Actually....there doesn't need to be any degradation of the roll cage
integrity - to kill you instantly - in a high speed impact like that. The
fact that Dale's car was behind Park could have actually helped reduce the
chances of Park being killed. Like the fall from a building, "Its not the
fall that kills you. Its that sudden stop at the bottom!"
Concrete would have likely created a greater deceleration of Park's race
car. The human's internal organs can not withstand sudden stops. The
heart, suspended very loosely in its cavity by light bands of muscle, is a
heavy mass. It moves forward in the chest wall rapidly, while the aorta
(the largest artery coming directly off the top of the heart - very well
secured and tightly held) doesn't move with the heart mass. That causes a
rip of the aorta - right at the exit from the heart. You have about 10
seconds of life left, when that happens. Most autopsies of auto related
deaths, show this "rip" between the aorta and heart. While there may or may
not be other collateral damage to the body from things hitting it, the death
occurred from the aorta rip. The idea of armco....is to slow the
deceleration of something hitting it. It acts like a huge "*** band" if
you want to think of it that way. With Dale's car behind Park's, the extra
mass would have pushed the armco back even further than Park's car would
have alone....thus spreading the deceleration over a larger
distance.....providing a more survivable impact - not a less survivable
impact.
I hope that makes sense? I know it does but it may seem contrary to what
you guys are thinking about what kills you in a high-speed crash. I've only
hit armco at a fairly high speed once during my racing career. As is the
case in all accidents, your "memory" of it is very much in slow motion. I
hit the armco coming out of T-1 at Portland International Raceway, in a GT-3
Porsche, doing about 40 mph (estimated at the time of impact). It was at an
angle about 60 degrees or so. I remember the deceleration (the "thump" as I
call it) being much slower than my mind was prepared for when I saw that
armco wall coming at me! I also was very aware that the race car then was
launched backwards and off the barrier after the initial "hit" - and that
surprised me at the time! It actually felt like I'd struck a huge ***
band. I wasn't badly injured thank goodness. But I had pretty bad bruising
across my belly, and from the top of my shoulders to about my *** area,
on both sides. There was actually some sub-dermal hematoma's on my
shoulders where the seat belts gripped me. But the next day, all the pain
was internal. I literally could not walk or talk - any movement of my body
made an extremely painful feeling in my stomach and chest - almost like
really bad gas pains or something. Its hard to describe. I was told that
had I been going maybe 10 mph faster, and hit at an angle closer to 90
degrees or so, I might not have been so lucky. It was something I will
never forget, not ever. Its the only bad accident I had in 10 years or so
of full-season competition racing. I wasn't really fast enough to get
myself in more trouble.....lol....!!
Regards,
Tom
PS: As a side note to this accident. It occurred in an SCCA sanctioned
race. One of the rules of the SCCA (Portland Region) was that if you hit
the armco at Portland, you had to pay the race track for its subsequent
repair. Besides the damage to my Porsche GT-3 race car, I had to pay PIR
about $1,500 to fix the armco in T-1. Ouch! My checkbook sustained
internal injuries as well as my body! ....lol.....
> Eldred,
> I've watched that impact 25 times. I am totally convinced that Dale Jr's
> car would have squashed Steve's car in completely if that was a no-give
> concrete wall.
> That was a monstrously SAVAGE hit those guys took, and that guard rail
> absorbed an enormous amount of energy.
> There's no roll-cage made that would have survived the force of a 3400
pound
> car, right smack in the door nose first, at 150 or so mph, hitting a
solid,
> stationary object like a concrete wall.
> -Larry
> Pabst"
> > >On a related note:
> > >How many of you guys were thinking today.....after the crash.....that
> Steve
> > >Park needs to hang it up? I mean....how many times do you have to have
> > >season-ending wrecks to get a clue?
> > But he didn't start that crash - somebody got into him...
> > >And today's wreck....were it not for
> > >the luck of hitting the best barrier possible that could have stopped
> that
> > >type of an impact....at that angle......should have been a lot more
than
> a
> > >"season-ending" wreck for him! 9 out of 10....any other race track
> NASCAR
> > >runs at practically.......would have killed him today.
> > I really don't think he would have been killed. Severley injured,
maybe.
> > And since I'm an atheist, I can't comment on your speculation about
> somebody
> > upstairs sending him a clue...<g>
> > Eldred
> > --
> > Homepage - http://www.racesimcentral.net/~epickett
> > My .sig file is in the shop for repairs...
> > Remove SPAM-OFF to reply.
