Michael McDowell's Huge Texas Crash
 

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Wouldn't be a problem if there was some run off.

That boy is the luckiest person in the world. Sure those cars are built like tanks, but that hit was enough to do some real injury. Ten years ago they would have been scooping him out of the car into a body bag. There has been great improvements in safety and you can see the results. Great to see him walk away.

Just heard that it was a 96g spike. I'd say his balls are black and blue. Although he was walking around pretty good afterwards.

I see a rule change in the near future though. I guess the bolts holding the steering shaft in broke. Haven't heard if they were 1/4" or 5/16", but I'll bet we'll have a rule ammendment on monday.

This was another nasty crash. Waltrip walked away without a scratch!

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McDowell ran Grand Am Daytona cars for a while. Maybe he got confused and thought he could turn right. I am really glad he is alright.

Zink, are you saying he crashed because of mechanical failure? One blogger speculated he crashed because he was over-his-head in a Cup car.

The car that ran before him blew an oil line and the cleanup left some oil dry and maybe some slick spots. The car got loose and he overcorrected then the car caught and head first into the wall.

He commented that he "overcorreced".

Other drivers felt they, the track, should have done a better clean up of the oil and oil dry before they let anyone back out.

It was good to see him get out of the car and in the interview shortly after.

That was a big hit.

Sure glad they implemented the safety walls, I think the initial impact would have been deadly.

That crash was amazing! The "Safer Wall" saved his life.

Anyone see Kubica's crash last year in Montreal/F1?
Made McDowell's crash look like look like sandbox play

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Michael is a friend of my brother (Mad Mike). Thank goodness he's OK. Michael is a great racer who has a big career ahead of him.

One of the veterans said the other day "NASCAR should have cleaned up the track better before sending the kid out there". Very true.

He has an impressive resume so far:

2003 - Star Mazda Series - Rookie of the Year, 2nd in points
2004 - Star Mazda Series - Series Champion
2005 - Rolex Daytona Prototypes, Race winner (Mexico City); a few CART races
2006 - Rolex Daytona Prototypes, Race winner (VIR)
2007 - ARCA - Rookie of the Year, 2nd in points

I have known Michael for 7 years now, since he was 16. Good kid and a great driver. Followed him through the ranks of his Formula Mazda championship, 2 CART starts appx 4 years ago, 2 years in the Rolex series and then last year in ARCA.

He might be over his head in CUP, but he is a great driver and will be successful in NASCAR. The tracks are fast, and as the highest professional purse in American racing, week after week. You are going to get some pretty motivated people in the race. I wish Michael the best and very glad to see him walk away.

Cheers,