Left Turn Louie: Talledega Will Be Deadly

Just prior to Sunday's Aaron's 499 at Talladega, I was all set to write something really funny about the race. After all, this is the speedway that proclaimed setting a new "Mass Chicken Dance" record as one of its major goals for the weekend.

But then it happened! No, I'm not referring to the Chicken Dance record, but to "The Big One"...Carl Edwards and his #99 Potential WMD spinning, flipping, and flying into the...AHEM...safety fence. This near-deadly incident continued the long history of "Big Ones" at Talladega.

One could have found plenty of fodder for humor, given Edwards' scrambling out of his battered "cruise missile" to playfully jog across the finish line, a la "Ricky Bobby." However, there is absolutely nothing funny about eight spectators being injured due to the crash, including one with a reported broken jaw and one with a suspected heart attack.

The last-lap crash was precipitated by Edwards' attempt to cut down on a surging Brad Keselowski, the eventual winner. Rather than complete the pass below the yellow line, which is an illegal move at Talladega, Keselowski held his line and bumped the left-rear of Edwards' car, which spun and then spiraled into the air from the subsequent contact with third-place finisher Ryan Newman.

Drivers such as Ryan Newman, Dale Jr and even Edwards say that the problem at Talledega stems from a combination of the "Car of Tomorrow...Today...Yesterday...Whatever" and the restrictor plate mandate at that track. They say that the new car bunches everyone up too closely together. They also say the car and the restrictor plate limitation makes it impossible to go fast at Talladega unless you bump-draft pretty much all the way around the track.

Jim Hunter, NASCAR's vice president of corporate communications, says the new "COT" is the safest one developed yet. He also (weirdly) said that the safety fence at Talladega held and did its job Sunday when it rebuffed Edwards' No. 99 back onto the race track. MEMO TO JIM-BOB: Eight spectators were injured!

Edwards, despite his "Ricky Bobby" comedy routine, was visibly shaken during post-race interviews. He lamented, "NASCAR just puts us in this box, and we'll race like this until we kill somebody, and then they'll change it...I'm glad the car didn't go up in the grandstands. I don't know if I could live with myself if I ended up in the grandstands."

Racing is a dangerous sport. The drivers know this and accept the risks. But when "The Big One" occurs over and over, year after year at the same track, something ought to register in someone's head at "NASCAR Central Command." Spectators also know that racing is a dangerous sport.

However they don't expect to have to dodge flying debris (and entire cars) while attending races. They also don't...nor should they...expect to be injured or killed...of which the latter will surely eventually happen at Talladega unless significant changes are made.