F1 Fans React to The Worst NASCAR Crashes of All Time 

The sound of the cars passing the grandstand and the reverberation of that sound physically impacting you is indescribable.

1:02 the last death in NASCAR was in 2001, the GOAT of NASCAR Dale Earnhardt died in the last lap of the Daytona 500 (NASCAR most important race of the year). Because of his death and the death of three drives before him in the previous year, NASCAR changed a lot of safety rules and the way the racecars are designed.

7:36 a NASCAR stockcar (that's the name of the style of racecar in NASCAR) weighs 3600 lbs (1635kg) they are heavy for a racecar. They are almost twice the weight of the 900kg weight of an F1 racecar.

0:18 All drivers involved were fine, but 30 people in the stands were injured from debris getting through the fence, one was struck in the head and suffered a fractured skull and traumatic brain injury (NASCAR was sued and they settled with the family) 2:00 Davey Allison(Died in 1993): Suffered a broken Collarbone, Arm, and Wrist as well as a concussion. He suited up the very next week, bloodshot eyes and all to race a few laps to at least qualify for driver points towards the championship, and just to shift the car, they had to velcro his hand to the shifter 4:38 The engine is what you saw on the first clip of the wreck that was flipping and breaking apart while on fire in the grass 5:17 Ricky Craven(Retired in 2006): Suffered a concussion and 2 cracked vertebra in his back 12:20 Darrell Waltrip (Retired in 2000): Suffered a broken Leg and Arm and a Concussion 13:05 Austin Dillon: Only complaint was being very sore after this. A handful of fans were examined and treated, some refused treatment, others got it at the care center at the track while one was taken to the hospital and was treated and released 13:40 Geoff Bodine (Retired in 2012): suffered a Concussion, burns, a fractured right cheek bone, fractured right wrist, fractured vertebra in the middle of his back, and fractured right ankle. And some fans were treated for burns and scrapes everyone else was fine

9:32 the main character in CARs is named Lighting McQueen and he is a NASCAR stockcar. Some of the real life NASCAR drivers at that time made cameos in the movie including The King Richard Petty voiced the character of the King, the blue car that Lighting helps finish his last race.

The tap on the side is basically like the PIT maneuver cops use.

When I worked for NASCAR race teams, the wreaked sheet metal, nose's, and tail's was usually donated to a charity who would then auction it off at a fund raiser. It was always fun to see something I helped build on the walls of NASCAR themed restaurants and bars. If the center section of the roll cage was bent, the entire chassis went to local scrap yards. If the center section was still good, we could cut the frame at the front and/or rear firewall and simply replace the front or rear area, which we called the front or rear clip. The only sheet metal we didn't sell was from the M&M's car with Kenny Shrader. No souvenirs from the crash at Daytona were Dale Earnhardt died. We had to take the entire car to a special metal recycler and observe it being completely shredded to ensure that the sickest NASCAR "Fans" never got their hands on any of it.

Thanks for reacting to that! Two things: 1. She's absolutely correct that if a car bumps another car straight square, not at an angle, it will in fact give both cars a little bit of advantage. The problems are a) bumping at an angle, or b) bumping in the corner. On a straightaway, no problem at all. 2. On his question, in wrecks like these, typically, everything goes in the trash bin, except possibly the motor block (less all it's parts inside), fuel cell, ballast weight, dashboard dials, transmission, and sometimes, wheels. The frame (and roll cage) are basically junk, due to a process of "diamonding", which is where something square is now a bit oblong (like a square to a diamond), and that is useless, so in the scrap pile it goes. Even the driver's seat would probably go, as the impact "rounds out" the holes where the seat is bolted to the frame. Even seatbelts go, as there is no effective way to test them for potential future failure. Besides, they are cheap.

These cars are not light. They weigh 3700 pounds

The truck crash at 13:30, was Geoff Bodine's last race, he survived the crash but was injured badly enough that he retired from auto racing. Last i knew he was designing bobsleds for the USA Olympic teams.

Nascar became more safe after the death of Dale Earnhardt in 2001. That’s when they introduced the Hans Device, and the safer barrier walls

Those drivers are protected by first the way car is built, their seat is comparable to a fighter plane’s with the five point restraints, the Hanns device to keep their head from snapping forward ( which killed Dale Earnhardt ) and bulletproof glass sheets on the wind shield. The fires you see are from the oil cooler and not the fuel tanks as they are completely reinforced.

Those 2 cars that were destroyed after hitting that gate are in a museum in Talladega, Alabama. The older crash actually bent the needle on 1 of the gauges.

Nascar saves would be cool to see here

The cars weigh. 3500lbs. as a driver in NASCAR’s ARCA Menards series and regional dirt racer I’d be happy to answer any questions.

When they wreck you want the car to keep moving and slow down to dissipate the energy it is the sudden stop that can seriously injury or kill brain spinal injuries

You should also react to the NHRA. DRAGSTERS, AND FUNNY CARS. THEY REACH 300 MPH IN 1/4 MILE. ALSO SOME HORRIFIC ACCIDENTS.

The first series to use the HANS device was Nascar and I believe ever series uses it now. The SAFER Barrier system was designed and used in Nascar I believe as well and other series now use some version of it as well. These cars are heavy so lots of speed and energy that needs to be dealt with during a wreck. The aerodynamics of these cars is actually a video you should check out sometime.

Drivers say they would rather flip than hit the wall. As the car flips it looses speed “gradually”, which is better than abruptly stopping in the wall.

Usually destroyed cars will be sent to junk yards, the junk yards will usually send the scrap steel/aluminum to refiners, as steel and aluminum can be melted down and reused.

You guys should check out stuff focusing on some of the greatest drivers. Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt Senior, and others.

During the Keslowski crash, when the lead car got spun from behind was because the car behind him was going a little faster and pushed into the spinout.

It was fun watching the two of you discover just a bit of the havoc that is a major crash at a NASCAR race. These cars and the way they are set up does result in some rather horrific looking crashes. But as others have already stated there has been no fatalities in the top 3 divisions since 2001 when Dale Earnheart lost his life in a crash at Daytona. And that is because of a number of major upgrades to the safety features. Not all of which show up in these videos. First - these cars are custom built and the roll-cage is the first part constructed. These are far more heavily reinforced than any roll-cage you'll find in a car that can be purchased to drive around town. There is more metal surrounding the driver, and in the majority of crashes, the cage survives largely intact. However, as part of that the front and rear sections of the car are very fragile by comparison so crashes can and do rip cars apart and look far worse than they really are. Second - the drivers sit in seats that are probably over-engineered. They are in a five point harness that makes it so that movement of anything other than their hands and feet is almost impossible. And that is before you consider the HANs devices (Head and Neck Restraint) that have been required since 2001 which are in there to prevent the head from snapping forward during a crash. There have been in car videos of crashes where the car flipped over and you can see the driver just along for the ride, but not getting thrown about. Third - one of the features you didn't really get to see is the panels on the cars that are designed to flip up to try to divert air flow and increase the downward pressure on the body of the car. It doesn't always work due to cars spinning, but this feature actually reduces how often cars become airborne in a crash. They've been around for a couple of decades and have proved their ability to protect the drivers. There are more such as rules regarding design and engine intended to limit the top speed of cars and to try to make them a bit more controllable when driving in a large pack. The races at Daytona and Talladega (where many of the crashes you watched occurred) actually have rules that include special plates installed on the engines to limit their maximum power and reduce the top speed of the cars. A huge part of why the cars are in such a tight pack there is due to the restrictor plates making it so that a car that is following another car gets a huge speed boost so even cars that would normally drop from the pack and eventually get lapped can stick with the pack, and the lead car has almost no ability to pull away from the pack due to the ability of other cars to "draft". It can make for compelling viewing, although recently the economics of the sport have turned too many races into parades with little passing.

