Freelance Writing Jobs | Today's Articles | Sign In

Articles
Writers
 
Browse Sections
Home NASCAR

Adam Petty, 1980--2000


Un-answered questions, and condolences for a fallen son.





Tragedy................ Un-answered Questions

The untimely death of Adam Petty is a shock to all of us. The first question to pop into mind is "why?" What happened? There were reports from drivers on the track during the practice session that alluded to Adam's throttle sticking wide open. The linkage return spring could have broke, or come unhooked, or whatever. This has happened recently to Kenny Wallace, causing his racecar to shoot head-on into the wall when he let off the accelerator to enter a turn. Ward Burton also had a similar problem this season concerning his throttle linkage spring. The spring was too weak, and he couldn't feel the gas pedal during the race, and had to make a pit stop to have the weak spring replaced.

The throttle linkage system is mandated by NASCAR. Teams have to use the mandated set-up, or suffer the wrath of NASCAR by being fined or suspended. I think it's ridiculous to balance the life of a driver, and a quarter of a million dollar racecar, on a 79 cent throttle return spring. NASCAR needs to come up with a better throttle linkage system. With all of the modern technology out there in the world today, there's no excuse for the use of the present antiquated system, regardless if that's what caused Adam's crash or not.

Adam could also have suffered the wrath of a blown tire. This malady has also taken its grim toll on drivers, and there's really nothing that can be done about it. The racing tires, with their inner liners, are about as safe a tire as is available these days. You can't blame Goodyear, or NASCAR, if a tire gets cut on the track. Safety personnel and drivers are constantly looking at the track, and report any foreign objects that may have fallen from the racecars, or may have been tossed onto the track by a fan.

At any rate, NASCAR has impounded the Petty Enterprises racecar, and will investigate the crash to try and come up with a cause, and a solution, to prevent it from happening again. Hopefully, within a few weeks, we'll get some positive news on this grim situation.





Mother's Day Weekend.......... No Racing?

Needless to say, what a terrible Mother's Day weekend for the Petty family. Patti Petty's future Mother's Days will be filled with a feeling of great loss, and the remembrance of this fateful weekend. Should NASCAR move the date for the New Hampshire Bush race? That's probably an unpopular question, but I know it's on a lot of people's minds. It will be interesting to see if NASCAR addresses this.
The copyright of the article Adam Petty, 1980--2000 in NASCAR is owned by Thomas M. Sampson. Permission to republish Adam Petty, 1980--2000 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Go To Page: 1 2

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic