Fans injured at Daytona

It's one way the infield happens, and I do know there are tunnels there, but they're in the turns, not on the flatter parts of the track.

 

Not sure I get what that distinction has to do with anything, but OK.

 

I guess he is pointing out you can put a tunnel under one of the built-up turns rather than actually go below ground level.

 

Yes. The top of the track in the turns is higher than the trees that surround the track, so the tunnels through the turns don't have to go under the water table. The gates in the fence are also needed for day-to-day use by track staff during non-race events. The tunnels are a good mile apart, so if one was to have to walk from the grandstand at the start/finish line to one of the turns, back to the garage, it would take 30 minutes. Engineers can come up with a way to make the gates as strong as the rest of the fence for a lot less money than it would take to build a tunnel.

 

I ask this in all seriousness, are we sure the seriously injured fans were injured because the fence failed? Just from a cursory look at several of the videos that are available, it looks as if the tire that did the most damage went over the fence (and at an odd angle, at that). Not trying to be an apologist in the least here, but to me it looks as if the catch fence did what it was supposed to do. Could it be higher, extended further out, etc.? Sure. But I'm not sure this wasn't a very, very freaky thing.

 

The tire cleared the fence by a good margin. About the only way that gets stopped is putting a batting cage style roof around the entire track.

 

Solid piece in USA Today.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nascar/2013/02/24/crash-safety-daytona-500-improvements/1944551/

One glaring exception:

I about threw up in my mouth when I read that. NASCAR quick to respond to safety issues? Like the fast response to the basilar skull fracture deaths? Or the six years it took to develop the CoT? Or the delay in getting on board with SAFER barriers?

 

As far as the gate goes - don't you have to have those in fences that basically enclose fans from one side as an emergency release value in case a crush scenario happens? It's far, far, far less likely to happen in areas with assigned seating (as opposed to the people-pens that were involved in some of the famous European soccer crushes), but I would assume there is some regulation out there that specifies how many gates you hae to have and how spread apart them must be per fenced-in area.

Though as several have mentioned above, the most dangerous object in this mess (the tire) cleared the fence, so the gate is obviously a non-factor with at least that piece of it.

 

What sheared off that flying wheel assembly?

 

I haven't figured out whether the tire that flew into the stands was the left front or right front. But it probably hurt only a few people, one or two, maybe four tops.

It seems like most people are focusing on the tire, and if the stands had been more crowded, it no doubt would have killed one or more people. But most of the 30+ people injured were hit by flying metal and/or hot liquids.

If the upper part of the fence had remained intact, it might have caught the tire. I've watched the video a couple of times, and it seems like the car impacted the fence, tearing it down as it went, and then a bit later the flying tire lofted out of there.

 

I suspect it was compromised early in the crash, then when the car twisted in the fence the momentum slung it upwards and over the fence.