Hard to believe that no one asked anything about Mark Martin's wreck Sunday while leading the race.?
What are some suggestions for protecting the safety of both the drivers and the people behind the wall opening? I would suggest that they install a gate to be closed during all green flag laps and opened after a yellow or red flag is displayed. This would protect the Driver from the pit wall openings and anyone behind the openings from the car and driver, it would also allow emergency vehicles on the track at the appropriate times..
Grizzly Man2012-08-21T05:29:56Z
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A gate didn't stop Michael Waltrip from tearing his car in half at Bristol several years ago. Each track looks at these openings and chages them as situations arise. This is high speed racing and cars crash it is almost impossible to predict what may happen and where, sometimes it has to happen before anyone realizes that particular wall opening maybe hazardous.
They can leave the openings, but they should be curved. All openings on the inside wall at any track should be curved. Either that, or they should be closed off by some sort of gate unless a safety vehicle or car needs to get through.
They've raced at Michigan for decades, and other tracks with openings like this. I've watched NASCAR for about 20 years now and this is the first time I've ever seen a crash like this. The odds of it happening are pretty astronomical.
The only thing I think could really help is to make the wall curved instead of a sharp edge.