - or what didn’t happen - here Friday.