One year later for NASCAR's COT – Safety put to the test in Jeff Gordon’s and Michael McDowell’s wrecks.

In NASCAR’s eye’s, safety is #1 and for years now, if something happens on track, NASCAR, drivers and the teams are the first to respond with how to fix it and make it safer if it were to happen again. One of the reasons why NASCAR created the COT was to address the ever growing problems with safety, they wanted a new car that put safety at the forefront of the sport and after the two crashes that happened so far this season, the COT has held up well.

When it comes to the safety of the Car of (Tomorrow) Today being put to the test, two wrecks come to mind, the first one happened towards the late stages of the Las Vegas 400, Jeff Gordon came off of turn 2 and lost the car due to a wreck and slowing car in front of him and in turn hit the inside wall that didn’t have a SAFER Barrier on it and the wreck tore apart the front end, however Gordon did walk away. That crash sparked more in safety with why wasn’t there a safer barrier there, but the car did its job.

The second wreck came yesterday afternoon at Texas Motor Speedway when during qualifying, Michael McDowell in the #00 on his second qualifying lap went into turn 1 and lost the rear end and the car went head on in to the outside wall with SAFER Barrier and sent his car flipping down the track and once the car finally came to rest, moments later Michael McDowell climbed out and walked to away. Safety, both wrecks showed the front end and/or the rear end completely destroyed, but the drivers cockpit was fully in tacked (together) and for all that, I have to give credit to NASCAR and the smart people involved in creating a safer COT Cup car and the SAFER Barrier. Something to note, in both cases, both of these cars including Jeff Gordon's Las Vegas wrecked car and Michael McDowell's Texas wreck cars were taken back to the NASCAR R&D Center in N.C.. Not surprising at all, it would surprise more if they didn't. It is standard practice.

The photo on right is Michael McDowell's #00 Cup car following his vicoius crash, what's left. (Photo Credit: Foxsports.com/Larry Papke - Associated Press )

With that said, David Poole has writen on Michael McDowell's wreck and had something very interesting to say including this quote: "Let's be clear about this. Dale Earnhardt saved Michael McDowell's life Friday." Do I agree with Poole's comments, yes, one thing that struck me about McDowell's wreck, it reminded me alot of Dale Earnhardt's wreck at the 2001 Daytona 500 that killed him, however thankfully this time, it had different results.

Now as the seventh race of the 2008 Cup Series season sets to go green in Texas, three safety issues should be addressed by NASCAR, first, one issue that crew chiefs have noticed is that during a pit stop, when a crew member goes to clean the front grill opening below the bumper, their hands while cleaning can get stunk between the cables that adjust the front splitter height anywhere from 4-6 inches. The solution could be to remove the cables and move the front grill out like on the Chevrolet Corvette pictured below or like on the old cup cars and adjust through springs and shocks.


Image was taken by me with a Kodak EasyShare DX6490

The second issue is at the racetracks themselves, tracks need to line the inside walls with safer barriers even where they think a car can’t go and adjust the openings for the safety vehicles, because more than likely, the cars will find a way to get in those spots.

And the third issue, the tires. This isn’t me bashing Goodyear, I could, but that would solve nothing, instead, I would like to hear and see what Goodyear plans to do about the tire issues. I noticed that during the 12 hours of Sebring, Michelin, who supplies tires to Audi, Peugeot, Acura, Porsche, Corvette and Ferrari, brought 5 different compounds (including one rain tire) to the track for the race for their teams… maybe Goodyear should supply a soft compound and a hard compound for teams to use during the race, that would make for an interesting race.

What about adding small groves to the tires to add more grip, Formula One uses them and their faster than a Cup car. Basically above are suggestions from this racing fan, not a tire specialized. Now I will leave you with this:

(From my previous post called “What is the biggest story to start the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season?”: The COT isn’t anything like the Nationwide car nor last year’s Cup Series car, it needs a totally different tire, nothing like what we have now, I like Ray Evernham’s suggestion on NASCAR Now, he said maybe it’s time for the COT to have a wider right side tire or a different size tire… Think about this, the Modified Tour Car that run at New Hampshire Motor Speedway among other tracks, run a wider right side tire and it looks like it works.

The Ray Evernham suggestion, the drivers, the teams, and the owners, they know what they are talking about, NASCAR and Goodyear need to listen to them. Comments.

If you enjoyed part two of One year later for NASCAR's COT, be sure to check out part one called “One year later for NASCAR's COT – Is it any better and what is the future?”

- Racedriven