Ten Years After: Inside Daytona Hospital, Tony Stewart Was a Witness to Grief

Filed under: , , , ,

More often than you'd guess, Tony Stewart calls up the YouTube video of his wild, death-defying crash in the closing laps of the 2001 Daytona 500. But not for reasons you might think.

In the short video clip, he watches his orange No. 20 get hit from behind on the massive Daytona International Speedway backstretch, turning it directly toward 200-mph oncoming traffic. As the rear of Stewart's Chevrolet catches air and starts to launch vertically, cars take evasive action.

That's where Stewart pauses the video. He even has a still photograph of this very moment (right).

Just as Stewart's car lifts off the ground -- seconds before he endures violent barrel rolls and smashes into a half-dozen cars -- the black No. 3 Chevrolet escapes through the smoke and frenzy unscathed. Its driver, Dale Earnhardt, heads to the front of the field to contend for the win. As usual.

"That's the part that bothers me the most,'' Stewart explained in an exclusive interview with AOL FanHouse, speaking in depth about that fateful Feb. 18, 2001 afternoon when NASCAR champion Dale Earnhardt was killed on the final lap of the Daytona 500.

"It's like, if I could have just nicked him on the way by, would it have changed things just enough to keep his accident later from happening? There's no way anyone would ever wreck and think about hitting someone else believing it would do any good. I was along for the ride.


Dale Earnhardt's Way of Saying Hello
Dale Earnhardt Opens Up in a 1995 Interview
Andy Pilgrim Shared a Seat, and Final Moments, with Dale Earnhardt

"But, it was just like, what if?'' Stewart adds, shaking his head, lowering his voice and making eye contact for emphasis. "If you looked at the two wrecks, you would have swore I was the one. ... that if one of the guys passed away, you'd have swore it was from my crash, not his.

"Like a parent or, really, any person that loses a loved one, it makes you think of things that aren't realistic, but I always see that picture and think what would have happened if I had clipped him just a little then, would it have changed all this?''

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Source: http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2011/02/09/ten-years-after-inside-daytona-hospital-tony-stewart-was-a-wit/

Loan Max Toyota Tony Raines Joe Nemechek Gator com Chevrolet

A great talent awaiting a great car

It is an awful irony that it has taken Robert Kubica's horrific crash in a rally car on Sunday to bring him to the attention of the wider world.

Despite four and a half seasons in Formula 1, the 26-year-old Pole was not exactly a household name. Such is the lot of a grand prix driver who does not find himself in a front-running car.

But Kubica is very different from the other men pounding around in the midfield, to whom the wider TV audience pay only scant attention while focusing on the big names battling it out at the front.

This is a man who is increasingly regarded as one of the very finest racing drivers in the world - someone who, as David Coulthard put it on Monday, can be talked about in the same breath as the likes of Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and the new world champion Sebastian Vettel.

Kubica has won only one grand prix - a superb drive for BMW Sauber in Canada in 2008 - but there was an ever-growing number of F1 observers awaiting with increasing impatience the time he would get his hands on a competitive car.

The signs have been there for some time, little snapshots that made you sit up and take notice that this was someone out of the ordinary.

In 2006, his pace as BMW Sauber's test driver effectively ended the career of 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve - when the Canadian fell out with the team, they needed no encouragement to sack him and replace him with Kubica, knowing that he was not only cheaper, but significantly faster.

In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content.


Despite zero experience, Kubica was brilliant in the second half of that year, immediately out-pacing his team-mate Nick Heidfeld, a veteran of more than six seasons, and taking a podium finish in only his third grand prix.

Kubica's driving style - turn in early and on the brakes, demanding a lot from the outside front tyre - meant he was affected badly by the switch to a single tyre supplier, and consequent lower grip levels, in 2007.

But he bounced back with a bang in 2008, driving with stunning consistency and pace to lead the championship after that win in Canada mid-season.

What happened next rankles with Kubica to this day.

BMW's plan was to use 2008 as a building year for a full title assault in 2009, and they stuck to it resolutely, easing off development of their race car just as they had got themselves to the top of the pile, in order to concentrate on their next model.

