-
Home
- TV Shows
-
TV Schedule
-
SPEED Showcase
-
- NASCAR
-
Latest Headlines: NASCAR
-
-
Formula 1
- Auto Racing
- Moto Racing
- Cars
- Bikes
- Store
- Social
- Games
- Mobile
- Deals
- Videos
- Photos
- Home
- TV Shows
-
TV Schedule
-
SPEED Showcase
-
- NASCAR
- Formula 1
- Auto Racing
- Moto Racing
- Cars
- Bikes
- Store
- Social
- Mobile
- Deals
- Videos
- Photos
Sprint Cup
JENSEN: No Easy Answer For Earnhardt Jr.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. will miss at least two races…
Dale Earnhardt Jr. speaks to the media at Charlotte Motor Speedway on October 11, 2012 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo: Getty Images)
Safety has always been and always will be a lightning-rod issue, one that elicits tremendous emotion on all sides of the discussion.
Predictably, when the news broke yesterday that Dale Earnhardt Jr. was going to miss two races because of a concussion, the responses were all over the board. Some fans on Twitter begged for prayers for Junior as if he were on his deathbed. On the opposite side, one particularly unenlightened moron suggested that Earnhardt should be given a Midol and a tampoon (sic) and be sent back out on the track.
Among my colleagues in the motorsports press, some wondered aloud whether Earnhardt’s concussion ought to make NASCAR come up with new and tougher standardized rules for drivers who crash hard, requiring them to visit a neurologist if an impact meets a certain threshold.
Specifically, there was plenty of hand-wringing over the fact that Junior had a 40g impact when a tire blew out during an Aug. 29 test at Kansas Speedway. After that severe impact, Earnhardt didn’t go to the doctor right away.
Further, Earnhardt admitted he didn’t feel right for several weeks afterwards but kept on racing. It was only after the second concussion suffered at Talladega on Sunday that he went to see Dr. Jerry Petty, who parked Earnhardt for at least two weeks.
Some were upset that Earnhardt didn’t see Dr. Petty after the massive hit in Kansas.
Maybe he should have.
Suppose he had.
And just suppose Earnhardt would have been held out of, say, the subsequent three to four races. Fans would have been furious that their driver, who at the time of the Kansas crash was third in points, would have been deprived of any chance at his first NASCAR Sprint Cup championship.
Track promoters and ticket sellers would have been none too happy, either, to have the sport’s biggest star yanked out of any title shot.
Earnhardt only went to see Dr. Petty after a second concussion and after he had fallen to 11th in points with no realistic chance at a championship this year.
That’s the way the real world works, like or not.
Think back just one year.
Coming into the second Pocono race of 2011, Brad Keselowski was 21st in points and was given little or no chance at making the Chase. Four days before the race, Keselowski ran head on into a concrete abutment at approximately 100 miles per hour after his brakes failed during testing at Road Atlanta. Keselowski broke his left ankle, wrenched his back and suffered extreme bruising. The pictures he posted of his grossly swollen ankle were indeed grotesque.
You could have made a compelling case that Keselowski had no business racing at Pocono that weekend. None whatsoever. Hell, with an impact that hard, he well might have suffered a concussion of his own.
Despite the serious injuries, Keselowski stunned the NASCAR world when he went out and won at Pocono, launching a great run that saw him not only make the Chase but finish in the top five in points.
Which brings us full circle, to the dirty little secret about racing: Danger attracts fans. Acts of courage and bravery in the face of extreme danger make drivers heroes to fans. And the tougher they are, the better. Keselowski’s respect among fans, fellow drivers and, yes, the media, increased exponentially when he manned up and went on his hot streak after breaking his ankle.
Like it or not, bravery and danger move the needle.
Why was Dale Earnhardt Sr. so revered by his fans? One big reason was his own toughness. He was the baddest SOB in the garage and everyone knew it. And he was also the man who six months before his own death told me, “You know what I say to drivers who say this sport’s too dangerous? I tell them they should tie a kerosene rag around their ankles so the ants don’t crawl up their leg and chew their candy asses off.”
Earnhardt’s death probably wouldn’t have happened had he been wearing a HANS device. Of course, he wasn’t the first NASCAR star to perish because he fought safety rules. Two-time defending NASCAR champion Joe Weatherly was killed instantly at Riverside in 1964 after what today would be considered a minor impact. Weatherly refused to wear a shoulder belt and died when first his car and then milliseconds later his head hit the wall in Turn 6.
I had a respected Cup driver with a championship-caliber team tell me a few weeks ago that what makes Sprint Cup racing appealing to fans is the belief that it’s so hard and so challenging that regular Joes couldn’t possibly do it.
If viewers truly believed they could handle a race car the way the pros do, no one would watch, the driver told me.
Without question, part of that appeal is the element of danger.
I applaud the huge strides NASCAR has made safety-wise in the last decade. Without question, SAFER barriers, HANS devices and the improved cars have created the safest environment ever for drivers.
But when you have a 3,450-pound car going 200 mph, danger is always going to be part of the equation. And there’s no one rule or set of rules that’s going to automatically serve as the be all and end all in eliminating danger.
Every driver, every crash, every situation has to be dealt with individually. And that’s what happened with Earnhardt Jr. this week.
Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED
Predictably, when the news broke yesterday that Dale Earnhardt Jr. was going to miss two races because of a concussion, the responses were all over the board. Some fans on Twitter begged for prayers for Junior as if he were on his deathbed. On the opposite side, one particularly unenlightened moron suggested that Earnhardt should be given a Midol and a tampoon (sic) and be sent back out on the track.
Among my colleagues in the motorsports press, some wondered aloud whether Earnhardt’s concussion ought to make NASCAR come up with new and tougher standardized rules for drivers who crash hard, requiring them to visit a neurologist if an impact meets a certain threshold.
Specifically, there was plenty of hand-wringing over the fact that Junior had a 40g impact when a tire blew out during an Aug. 29 test at Kansas Speedway. After that severe impact, Earnhardt didn’t go to the doctor right away.
Further, Earnhardt admitted he didn’t feel right for several weeks afterwards but kept on racing. It was only after the second concussion suffered at Talladega on Sunday that he went to see Dr. Jerry Petty, who parked Earnhardt for at least two weeks.
Some were upset that Earnhardt didn’t see Dr. Petty after the massive hit in Kansas.
Maybe he should have.
Suppose he had.
And just suppose Earnhardt would have been held out of, say, the subsequent three to four races. Fans would have been furious that their driver, who at the time of the Kansas crash was third in points, would have been deprived of any chance at his first NASCAR Sprint Cup championship.
Track promoters and ticket sellers would have been none too happy, either, to have the sport’s biggest star yanked out of any title shot.
Earnhardt only went to see Dr. Petty after a second concussion and after he had fallen to 11th in points with no realistic chance at a championship this year.
That’s the way the real world works, like or not.
Think back just one year.
Coming into the second Pocono race of 2011, Brad Keselowski was 21st in points and was given little or no chance at making the Chase. Four days before the race, Keselowski ran head on into a concrete abutment at approximately 100 miles per hour after his brakes failed during testing at Road Atlanta. Keselowski broke his left ankle, wrenched his back and suffered extreme bruising. The pictures he posted of his grossly swollen ankle were indeed grotesque.
You could have made a compelling case that Keselowski had no business racing at Pocono that weekend. None whatsoever. Hell, with an impact that hard, he well might have suffered a concussion of his own.
Despite the serious injuries, Keselowski stunned the NASCAR world when he went out and won at Pocono, launching a great run that saw him not only make the Chase but finish in the top five in points.
Which brings us full circle, to the dirty little secret about racing: Danger attracts fans. Acts of courage and bravery in the face of extreme danger make drivers heroes to fans. And the tougher they are, the better. Keselowski’s respect among fans, fellow drivers and, yes, the media, increased exponentially when he manned up and went on his hot streak after breaking his ankle.
Like it or not, bravery and danger move the needle.
Why was Dale Earnhardt Sr. so revered by his fans? One big reason was his own toughness. He was the baddest SOB in the garage and everyone knew it. And he was also the man who six months before his own death told me, “You know what I say to drivers who say this sport’s too dangerous? I tell them they should tie a kerosene rag around their ankles so the ants don’t crawl up their leg and chew their candy asses off.”
Earnhardt’s death probably wouldn’t have happened had he been wearing a HANS device. Of course, he wasn’t the first NASCAR star to perish because he fought safety rules. Two-time defending NASCAR champion Joe Weatherly was killed instantly at Riverside in 1964 after what today would be considered a minor impact. Weatherly refused to wear a shoulder belt and died when first his car and then milliseconds later his head hit the wall in Turn 6.
I had a respected Cup driver with a championship-caliber team tell me a few weeks ago that what makes Sprint Cup racing appealing to fans is the belief that it’s so hard and so challenging that regular Joes couldn’t possibly do it.
If viewers truly believed they could handle a race car the way the pros do, no one would watch, the driver told me.
Without question, part of that appeal is the element of danger.
I applaud the huge strides NASCAR has made safety-wise in the last decade. Without question, SAFER barriers, HANS devices and the improved cars have created the safest environment ever for drivers.
But when you have a 3,450-pound car going 200 mph, danger is always going to be part of the equation. And there’s no one rule or set of rules that’s going to automatically serve as the be all and end all in eliminating danger.
Every driver, every crash, every situation has to be dealt with individually. And that’s what happened with Earnhardt Jr. this week.
Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED
Shake and Bake: Recent Posts
-
Last Lap: Kyle Busch Makes History At Charlotte Motor Speedway »
-
Charlotte Motor Speedway President Marcus Smith Dishes Out the Goods »
-
NASCAR Teams Lend Helping Hand To Oklahoma Tornado Victims »
-
Singer Chelsea Bain's Dad Loves Her Music, Doesn't Love Her Choice Of Clothing »
-
Mr. E Would Rather Watch Soap Operas & Teletubbies Than 4 Hours Of Single-File Racing (Video) »
-
Krash Kab Invades Darlington With Jimmy Spencer And Monica Palumbo (Video) »
-
Sebastian Vettel's Monaco GP Helmet Has A Nearly Naked Pinup Girl »
-
Last Lap: Despite Struggles, Danica Patrick Unlikely To Return To IndyCar »
2013 All Star Race
LATEST HEADLINES: NASCAR
-
NNS: Kyle Busch Scores Again
Kyle Busch registers his sixth Nationwide win of the season…… -
CUP: Saturday Charlotte Notebook (UPDATE 10)
Kyle Busch won the History 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway... -
CUP: France – Schedule Good As It Is
NASCAR chairman Brian France says he prefers fall race to stay in… -
CUP: Keselowski Still Confident Despite Slump
Brad Keselowski is seventh in points heading into the Coca-Cola 600…… -
HAMMOND: 600-Mile Race Will Tax Drivers, Equipment
I expect we will see a lot of green-flag runs Sunday, making for… -
CUP: Menards Signs Renewal With RCR
Multi-year partnership renewal was announced today... -
CUP: Man On A Mission
Denny Hamlin going all out in pursuit of a shot at the championship…… - More News
