I'll tell you what, if I were Ricky Craven, I'd have sent a thank you card to Jimmy Horton after this wreck. If it hadn't been for Horton's ride over the wall there (in that exact same spot) in 1993, then Craven would've gotten LAUNCHED out of the track in this one...and it could have very well killed him. His car didn't hit the wall like Horton's did, it bounced over the concrete and caught nothing but fence. Without the fence, he'd have gotten some crazy air leaving the track.
A higher speed version of Cale's wreck from Darlington in the 1960s. Kyle Larson in 2013 is another example. Or what about Austin Dillon in 2015 at the end of the 400 at Daytona? Jimmy Horton is inadvertently a huge lifesaver in racing.
SMIFF TV You’re absolutely right. So many more things could have also gone wrong here. Had he have landed back down on top of a car that was below him, the change in momentum could have sent him flying around who knows where. Possibly hitting in a sensitive spot, getting pinballed around again. Just scary.
I disagree. Horton walked away easily from his wreck. He rolled UP three stories of banking and DOWN another three. Hitting a cheese grater and being flung back into 200 mph traffic...I'll take the roll overs.... Now, you can't do anything about fencing near stands but I was surprised when the 'Dega corner fencing went up.
@@supertornadogun1690 while that's true, a flip into a fence is not common and always very scary. We did have Neil Bonnett legit wreck into a catchfence later in the race Jimmy Horton cleared the wall with .
ESPN SPEEDWORLD was just tops. Satellite Feeds are fantastic. THIS was the best SportsCoverage Team in the history of NASCAR Racing….excellent announcers.
Not just with Sterling either. Ernie Irvan whole a lot of plate races in the early 90s driving for Morgan McClure at Daytona and Talladega. Ironically, Marlin's first ever career win at the 1994 Daytona 500 saw him defeat the old driver of the 4, Ernie Irvan.
the Morgan -McClure team had it down hard....but damn!... that day at Talladega Sterling was a cat playing with mice,,,,,holy crap that was that a strong car! I was at that race...at will Sterling could take that car to the front and run away anytime he wanted.
Bill Elliot's wrecked car from this race was a fixture at a Williamsport, Pa McDonalds for some reason. Unfortunately it was removed a few years ago but it was kind of cool to see.
1:29:34 Bill doesn't appear to be seriously injured....nothing but a broken femur 🦴 at his hip socket and a crushed hip. Minor injury 🙄 Y'all need to read Elliott's autobiography. The chapter called "Safety Worst!" He describes the clowns handling this accident and how they were hurting him getting him out of the car with his leg and hip completely broken!
I remember watching this race. I was so glad to hear Craven was ok. It's amazing and such a relief when drivers survive these crashes. Such a heartbreak when they don't. RIP to all the drivers who gave their all to entertain us.
I was there and every other race at Dega in the 90's. Remember this one like yesterday. Ricky Craven's car from this wreck is on display at the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in Talladega. It is located outside of turn 4 on Speedway boulevard if anyone ever makes it to Talladega and would like to see it in person. Its really amazing to see it up close and to know he survive
That's why they both only won a handful of races their entire careers... Almost 1,800 career Cup races combined between the 2 of them, only 45 combined Cup victories...
That was one crazy race. I can't remember any other race in cup where multiple drivers were airlifted to the hospital! The person operating the camera near turn 3 did a spectacular job that day catching these accidents. Especially Craven's car all the way over in turn 1!
These old races are just better. Looks like Mark Martin's car starts pushing going into the tri-oval at 2:23:33 as he nearly gets into Labonte, then a few seconds later starts to get into Gordon. With just a little assistance and crowding from the bottom the big one couldn't be avoided. However, it does seem to be clear that Martin violated Gordon's space/line, whatever the reason.
My God, how many tries did it take for John Kernan to get out the story about the 14:1 compression engines? He spent more time calling the action on the track than telling us what Marlin said about them. Hey John, that's Bob and Ned's job there.
Just listen to the shock and disbelief at 2:28:52 This is still without a doubt one of, if not, *the* worst crash at Talladega Superspeedway in NASCAR history.
Like Dale Earnhardt and DEI in the late 90’s to mid 2000’s, Morgan McClure were a dominant superspeedway team in the early to mid 90’s. They also had 3 Daytona 500 wins.
"That's a big bug!" with 21 to go! :-p That thing couda punctured a radiator. Then again, at 200mph, it mighta just been a flea, that made a B-I-G splat! :-D
yup ..racing is a tough business....I saw his wreck live at Talladega that day...damn scary...I was so happy for him to battle back and get that great and amazing win at Darlington in that amazing duel with Busch...one of the greatest finishes in all of racing history.