Their logic was that the car was not really quick enough to win the title against the superior machines of McLaren and Ferrari, that they were only leading the championship because Kubica had been more consistent than his rivals - and that the top teams would eventually get their act together.

Robert Kubica crashes his BMW in the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix

Kubica missed only one race after emerging unhurt from this crash in 2007. Photo: Getty

Kubica didn't see it that way - he saw a team giving up a golden opportunity to win the championship. Even with BMW's decision, he ended up finishing third, in contention until the penultimate race.

BMW's intransigence - matched, it has to be said, by Kubica's stubbornness - fatally damaged the driver's relationship with the team, and is almost certainly one reason behind his generally lacklustre 2009 season, when Heidfeld more or less matched him.

Even then, though, there were flashes of genius from Kubica, and last season, following his move to Renault, the doubters became less and less.

The 2010 Renault was not a great car, and had no business mixing it at the front with the Red Bulls, Ferraris and McLarens.

But Kubica performed miracles to qualify it in the top three at Monaco, Spa and Suzuka, the three tracks where a driver's input is most important, where a great driver can transcend the level of his car.

How good is he?

Among his fellow drivers, there has never been any doubt about Kubica's quality. Hamilton regards him as a future world champion - Kubica was the Englishman's main rival in their karting days as teenagers; Alonso has been quoted referring to him as the best driver in the world.

It is also a little known fact that, when Vettel was an inexperienced BMW test driver in 2007, Kubica was an average of about 0.4secs quicker than him.

At Renault, they adore him - technical director James Allison was effusive in a profile of Kubica my colleague Mark Hughes wrote for this website last season.

Allison, who has also worked with Alonso, described Kubica as "one of those very, very top guys where you know that if the car is not running at the front it's because of the car, not him", adding that he was "incredibly fast, won't make mistakes under pressure and will plough on for lap after lap at a really good pace".

Ferrari, too, have noticed his ability. He came very close to replacing Felipe Massa when the Brazilian suffered a fractured skull in a crash in Hungary in 2009, missing out only because he was too big for the car.

The interest remains. And before Sunday, most in F1 expected Kubica to replace Massa eventually, either at the end of this year or next.

Even a Ferrari drive, you suspect, would not change him. Kubica is totally unaffected by fame, has a complete lack of interest in self-promotion and is unimpressed by the razzmatazz of F1.

It now remains to be seen whether he will ever sit in the Ferrari that appears to have his name on it.

F1 drivers are renowned for their near-miraculous ability to recover from terrible injuries - they are to a man very fit and tremendously determined. And as someone close to him said on Monday, Kubica is also "totally stubborn". He will need all his single-mindedness to fight back after this.

But he has done it before. After breaking his left arm in 13 places when a passenger in a road-car crash early in 2003, doctors said he would be out for between six months and a year. Three months later he made his Formula Three debut and won.

Equally, after surviving virtually unscathed a horrific barrel-roll in the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix, doctors advised him to sit out the US Grand Prix seven days later. He was back for the following event in France, and qualified and finished fourth.

On Monday, the initial prognosis was about as positive as you could expect in the circumstances. Nevertheless, with such serious injuries, it seems likely that Kubica will be out for most of the season and replacing him is going to be impossible for Renault. There are simply not any drivers of comparable quality around.

Renault have two 'third drivers' in Bruno Senna and Romain Grosjean, but both are inexperienced and unproven, just like Kubica's team-mate, the Russian Vitaly Petrov. Will a team with aspirations of winning a couple of races this year feel they can go into a full season with a driver line-up like that?

The other option is to take someone experienced. They could potentially try to buy 2010 Williams driver Nico Hulkenberg out of his reserve driver contract with Force India. And Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi, rejected by Force India this season despite having a contract, is also available.

But the obvious contender is Heidfeld, F1's Mr Consistency, who may not set the world on fire, but can be relied upon to be decently quick and score regular points.

