Archive for Videos
Kyle Busch in Victory Lane
Posted by: | CommentsThis guy just cracks me up.
Sorry ladies... this one's taken.
One Hot Night: May 16, 1992
Posted by: | CommentsThe 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup season was probably my favorite, and one of the big highlights of that season was "The Winston" at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It was only the eighth running of the non-points, invitational-only event for the previous and current years' race winners, but there was a lot of hype this particular year.
Charlotte had just installed a state-of-the-art lighting system from Musco and The Winston would be the first superspeedway night race. Of course night races at superspeedways are nothing extraordinary these days, but I remember in the week leading up to the race in 1992 there was a lot of excitement. The cars' paint schemes lit up awesome in the night time and at a place like Charlotte everyone was anticipating something special.
R.J. Reynolds posted a $300,000 award for the winner of the final 10-lap segment and with a full moon expected that night, the speedway teamed with television broadcaster TNN to promote the event as "One Hot Night".
The race track was packed with screaming fans as Dale Earnhardt led Kyle Petty and Davey Allison to the white flag to start the final lap. Down the backstretch, Petty attempted a pass on Earnhardt and Earnhardt took Petty all the way down to the flat. The two cars got to turn three with a severely poor entrance angle and Earnhardt couldn't hold the car and spun out. Petty lifted out of the gas a bit to avoid being collected, and off of turn four Allison was right there and slipped to his inside.
Mike Joy, Buddy Baker, and Neil Bonnett called the finish that night:
Allison ended up in the hospital after the crash with a concussion and a bruised lung, and the team's best car was wrecked -- but he still won. They had intended to run the car the following week in the Coca-Cola 600 in an attempt to win the Winston Million bonus. Their backup car was a little off and he finished 4th in that race.
The 1992 Winston was definitely a feather in NASCAR's cap, and a race people were talking about for weeks after, and one that we're still quick to recall so many years later.
Mike Skinner’s Huge Crash
Posted by: | CommentsHoly smokes... I haven't seen a hard hit like this at Charlotte in a long time. It looks like "repeat offender" Johnny Sauter squeezed Mike Skinner into the grass in the quad-oval and Skinner just went spinning and then got slammed by T.J. Bell.
I think the truck getting up into the air helped deflect some of the energy from that wall impact.
The crash impact angle reminds me of the past incidents of Tony Roper and Blaise Alexander. Fortunately with all the new safety gear -- neck restraints, softer walls -- Mike was okay. Glad to see him walk away... he sustained his share of bad injuries back in Winston Cup competition a decade ago.
Racing Replay: 1975 Indy 500
Posted by: | CommentsTwo of my favorite interests are racing and weather. Generally the two don't go well together when slick tires are involved.
Nevertheless, I always get a chuckle out of watching this clip of Bobby Unser's second Indy 500 win in 1975. They re-run it all the time during rain delays.
Perhaps it's the 70s-styled cars in the infield or the over-dramatics of Keith Jackson and Jackie Stewart that make me laugh... hopefully you'll enjoy it too.
"It's like walking on... on... grease!" ... lol.
Home Video of Edwards’ Crash
Posted by: | CommentsHere's some home video of Carl Edwards' crash from the front stretch grandstand at Talladega. Not sure who took the video but it was posted by NYJfan29rb on YouTube.
Umm... wow.
He was going fast.
I Predict a Taller Fence at Talladega
Posted by: | CommentsWow.
Twenty-two years ago Bobby Allison almost went through the fence at Talladega Superspeedway and a rookie, his son Davey, later went on to win his first race. History has a way of repeating itself as rookie Brad Keselowski took the checkered flag today while Carl Edwards was thrashing the catch fence along the main grandstand behind him.
Fortunately the fence held up, but looking at the replay it isn't hard to imagine that if Edwards' car had been a little closer when it went airborne, or a little higher, or at a little different angle, things could have been much worse.
Even still, the speedway is reporting that eight spectators were injured -- not seriously -- by flying debris.
How will NASCAR respond? The video will certainly be played over and over again on the news networks and the spectator injuries are not going to go over well. I think we'll see a couple feet added to the height of that catch fence before the fall race. Same at Daytona. Both of the fences are pretty lame compared to other tracks. I suspect NASCAR will tighten the restrictor plates in time for the July race at Daytona, like that will somehow help.
So what happened?
Well... The first point is that NASCAR created an "out of bounds" line and for years drivers have been taking advantage of it by cutting off the challenging car, forcing the driver below the yellow line. This all came to a head at last fall's race when Regan Smith tried to pass Tony Stewart, was forced below the line at the checkers and then was penalized for it and ultimately lost the race. So this year, Keselowski held his line and when Edwards tried to cut him off he ended up in the fence.
The second thing is that, in my opinion, the drivers have become a little too comfortable out there with reckless driving. Between the COT and the pillow walls they think they're invincible now and drive like nuts. That's cool and all but when spectators are put into play, I'm not sure it's the best way to race.
I think the wreck will sober Carl Edwards up a bit... at least for awhile.
Here's the finish with Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds and Darrell Waltrip for Fox.
"Shades of Ricky Bobby..." lol... even the bad wrecks are a big joke at Fox.
This Glenn Smith / AP Photo shows just how high Edwards got and how flimsy that fence looks.
Matt Kenseth’s Wild Ride at Talladega
Posted by: | CommentsHere's a look at Matt Kenseth's crash in today's Aaron's 312 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Talladega Superspeedway. Kenseth was running second when he was bumped by teammate and eventual race winner David Ragan and slid off the track then rolled over.
Dr. Jerry Punch, Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree call the race for ESPN.