I was at that race, in the Talledega Grandstand, 10 rows up from the track and about 30 seats from the edge, very close to turn 1, that wreck started right in front of me, the first puff of smoke and dust, saw so much of it carry into turn 1, but it was the sounds of steel getting torn that was incredible....the terrible thing was Craven sliding across the track onto the apron , after his airborne expedition, getting nailed hard .. from my vantage point it looked like he got hit square in the drivers door...everyone around saw the same thing, it got very quiet in the stands...most thought we had just witnessed a fatality......
Jeff Gordon would say in later interviews that at the time it was the 'longest wreck' he had ever been in. He also mentioned the sound; and I imagine given where he was when Ricky got into the fence; that was what he was hearing.
Gordons car came past on a flat bed...every panel was destroyed...many thought it was his move going into Turn 1 that got Martin loose and sideways and into Craven getting him lifted just enough to go completely airborne.....it was insane how fast it happened and how much ground Craven covered while in the air..an 1/8th of a mile maybe...
Kind of interesting that they had the spotters there along the backstretch inside wall. Makes sense since there was no where to stand in the backstretch grandstands.
Most of the time when you're hearing that, they have broken for commercial. This is the raw satellite feed so you hear everything they are doing when away for a commercial
Controversy arose before the race started. NASCAR decided to test Ernie Irvan's engine on the dynamometer after he won the pole. It was over-revved & blown up as a result. Ernie struggled in the race finishing 31st & was among those involved in "The big one"
Four main players in plate racing from the mid 90's to the end of the decade, that was Earnhardt, Marlin, Jarrett & Jeff Gordon. Dale Earnhardt finished 2nd to each one of them in the Daytona 500, Marlin in particular drove a lot harder whenever he was behind Earnhardt, he almost would never follow him for very long, he would almost immediately look for a way around him. He didn't do this with other drivers...
How did you her these satellite feeds? Also do you have one of the 2001 Daytona 500? Would like to know what’s said at the end when they went to commercials while Earnhardt was being cut out of car.
Raw satellite feeds of any broadcast are hard to come by in today’s age, as those which were from yesteryear were only captured by a select few, and an even smaller group properly captured them and saved them for future generations. The 2000 season saw the final broadcasts of any of them, as the new television deal most likely brought about an end to how each network aired their races.
Dang Bill was lucky he did not flip a bunch times what a crazy wreck, I was 9 in 96 and use to have all the 1:64inch die cast cars and would have my own race while watching 😆 Dale use to when all my races 😆
The crazy thing is, they probably wouldn't have had the fence there in 1996 if it wasn't for Horton in '93. By the looks of it, Craven's car would've launched even farther and higher than Horton did (had the fence not been there). Horton creamed the wall and then tumbled over it, whereas Craven completely cleared the wall and went directly into the fence. If I were Craven, I'd have sent a nice thank you card to Horton after this lol
I was at the race, very close to turn1....it was not the airborne show that scared the livin' hell outta everybody...it was the shot Craven took after he finally came back down to earth as he was sliding across the apron...it was HARD and appeared to be right in the drivers door by Elton Sawyer's car...damn it happened FAST....one second its just great fun racing...two seconds later its just ...holleeee crap! who just got killed!?
The broadcasters thinking Bill should just get out of the car walking like he shouldn't be hurt after how brutally hard the car came down on the ground was pretentious as hell. I think he got a broken leg.
3:40:54 I didn't think you had to tell Terry Labonte you go faster nose to tail, not side by side. Him and Earnhardt could have caught the leaders at the end.
GMA Network witnessed Ricky Craven's wild ride at the 1996 Winston Select 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on April 29, 1996. Craven's wild ride that rocked the 16th year of NASCAR Racing on Philippine Television was jointly produced by Television and Production Exponents, Inc. and SilverStar Communications, Inc. as it was also aired on Citynet Television 27, DZBB 594 Radyo Bisig Bayan, and Campus Radio 97.1 WLS FM
@@WildDiamond07 he wasn’t on the air at the time. And its a fair enough response for that big of a crash. The fans in stands would have said 100x worse.
Unreal how Gordons car wasnt one of the cars scheduled to go on Dynometer. Ill betya nascar let Hendrick know ahead of time what they were going to do. Gordons average finish GOING INTO this race in last 6 races…1.6. People i know were losing interest fast and stopped watching.
2:23:44 wow, oh ooh ooh ooh ooh! Markie yep mark mark Martin Jeff Gordon oh shit! Oh my god who is it? Wow everything, >> A Bad Crash here at talledega just a very very bad crash mark Martin is involved