One thing that's very common in NASCAR is what the drivers call 'trading paint'. Bumping another car to mess with another driver's concentration, and mostly not trying to wreck the other driver. And any driver that gets messed with, to both show that it didn't mean anything or to give a little payback, will return the favor. However, sometimes the initiator of a paint trade misjudges or gets a bit overzealous, and one or both cars are out of control. And as you saw in this video, because NASCAR rules try to keep the performance of the cars very similar, the cars tend to bunch up, so a wreck will end up taking several cars who either didn't know about the first wreck, were just too close to even react, or just had no place to go. And a recommendation, to learn a bit more about US oval track racing, you should check out open wheel dirt track racing, Midget cars, Sprint cars, Outlaw Sprint cars, and Modifieds. These are all grassroots type racing that are the feeder series that train future NASCAR drivers.

I totally agree that NASCAR has such a beautiful sound! You should definitely react to a 2014 highlight video, since that season had so much action and imo the best sounding engines

Yes they do reuse the parts that are salvageable, and in the first clip that was the 2013 Drive for COPD 300. There were multiple injuries in the grandstand. One had a tire land on his chest.

Davey Allison, the guy involved in the 2nd wreck shown actually died in a helicopter crash that he piloted.

A NASCAR race care has twice the weight of an F1 car with tires that are half as wide. Grip is a very fine line in NASCAR. Plus they survive the wrecks because of the roll cages and safer barriers. It’s a contact sport so they learned from tragedies of the past. R.I.P. Dale Earnhardt .

While I was at Dover Downs race track watching NASCAR. This was this was back about 30 years ago. It had the most wrecks at that track then and any other race in history there and in the grandstands next to me a tire flew off one of the cars and went into the stands and killed a spectator and injured a bunch of others. So not only are the drivers in danger but there's people there watching in the stands also have been hurt plenty of times.

You guys should attend the biggest race in NASCAR. It's in February at Daytona, Florida. Pay the extra money to do the track walk. I also recommend Bristol speedway. Shortest track on the schedule.

Hey guys! That Davey Allison crash.. the window net busted loose and there are pictures of his body and arms hanging out of the window! Next race he had to use velcro on the shifter to help him start the race before being relieved. . Broke his wrist I believe.. He was my favorite!

F1 people vs NASCAR people: the wine and cheese crowd vs the beer and peanuts crowd. Take your pick! I'm in the wine and cheese crowd, but still love powerful cars, whether F1 or NASCAR.

2:44 the drivers wear helmets and (since about 2001) Head And Neck Safety devices (HANS Device). The cars all have a tubular frame underneath the bodywork and some padding where a door would ordinarily be to minimize side impacts.

The clip you saw of Davey Allison was from 1992. They didn’t have all of the head protection that is mandatory now. Example the side braces. Also he died in a helicopter crash in 1993.

Some of these crashes are very old just so you know. The track surface at these larger tracks such as Daytona and Talladega are banked at a very steep angle. Almost impossible to walk up it. Yes, at those tracks they are just about 200 MPH. Also know that many small towns have local tracks typically one half mile in length. These hold races on Friday or Saturday nights through the summer months. Fastest class at those local tracks are known as Late Models. At my local track those Late Models come down the straights at 115 MPH. First time I went I thought there is no way they will make it through the turns but they do and they are so fun to watch I love them.

serious safety precautions taken for the drivers. like a 7point harness safety belt, helets,etc...

Also, they don't have to touch the car at these speeds. Cars get aero loose(meaning the air is taken off the back of the car so they lose grip, car feels like the wheels aren't on the ground) and they spin

Across the back of these cars is a fin. Due to the speed of these cars the wind hitting that fin put a lot of down pressure on the back of the cars. When another car pulls up on the rear of a car it changes the wind flow and makes the back of the car lighter (much less down force). Any little mistake can make a driver lose control of the vehicle, then the ride is on.

The pieces of the cars sometimes gets sold at the race shops to fans. Great to have in the man cave!

