Daytona Int'l Speedway President Joie Chitwood III promised that the "entire oval's inside and outside walls will have" the SAFER barriers for future races following a crash in Saturday's Xfinity Series race that resulted in Kyle Busch sustaining a broken right leg and left foot, according to Bob Pockrass of ESPN.com. NASCAR Chair & CEO Brian France yesterday during the drivers' meeting prior to the Daytona 500 said the sanctioning body was "not proud" of what happened to Busch, who hit a portion of the inside wall that did not have a SAFER barrier. France said, "SAFER barriers, and any area that we work on particular to safety, if it's not up, we'll get it up. That's our commitment going forward on that issue." Pockrass reported it costs about $500 per square foot "to install the barrier." NASCAR's sanction agreements "dictate that the tracks must follow NASCAR direction for safety improvements" in order to keep races. NASCAR Exec VP & Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O'Donnell: "We will accelerate those talks with the tracks. We want this sport to be as safe as possible for not only the drivers, but everyone who participates in the sport and race fans as well" (ESPN.com, 2/22). Chitwood noted that yesterday's race had a "temporary tire barrier" lining the 850-foot stretch of concrete wall. He said following Saturday's race, "We should have had a SAFER barrier there today; we did not. We're going to fix that. We're going to fix that right now. We don't want to see any competitors injured here. We have to fix that. We can't allow this to happen again. ... Daytona International Speedway did not live up to its responsibility today." O'Donnell added, “What happened tonight should not have happened. That's on us. We're going to fix it. We're going to fix it immediately" (Godwin Kelly, Daytona Beach NEWS-JOURNAL, 2/22).
DRIVERS NOT HAPPY: In Daytona Beach, Dinah Voyles Pulver notes calls "for safety improvements rippled through motorsports racing" following Busch's crash. NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick, who hit a similarly unprotected portion of the DIS wall last year, said, "You have Kyle Busch, one of our sport's biggest stars, who is out and not being able to race because of the lack of attention that it takes to the safety on these superspeedways and instead of being proactive, the track was reactive.” Harvick: "Hopefully this is a lesson learned.” Driver Jimmie Johnson tweeted, "It's beyond me why we don't have soft walls everywhere.” Driver Kasey Kahne wrote on his Twitter feed, “All we do is wreck at Daytona and that massive wall has no safer barrier? Unbelievable.” Driver Regan Smith: "Any wall in any of the top 3 series without safer barriers is INEXCUSABLE” (Daytona Beach NEWS-JOURNAL, 2/23).
FOLLOW THE LEADER: Richmond Int'l Raceway President Dennis Bickmeier believes Busch's crash "will trigger an industry-wide study of NASCAR tracks." He said, "I'm sure there will be an evaluation across the industry. Our concern always is the safety of our drivers and our fans" (RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH, 2/23). In Charlotte, Scott Fowler wrote Charlotte Motor Speedway "needs to find a way to quickly place soft walls all around the inside and outside of its 1.5-mile track before its series of big races in May." CMS has the SAFER barriers "in a lot of the spots that drivers hit most often -- like the turns -- but not everywhere." CMS has a "chance to get in front of this issue. No matter the cost, the Speedway needs to pony up. Put the SAFER walls everywhere, before someone else gets badly hurt" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 2/23).
PROACTIVE, NOT REACTIVE: The OBSERVER's Fowler used the words "inexcusable," "incomprehensible" and "idiotic" to explain that "dozens of NASCAR tracks have the technology to make their facilities safer for their stars -- the drivers -- and yet have not done so." Fowler: "NASCAR too often doesn’t do enough until an accident forces its hand." The organization needs to put SAFER barriers in place in all portions of the walls not just because it is the "right thing to do," but because at "some point, if SAFER walls aren’t installed everywhere, some driver is going to get killed" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 2/22). ESPN.com's Ryan McGee wrote, "So what if covering every square inch of every speedway wall would be overdoing it? ... So what if a racetrack's plans to install escalators and video boards have to be put on hold to go buy some more $500-a-foot SAFER covering?" McGee: "Wouldn't the peace of mind be worth it?" (ESPN.com, 2/22). USA Today’s Christine Brennan said it is "unconscionable" that DIS had not committed to SAFER barriers throughout the track sooner (“World News,” ABC, 2/22).
