Safety at Talladega Super Speedway

NASCAR (North America Stock Car Auto Racing) takes great pains, as a sanctioning body, to try to ensure the safety of race fans, but accidents happen.

Just ask 17-year old Blake Bobbitt, a first-time race spectator who attended the spring race at Talladega Super Speedway in April of 2009 at Talladega, Alabama.

In the closing lap of the 500-mile race, Bobbitt suffered a broken jaw after a crash that caused parts of a crumpled race car to hurl toward her through the catch fence.

It was in the last lap of the race when the #99 car driven by Carl Edwards who was in the lead, was bumped from behind as he was trying to block. His car went airborne just as Ryan Newman's #39 car was racing to the checkered flag along with the #88 of Dale Earnhardt Jr., and the #09 of Brad Keselowski.

After the initial impact, Edwards' car went airborne, flying into Newman's windshield, which propelled it even higher and into the fence. The fence held, but debris shot through it, hitting Bobbitt in the face. Several other fans were injured as well, though not severely.

Despite the injuries, the fence did its job by containing the bulk of the race. The catch fence is one of the many safety features that NASCAR provides to protect race fans.

Following that race, the fence was reinforced and its height increased.

This wasn't the first time a car at dizzying speeds went out of control and hit the fence at Talladega, one of the fastest race tracks on NASCAR's 36-race circuit.

In 1987, Bobby Allison blew a tire and his car barrel-rolled out of control, hitting the fence and injuring spectators. At that time, cars were hitting speeds well over 200 mph. The track record--212 mph--was achieved at that track that same year by driver Bill Elliott.

Allison's wreck brought about NASCAR's solution--restrictor plates--a device designed to reduce the air flow into the racecar's carburetor. The result is less horsepower and therefore, slower speeds.

Carl Edwards' crash in the spring race was eerily similar to that experienced by Allison more than two decades earlier.

Following the spring race, Ryan Newman, the only driver in the garage area with a college degree in structural engineering, chastised NASCAR for not doing enough to keep the cars on the ground.

Ironically, at the very next time a race was held at Talladega, Nov. 1, 2009, Newman was involved in a spectacular crash that resulted in his having to be extricated from his racecar. The wreck happened at speeds in excess of 190 mph. and also involved the racecar flying through the air.

Newman's crash did not endanger fans however, because the car flew to the inside of the track.

Newman has met with NASCAR officials who say they are working on innovations to prevent the cars from taking flight.