All about the aero that is why they are so close. the slipstream as it is known, and if you get out of line at the wrong time you lose the draft and go straight to the rear. So you must plan your passes very carefully. And since the cars are so evenly matched, It takes real planning and skill to pull off a pass.

None of these wrecks were fatal, and in fact most of the drivers involved walked away. The cars are NOT light...they weigh 3,500lbs, or a little under 1,600kg, more than double what a modern F1 car weighs, and they have WAY less downforce keeping them planted to the road. The main character in "cars" is lightning mcqueen, named after famous hollywood driver steve mcqueen

The head rest pieces didn't used to be there back in the 90s or what was there was very minimal. That design wasn't put into place until about the 2000s, so the old crashes were happening without that support, for better or worse.

The 3rd clip (myatt synder) pieces of the car ended up in micheal Jordan's bus lot parked there on the back stretch.

NASCAR used to let the scrapped cars go back to the teams. But over the last 15-20 years or so they’ve put policies in place that cars that are involved in crashes of this nature are taken by NASCAR to their R and D center to be examined. They try to find out what areas the cars performed the best and the worst at concerning safety. They use those findings to implement new safety measures into the rules for the cars.

7:18 they also wear a “Hans device” which basically bolts your helmet to you’re shoulders so your neck can’t move

Visit the Atlanta race if you have a chance! (Get there like 4 hours before the race, the real experience is all the pre-race activities!)

You guys should check out Dale Earnhardt. He was racing with his son Dale Jr. in the Daytona 500 on 2/18/2001. He was absolutely incredible.

Do the 24 hours of Le Mans history it’s a good one

When the cars are going at speed the tires only have a fraction of contact to the track, it doesn't take much to upset that grip.

My dad used to go to races in the 80’s and said he’d leave covered in black tire rubber due to the wear and tear.

Johnny Sauter saved Mike Harmon's life by at the last second pulling the wheel to get the car to go left instead of hitting right where Mike was in the car. nudging a car from either wheel will definitely get the cars to spin out but they aren't lite. 3600lbs, nearly twice a F1 car. The areo effects on the cars going sideways or backwards causes high pressure to build lifting the car like an airplane.

A couple of years ago my wife got me NASCAR ride around tickets, where one of the instructors would take you for 3 laps at 200 mph, it took about 5 minutes and it was awesome!

Yall should do sprint cars next

That Davey Allison wreck was pretty bad. But Davey raced the next weekend. In interviews the next day after the crash he had two black eyes.

I grew up with Kenny Irwin and was friends with him, his little sister and their family. He was killed in a practice session not long after making into NASCAR. It's definitely crazy dangerous.

Those cars are always right on the edge at all times. One wrong move and you get the big one

The big thing for F1 fans new to NASCAR to understand is the speed. An F1 car might touch 200mph once, briefly, per lap. NASCAR cars run average lap speeds of 200mph. Also, most crashed cars are repaired or scavenged for parts and scrapped, but if it's a notably insane crash where the driver doesn't die, they sometimes end up in a museum. Oddly, there's an uncommon but not unheard of tradition of burying cars involved in fatal crashes.

When police want to stop a car chase, they use a maneuver called a pit maneuver. The police tap the back left or right side of the runner's car to cause the runner to spin out. It looks very similar to many of these crashes. It makes one wonder if they're done on purpose in the races as well.

The pad on the right is to rest the helmet against it going through the corners to save the driver from fatigue and neck injury from the G Forces placed on the drivers body. Each G adds twice the weight of what it's effecting. That means a 15 lb helmet experiencing 3- G's suddenly weigh's 45 lb

There tend to be a lot of final lap wrecks because that’s when drivers bunched up will then make their move.

The Davey Allison flip the black 28 car that was back in the late 80’s or early 90’s before he passed in I believe a chopper crash. The cars back then didn’t have the same head support like the carshave now after Earnhardt crash that killed him.

Definitely have to react to the project 56 Nascar entry to the 2023 24hours at lemans ...it's amazing

No wreck will look as terrible as Elliot Sadlers accident when he drove the M&M car. That car flipped front over back and side over side for what seemed like forever but when he walked away without a scratch it was astounding. I thought for sure he was dead or mortally wounded but..not a scratch! Amazing!