Whoever it is, they have a tough act to follow.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2011/02/it_is_an_awful_irony.html

Alan Jones Tom Jones Juan Jover Oswald Karch

FR3.5: Q and A with Cesar Ramos

Q & A with Cesar Ramos By Peter Mills Friday, February 11th 2011, 16:57 GMT Fortec has signed Italian Formula 3 champion Cesar Ramos to join ex-GP3 driver Alexander Rossi in what it believes is its strongest ever Formula Renault 3.5 line-up. Ramos spoke to AUTOSPORT from Florianopolis in southern Brazil about the season ahead. Q. Related posts:
  1. F1: Italian F3 drivers get Ferrari F1 test Italian F3 drivers get Ferrari F1 test By Matt Beer...
  2. FR3.5: BVM Target to join FRenault 3.5 BVM Target to join FRenault 3.5 By Peter Mills Friday,...
  3. FR3.5: FR3.5 teams set for extra test FR3.5 teams set for extra test By Peter Mills Thursday,...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Source: http://doxcar.com/fr35-q-and-a-with-cesar-ramos/

Bobby Labonte Terry Labonte Kevin Conway Joe Nemechek

F1: Petrov ready to take bigger role

Petrov ready to take bigger role By Jonathan Noble and Steven English Thursday, February 10th 2011, 19:03 GMT Vitaly Petrov says he is ready to take on the increased level of responsibility that has been thrust onto him at Renault in the wake of Robert Kubica's absence. Kubica could be out for the 2011 season following the serious injuries he sustained in a rally crash at the weekend, and that means Petrov's input to the outfit will be more vital than before. And although the likely signing of Nick Heidfeld as his new team-mate will mean Renault still has an experienced pair of hands to rely upon, Petrov says he feels qualified enough to step up to help the team move forwards. Related posts:
  1. F1: Petrov hopeful of easier second season Petrov hopeful of easier second season By Steven English and...
  2. F1: Renault hails Petrov’s performance Renault hails Petrov's performance By Edd Straw and Pablo Elizalde...
  3. F1: Petrov gets new two-year Renault deal Petrov gets new two-year Renault deal By Matt Beer Wednesday,...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Source: http://doxcar.com/f1-petrov-ready-to-take-bigger-role/

Kevin Lepage Hyatt Place Richmond Airport Toyota Ricky Stenhouse Jr Citifinancial Ford

Ten Years After: Inside Daytona Hospital, Tony Stewart Was a Witness to Grief

Filed under: , , , ,

More often than you'd guess, Tony Stewart calls up the YouTube video of his wild, death-defying crash in the closing laps of the 2001 Daytona 500. But not for reasons you might think.

In the short video clip, he watches his orange No. 20 get hit from behind on the massive Daytona International Speedway backstretch, turning it directly toward 200-mph oncoming traffic. As the rear of Stewart's Chevrolet catches air and starts to launch vertically, cars take evasive action.

That's where Stewart pauses the video. He even has a still photograph of this very moment (right).

Just as Stewart's car lifts off the ground -- seconds before he endures violent barrel rolls and smashes into a half-dozen cars -- the black No. 3 Chevrolet escapes through the smoke and frenzy unscathed. Its driver, Dale Earnhardt, heads to the front of the field to contend for the win. As usual.

"That's the part that bothers me the most,'' Stewart explained in an exclusive interview with AOL FanHouse, speaking in depth about that fateful Feb. 18, 2001 afternoon when NASCAR champion Dale Earnhardt was killed on the final lap of the Daytona 500.

"It's like, if I could have just nicked him on the way by, would it have changed things just enough to keep his accident later from happening? There's no way anyone would ever wreck and think about hitting someone else believing it would do any good. I was along for the ride.




"But, it was just like, what if?'' Stewart adds, shaking his head, lowering his voice and making eye contact for emphasis. "If you looked at the two wrecks, you would have swore I was the one. ... that if one of the guys passed away, you'd have swore it was from my crash, not his.

"Like a parent or, really, any person that loses a loved one, it makes you think of things that aren't realistic, but I always see that picture and think what would have happened if I had clipped him just a little then, would it have changed all this?''

