To use the words of the late David Poole, Dale Earnhardt saved Elliott Sadler’s life on Sunday.
What happened to Elliott Sadler on the backstretch (between turns one and two) late in the race at Pocono isn’t exactly clear to those of us who didn’t happen to be in a car and on the backstretch at the time (thanks Kurt Busch and ESPN). What we do know though is Pocono needs to make safety upgrades, like yesterday, and the COT and HANS Device saved Elliott Sadler from serious injury or death.
From what I saw of that wreck, it was one of the worst in recent memory. After hitting the inside Armco barrier, Sadler was propelled back out onto the track – a distance that’s probably a good 50 feet. In the slow motion replay on ESPN, Sadler’s whole body can be seen lurching forward. That tremendous amount of force ripped the car apart. See the engine being towed back to the garage. Sadler was luckily able to walk away with nothing but the wind knocked out of him.
For all of the criticism its gotten and complaining that’s been done about it, the COT has been a wonderful safety innovation. It has no doubt saved lives. Ask Micheal McDowell. Now ask Elliott Sadler.
Add to that the proliferation of the HANS Device and the SAFER barriers and NASCAR has become a much safer place to compete.
In the days leading up to the race, Pocono President Brandon Igdalsky, grandson of the Drs. Mattioli, addressed plans for some much needed safety features, including SAFER barriers between turns 1 and 2, and 2 and 3, and a much needed catch fence. It’s about time.
Looking around on the net Sunday night some were suggesting Pocono shouldn’t be on the schedule. I couldn’t disagree more. It’s a unique facility with great fans (though two races seven weeks apart is ridiculous). I do think though the track needed to have made these upgrades before other things were done – say for instance a $16 million solar farm.
It’s certainly easy to play Monday morning quarterback on this – but I think anyone who has ever seen the facility can see there are a lot of upgrades that need be done. As usual I digress.
Who knows what would have happened to Sadler had he not had the benefit of the current safety features. I shutter to think. Through all the complaining about ESPN missing the moment (big deal), the biggest story here is what didn’t happen and what we fortunately didn’t see.
What NASCAR has done since February 2001 truly has made the sport safer. There have been no serious injuries and no deaths. And thankfully on Sunday we were able to keep that record intact.
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