In todays driving I know there are actually bolted in secure to the seat it’s incredibly hard to bounce around during a crash unless it’s very bad you may bounce a bit

Check out World of Outlaws Sprint Cars next. A lot of NASCAR drivers come up from dirt racing

Nascars without the side guards in the car would be bad, but with out the hans devices keeps them from having head trama

13:16 the driver involved in this crash Geoff Bodine said later on that he talked to his dad when the crash was going on & his dad died three years before that. Geoff himself survived but had fractures in his right wrist, right cheekbone, vertebra in his back and right ankle while also having a concussion

Id like to see yall react to a video about Dale Earnhardt #3 soon.

13:28 that object to the left of the furthest right fence post above the fence is the engine from the truck that crashed into the fence the engine ended up about 200 meters further down the track from where the truck came to rest

year ago that chain link fencing between the track and the crowd was not there

The tolerances on these cars is so tight not much can be used after a heavy collision with anything.

Enjoyed the reaction. There is a longer Version of these Crashes, they were running 220 mph at Talladega Bobby laboney tire started to shred he turned backwards went straight into the fence, after that crash They Started putting resriter plates to keep em at about 195 to 198 Mph. At Daytona And Talladega. Be cool stay safe.

12:22 Dale Earnhardt Jr. has forest on his land that holds a lot of wrecked cars. I think mostly at first they go to Nascar's R&D department for study. Some like the Craven car that was shown earlier.(5:35) go to the track museum.

Nascar are actually built around what's called a crash cage. It's a special reinforced cage that's built around the inside of the car to protect the driver. The cars are also designed to have the engine and front end break off in really hard crashes to absorb alot of the impact and keep the engine from entering the car. They are built to protect the drivers as most as possible. It's been decades of really bad crashes and unfortunately fatalities that have made the sport as safe as it is now

I would love to see your reaction to the Ryan preece wreck at Daytona where he flip like 20 times and walks away

More specifically the newer cars here but the middle part of the cars is completely designed to absorb impacts. Very high tech stuff. Granted, the speeds are so fast you can only do so much to project someone in a cage that size but they do a really good job. Better than any other asphalt race car or truck. The seat area is its own safety system from the construction of the seat to seat belts to the helmet and the head restraint and neck restraint systems. All top notch. Surrounded by the safest crash cage engineers have come up with so far. Thats why you see the front and rear of the car almost seem to break off from the center part. Frankly in many cases they'd be safest rolling down the track in the ball of the cage. The front and rear are basically designed to collapse on a harder impact to absorb some of the blow. btw You can see the roof flaps in most of the more recent accidents. They pop open when the car turns backward to allow air to escape from under the car. Otherwise the car lifts off the ground like an airplane making the crash more dangerous. They have helped a lot in the last few years.

The new generation NASCAR are designed to fall apart on purpose to prevent injury. It sounds crazy but NASCAR released a segment showing the science behind it and it's amazing.

A lot of us saw Dale Earnhardt die on live TV as kids so these crashes all make us hold our breaths. He was a true badass that didn’t use the HANS device or brace that saves your life from whiplash and he also wore an open face helmet. All nascar drivers were immediately required to wear the HANS device after his passing. RIP. NASCAR is lit yea?? It’s not just turning left!

Majority of deaths are actually internal injuries due to the forces of near head on collisions with the wall, Ironically the more the car flips and rolls the less maximum force is applied to the driver and in most cases they just nonchalantly unbuckle and walk away, unless of course the car is on fire. There have been 28 deaths in NASCAR events the majority occured before 1980, the last was in 2001. By Comparison Formula 1, despite having far fewer events per year, has had 52 Deaths(the first deaths for each occured in the Summer of 1952).

I am pretty sure that when a car is totalled they inspect it to see if any safety improvements can be made before recycling it.

