Talladega track officials still evaluating performance of catch fence
Roush Fenway Racing's Carl Edwards bounces off the fence during the Aaron's 499 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway. // David Griffin, NASCAR Scene
Talladega Superspeedway officials are still investigating whether any improvements should be made to the track’s fencing after Carl Edwards flew into the catch fence during the Aaron’s 499 Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway.
Edwards was trying to block Phoenix Racing’s Brad Keselowski coming toward the finish line and ended up getting slightly into the air while spinning before being rammed by Stewart-Haas Racing’s Ryan Newman, which sent Edwards’ Roush Fenway car flying into the catch fence. The car landed back on the track, and seven spectators were injured from debris. One spectator, whom track doctors said suffered a possible fractured jaw and face laceration, remained in the hospital in fair condition Wednesday.
Track engineers from both Talladega and sister track Daytona International Speedway, the two high-banked tracks where NASCAR requires the use of restrictor plates to limit speeds, have spent the last few days looking at the fence trying to determine if any improvements could be made.
“As far as everything working, we can say the fencing and the cabling and everything did what it was designed to do – and that was to save the race car and put it back on the race track and keep it out of the stands,” track President Rick Humphrey said Wednesday. “From that standpoint, it appears to have worked well. Is there anything that we can do to eliminate some of those injuries that did occur? That we haven’t landed on yet, and we will continue to look at that.
“We’re only a couple of days past the event, but it certainly is something that we will look at all options to see what, if anything, can be or needs to be done to prevent the injuries that we did have.”
Humphrey said it is still unclear what hit the fans – debris from the car or debris from the fence.
“We still do not know that, and I don’t know that we ever will unless someone comes forward and says they saw it,” Humphrey said. “I don’t know that we’ll ever know that.”
Daytona International Speedway President Robin Braig said his engineers didn’t recommend any changes to the Daytona fencing after examining the Talladega scene. Both tracks are owned by International Speedway Corp., which has its own track construction company that handles improvements to the tracks.
“We sent a crew up there to learn what happened, what held, what the incident was all about,” Braig said. “They report the SAFER barrier held up, the mesh, the catch fence and the poles, and everything worked as designed.
“Unfortunately some of the debris got through. We feel confident that we’re in great shape and do not need any changes in Daytona in advance of the Coke Zero 400.”
The Talladega fences are 14 feet high from the top of the banking, and Humphrey said the fence height will be evaluated as part of the accident-review process. NASCAR could ask the tracks to increase the height of the fences. NASCAR Vice President for Competition Robin Pemberton said Monday that while everything will be re-evaluated, he believes the fence is high enough.
“To date, NASCAR has not made any request to Rick or myself for any changes,” Braig said. “I think an awful lot of stars had to line up for this incident to happen the way it did. As we reviewed the video, the [car] flaps worked, and it was on its way back down to the ground until the 39 car [of Newman] came and punted it back up in the air.
“It was clearly a very rare incident. We’re comfortable with what NASCAR has done with the restrictor plates and being able to keep the cars on the track and out of the stands. We don’t plan any changes.”
Before every race weekend, track engineers check the steel cables and bolts in the fence and the cables that go into the blocks of concrete, Braig said.
Crews have already made some repairs. With the crash happening at the end of the race, there was no need to get the fence repaired for more racing. But ISC officials thought it would make for a good exercise, and the fence was repaired well enough in two hours to meet the track’s safety standards for racing.
Humphrey said it took a couple of hours to fix to be race ready.
“Posts were bent, so it created some challenges we don’t typically see during our practice runs,” Humphrey said.
Humphrey and Braig said they have not gotten any requests from fans who hold tickets in the lower rows for future races to be moved to higher seats. The seats closest to the track are typically the lowest-priced tickets for that part of the track.
“It’s amazing because I have stood down there at the end of several races at the start-finish line, and the folks sitting down [close], they’re just passionate about their sport,” Humphrey said. “There are fans who do enjoy sitting down there and as the cars go by, feeling the air as they go. It can be quite a rush.”
Braig believes his ticket sales have received a boost from the Talladega race in general and the Edwards crash. Daytona has not had fans injured by debris during a race since a 1999 Truck Series race when Geoffrey Bodine was in a horrific accident in the first race for that series at the track.
“We always get a [sales] lift after a Talladega race, and we had a much bigger lift than usual following this past race,” he said. “It was the entire [race], the 57 lead changes and that finish. There are some that are very hard-core superspeedway fans, and they called Monday morning.”
