June 1, 1999

                              Safety in NASCAR 

NASCAR has a good track record when it comes to safety.  They have speed limits on pit lane to protect pit crews.  Roof flaps help keep cars from
getting airborne.  Tire inner liners prevent the total loss of control from
a blowout.  Although controversial, restrictor plates help slow the cars on
big tracks.  In my opinion however, NASCAR is missing one major safety
improvement.  It's sitting right under their nose.

Last week, the NASCAR Busch series ran the First Union 200 at Nazareth (PA) Speedway.  The race was rain delayed for several hours before the start of the race as well as having rain stop the race during the middle of it.  The
race was eventually called sue to darkness on lap 164.

During the later stages of the race, there were two serious accidents.  In
the first, a car spun off of turn two and backed hard into the wall, whichleft the car sitting across the top of the back stretch.  The race leaders
filed by the accident on the bottom of the track.  A few seconds later, a
lapped car came flying around turn two.  The driver, who was trying to pass
the leaders to get a lap back, lost control of his car in the top groove.
He slammed into the car sitting on the backstretch.  The force of the
impact sent both cars spinning and made me cringe behind my TV set.  Thankfully, both drivers were ok.

The second accident started with two cars spinning in turn four.  Normally,
the drivers would have slowed down and weaved through the spinning cars.
However, darkness was encroaching and the race might have been called at
any time.  The remaining pack of cars steamrolled through turn four, hoping to
gain a spot from their competitors.  The result:  a seven car pileup.
Again, no drivers were injured.

Only NASCAR's Winston Cup and Busch Grand National divisions have rules
that allow cars to race back to the caution flag.  All other NASCAR divisions,
including Craftsman Trucks and the Slim Jim All Pro series, simply slow
down when there is a caution on the track.  For a sanctioning body that is
constantly striving for safe racing, this rule for WC and BGN makes no sense.  It
will only be a matter of time before a driver involved in an accident is
seriously injured by another car racing back to the caution flag.  It is
time for NASCAR to change their rule on caution flags and put safety first.

What do you think about NASCAR's top divisions racing back to the caution
flag?  Let your opinion be heard on our message board.

                                                                                     -John Matthews