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Source: http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2011/02/09/ten-years-after-inside-daytona-hospital-tony-stewart-was-a-wit/

FedEx Office Toyota Tony Stewart Old Spice Office Depot Chevrolet Jeff Green

Ten Years After: Remembering Dale Earnhardt's Fatal Crash

Filed under: , , , ,


EDITOR'S NOTE: Ten years ago on Feb. 18, we lost Dale Earnhardt. NASCAR President Mike Helton used those very words that day - "we lost Dale Earnhardt" - in making the announcement that shocked and saddened people like no other death in American motorsports. It was a national tragedy - Earnhardt's photo appeared on the covers of Time and Newsweek - and it reflected the fact that during his amazing career, the sport had grown from its regional roots into a major national sport, in good measure because of his exploits.

Starting today and continuing for eight days, FanHouse is proud to present a series entitled Ten Years After - The Untold Stories. Most of these stories about that fateful day or about Earnhardt's career have either never been told or are recalled in greater detail than ever before. In this story, FanHouse's Senior Motorsports Writer Holly Cain recalls that fateful day.

Peering through binoculars from a seat in the Daytona International Speedway press box -- seven stories above the famous track's finish line -- I watched driver Ken Schrader climb from his wrecked car and run a few feet over to Dale Earnhardt's crumpled Chevy at the conclusion of the 2001 Daytona 500.

It was the final lap, and their cars had collided and hit the turn 4 wall before coming to rest on the infield grass.

Schrader's urgent gestures to the safety crew and then his body language -- turning away from the wreckage -- was unusual for the normally controlled veteran.

I vividly remember the sickening feeling as I realized that Dale Earnhardt might be seriously injured.

I will never forget watching a then 26-year old Dale Earnhardt Jr. running down pit lane towards his dad's car a good half-mile away. The pure joy he experienced five minutes earlier as the runner-up finisher in the Daytona 500 -- his career best -- was replaced with anxiety and fear.

Once the rescue workers arrived at Earnhardt's famous black No. 3 and assessed the situation, it felt as if everyone was moving too slowly. The ambulance -- headed to the hospital just across the street -- left the scene -- and wasn't rushed. The wrecker was in no hurry.

Then, the telltale sign: track workers unrolled a large tarp. After a decade of covering the sport, I knew the tarp was used to cover and cloak race cars in fatal accidents.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Source: http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2011/02/08/ten-years-after-remembering-dale-earnhardts-fatal-crash/

Innes Ireland Eddie Irvine Chris Irwin Jean Pierre Jabouille

NASCAR Announces New Points Format, Chase Changes, New Qualifying Rules

Filed under: , ,

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Citing the need to make the championship format "simpler," NASCAR chairman Brian France formally introduced a new points system for the three national touring series Wednesday and also announced slight changes to the Chase for the Sprint Cup playoff format and race qualifying procedures.

As has been rumored during the last two weeks, the new points payout will be 43-to-1 -- paying 43 points to the race winner with each position decreasing in one-point intervals, with a single point going to last place in the 43-car fields.

The race winner will also receive a three-point bonus. There are one-point bonuses available for leading one lap and for the driver who leads the most laps, meaning there is a maximum of 48 points available for a race winner who leads the most laps.

"So now everyone will know, when a driver is down by 10 points, that he needs to pass 11 more cars to take the lead in the point standings,'' France told a crowded room of reporters at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in downtown Charlotte.

"Very much a simple, easy to understand system for us."

In other significant news, France announced the third major change to the Chase playoff format since its inception eight years ago. The top 10 drivers in points after the 26-race regular season will qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. And in an effort to emphasize winning, NASCAR will now make the 11th and 12th place Chase qualifiers the drivers outside the top-10 with the most wins -- giving it a sort of wild-card feel.

The top-10 drivers will be reseeded as before, with a three-point bonus given for each win, compared to the 10-point bonus previously handed out. The 11th and 12th place drivers will be reseeded but will not receive bonus points for their wins.

"These guys are going to be driving like their hair is on fire,'' Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage said.

"Give NASCAR credit for placing the emphasis on winning races with the new points system. The points championship should be secondary to winning races week in and week out. If you do that, championships take care of themselves."

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Source: http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2011/01/26/nascar-announces-new-points-format-chase-changes-new-qualifyin/

BigSpot com Toyota Carl Long Willie Allen Cash America Chevrolet