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Anybody see that wreck?

Nascar has to be handed it. They insist that they run a safe car.
I pray for the recovery of the drivers and spectators.

Heard on the radio this morning that there were more than 30 injured but they expect to have the repairs done in time for today's race. I may not be a NASCAR fan but I will say they take their safety concerns very seriously.

Not too sure I agree with that. Joie Chitwwod III (President, Daytona Spedway) said, "We don't anticipate moving any of our fans," Chitwood said. "We had our safety protocols in place. Our security maintained a buffer that separates the fans from the fencing area. With the fencing being prepared tonight to our safety protocols, we expect to go racing tomorrow with no changes."
source: AP

I'm not a real big fan of NASCAR sence all of the cars started looking the same. But I do commend them on trying to keep things as safe as posible for the drivers and the fans. Sence this accident there may be modifations to the fencing at a later date, just like it took some time for them to come up with softer walls around the tracks. Even if they don't do anything, it's still safer then watching a rally race in Europe with the fans standing right next to the road with nothing between them and the cars.

With 3700 lb. cars flying around the track at 200 MPH there is probably no way that you can guarantee that the fans will be 100% safe. That is not the same as saying that fan safety cannot be improved. For one thing the problem happened right where there is a gate in the fence to let the fans out on the track. I'll bet that NASCAR is taking a close look at the design of those gates, they might decide to eliminate them altogether. As it stands now there is a concrete wall around the track with energy absorbing "Safer Barriers" in front of that. On top of the concrete wall there is a 22 foot high chain link fence that curves inward at the top to keep flying debris from landing in the crowd. Behind the chain link fence, which is not expected to stop a flying car, there are three or four sets of steel cables. Possibly the poles that support the fence could be stronger, but that would increase the chance of a flying car getting cut in half and killing its driver. Making the fence higher would decrease the chances of flying debris going over the top of it, but they already made the fence higher once. I believe that most of the injuries were due to the things that went through the fence in the area of the gate and not over the top of it. I am sure that NASCAR has looked closely to see if any debris got over the fence. Obviously moving the fans back from the track would increase safety and so would adding more cables. Moving the fans back would eliminate thousands of seats. When the fence was repaired before the Sprint Cup race the gate was eliminated, so the fans in that location were probably safer than they were for the Nationwide race.

This was posted today: http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/d ... 13/#!bYqQy