Check out NHRA Drag Racing. It started in America as well. There are a couple good videos introducing the sport. One I think is named Fire Breathing Monsters. The top fuel dragsters and funny cars have 10,000+ horsepower and go 0 to 330+ mph in just a quarter mile.

Only within maybe the past 20 years have head and neck restraints been mandatory. That was due to several crashes in the early 2000s that were fatal. There has not been a fatal crash in NASCAR since Dale Earnhardt Sr.

It's the way the air gets caught under the tap. Sometimes it even looks like a tap but it was actually the air between the cars that caused it. I watched a whole documentary on this where they explained that part. I live in Charlotte North Carolina where most of the NASCAR drivers live and the team headquarters are.

While many of these crashes look unsurvivable , no driver has been seriously injured or died on any track during a race since Feb 2001 when Dale Earnhardt Sr hit the wall in the final turn/last lap of the Daytona 500. He died instantly from a broken neck because he wasn’t wearing the head harness that prevents neck injury if worn. After his death, harness use was made mandatory and cars were better made to protect drivers from injury or death in almost any wreck.

The Nascar Stockcars are basically the safest race cars in the world. The amount of safety improvements since 2001 changed the game for motorsports

The only wreck I watched live where I thought I watched someone life end was Austin Dillon at Daytona in 2015. 200 mph to 0 instantly. He walked away with no injuries and perfect hair when he took his helmet off.

Dillon walks away from scary wreck | NASCAR | Daytona not long enough for a reaction video, but one you should definitely see....utmost tribute to how much they have improved the safety of the drivers and spectators!!

The NASCAR race cars are purpose built for each race/track. They are rebuilt after each race for the next race even if the car has no damage because each track has different chracteristics. Even though they are called Stock Cars, there is noting about them that is stock like you would buy a new car with other than parhaps the paint, and in some cases that isn't true.

A nice video to review would be the opening scene of a movie named Patton; released in 1970 I believe, starring George C. Scott. The scene shows Patton standing on stage in an auditorium, with a huge American flag behind him, giving his troops a talk about going into battle, and how he expects them to behave. It is most interesting.

There is a roll cage that protects the driver

Hall of Fame driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. has a race car graveyard on his property, where some of his wrecked race cars are scattered, along with many other wrecked race cars given to him by other drivers. They are just scatter throughout the forest, some of them even hung from the trees. Michael Waltrip had one of his wrecked race cars pressed into a cube and then dipped into either a plastic or resin solution to use as a table.

Yall need to watch Crazy tough: Davey Allison 1992 season comeback by nascarman history for sure!

I went to Charlotte/ Concord N.C. in the early 1980's. One really has to be at a race to appreciate the atmosphere. When I went, the coca-cola 600 was not a points race. Like I said, I went to one, I'm over it now.

I will say yes the cars might seem light but in motorsports they are one off the heaviest cars out there. They only weigh 3,400lbs+. What causes the flips is air getting under the car. The cars also looked so damaged because the cars have designed crush zones to minimize the forces the driver has to take

Watch this fence crash at Daytona. Austin Dillin's Coke Zero 400 crash at Daytona. Then after you watch it, type those same words but ad front row view. A fan in the stands videoed the crash as it happened right in front of him.

Yes we lost Dale Earnhardt, we have lost about 6 Drivers.

The science that's in those machines. It's called energy dismissing. Keeping the energy from the driver.

So sometimes when a car is destroyed they will sell sheet metal, or parts of the car to fans to gain some revenue. A lot of smaller teams do this as well, so they can keep funded. Sometimes they keep parts of the car and in rare cases they can be rebuilt as well

Back then those harnesses and braces werent a thing yet I'm pretty sure, that neck brace etc was implemented after dale earnhardt died... (By harnesses I mean like the neck brace etc.)

You also aren't "bouncing around" if you flip. Theyre so snagged down in their molded to the driver seats that you hardly move. Your neck may go a cm or 2 each way, but the HANS(head and neck support) device limits the helmet or head moving from the position it should be in.