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Restrictor Plates Take Toll at Talladega

© Thomas M. Sampson

NASCAR mandates restrictor plates for safety reasons. It is SAFE to say that they are dangerous! Restrictor plates are mounted between the carburetor and the intake manifold for the sole purpose of reducing the flow of air and fuel into the engine. By limiting the flow of mixture it reduces the horsepower causing the race car to go slower. Those slower speeds allow the entire field to stay together as one pack. As we have seen over the last few years one group of tightly packed cars racing inches apart at speeds close to 200 mph ends up with nothing but carnage. When cars are so close together going that fast the slightest error can cause a severe crash involving a very large portion of the field.

"This is not good racing. You can talk about it all you want, it's not good racing." - Dale Earnhardt Seven Time Champion

Another danger, as we saw Sunday during the Die Hard 500 at Talladega, is that lesser drivers get caught up in the excitement and make amateur mistakes. As Ricky Rudd driver of the #10 Tide car said Sunday, "the tempo built up and some of them just got in over their heads." He was referring to a 20-car pileup on lap 141 where Ward Burton let his car drift off the 33-degree banking on to the flat apron of the race track causing his car to shoot up in to the #3 car.

That crash saw Bill Elliott's #94 McDonalds car flip on to its side and be pinned to the wall by Dale Earnhardt's #3 car with the two cars scraping and grinding at 190 mph down the track. Luckily no one was seriously injured...this time. Earnhardt had his goggles melted and second degree burns on his face, while Elliott suffered from a bruised sternum.

The crash was so violent and destructive that it took NASCAR cleanup crews 27 minutes under red flag conditions (all cars were parked) to sort out the mess and clear the track. Some of the drivers involved in the crash were Ken Schrader #33, Bobby Hamilton #4, Mark Martin #6, Chad Little #97, Kyle Petty #44, Ricky Rudd #10, John Andretti #43, Derrike Cope #30, Michael Waltrip #21, and several others. Miraculously all the cars except Elliott's that were involved managed to return to the track and run a few more laps in the quest for points. Unfortunately some of those were side lined for running too slow.

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