Racer After Crash: Innovation Needed
Stock cars tear around NASCAR tracks at speeds upwards of 200 mph each Sunday. The need for speed is always a draw for the fans who swarm into the speedways, but a severe crash Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway has left many observers pondering the sport's safety.
The crash pitched one car into a fence and sent seven fans who were injured by flying debris to the hospital.
Carl Edwards, the NASCAR racer who walked away unscathed from the crash (video), appeared on The Early Show Tuesday to talk about the experience and those safety concerns.
Edwards, speaking from Columbia, Mo., said he was doing great, particularly after walking away from the crash without injury.
"You know, it's -- it's good just to make it through something like that," Edwards told co-anchor Harry Smith.
Smith mentioned the way Edwards' car was being pushed forward by that of fellow racer Brad Keselowski, and asked what happened when Edwards tried to block Keselowski's attempt to pass.
"We were helping one another," Edwards said. "Brad pushed me all the way to the front, and I mean we were best friends, and then it all went wrong. And you know, the good thing is that all the safety innovations that we do have kept it from being too bad."
The crash itself was a "crazy event," according to Edwards.
"My first thought was that I kind of questioned it. I thought, 'What's going on here?' Because I had never been in the air like that in a race car. And then I saw the ground, which I hadn't seen out of the windshield ever, and I thought, 'Oh, boy, this is going to be wild." '
Edwards, who was in the lead before his No. 99 car crashed, ran the final 100 yards or so across the finish line. "I was so close. I mean, I couldn't give up then. I mean I figured it's (the finish line) right over there, I'll make sure I go across that line."
The accident has renewed scrutiny of restrictor-plate racing, which produces thrilling racing but carries inherent risk.
The horsepower-sapping restrictor plates are used at Daytona and Talladega -- NASCAR's two fastest tracks -- to curb high speeds. A square aluminum plate is installed in each car to limit its engine's power, slowing the car by reducing the amount of air that flows into the carburetor. As a result, the cars all run the same speed, and the field is typically bunched tightly together. One wrong move by a driver can cause a massive accident.
Smith asked Edwards if there is a way to avoid crashes like the one he experienced.
"Well, that's the thing that, I mean, immediately after I got out of the car, that's all I could think about, how could we do something to make this better?" Edwards said. "I spoke with some folks from NASCAR, and what they told me was, 'Hey, look, the positive is that sometimes out of this stuff something -- some innovation will come.' I don't know exactly what it is, but hopefully we get, you know, something fixed so that it's not like this."