I’ll never forget the 2020 Daytona 500 when they tarred off Ryan Newman’s car. I refreshed Twitter for an hour waiting for news. I couldn’t believe he survived
When they began demolition and reconstruction of Homestead, they did a ceremonial demolition of turn 4, where Johns fatal accident happened. RIP John Nemechek. 🙏
@@jdtractorman7445 I think the soft walls do a lot more for the driver than the hans. hans is good, its fine and should be used. But i think the soft wall is much more valuable.
@@jesuschristislord6790 No, HANS do more because the neck finally has some restraint and support to hold the forces. HANS have prevented more deaths than the soft wall along all the motorsports series.
You're right that the safer barrier has helped alot, but not sure if it would've helped in John's case. His head actually hit the wall. Better seats and HANS would've definitely saved the man though.
@@forrestrobbins8074 doesn't HANS fasten to the headrest of the seat? That would limit left and right movement of the head. My point was that safer barrier wouldn't have helped in this case. Safer barrier is a great thing though. I dont want anyone to misinterpret what I'm saying
The big hint that this was no " ordinary " crash was when the safety crews had to remove the roof of the truck to extricate the driver. In other words , he was in too bad of shape to help himself get out of the vehicle.
@@ninjawarrriorr3062 they did that with tony roper tho. And theyll cut the roof off if theres any damage that keeps them from climbing out (ryan newman at talladega 2009)
At that point, I always thought that Homestead Speedway was more like a miniature Indianapolis Motor Speedway with the flat banking in the turns. Nemechek hit that wall full blast, meaning because of the flat banking and squared off turns the truck didn't scrub off any speed before impact like it might've with a steeper banking. This crash might've been one of the reasons the track was reconfigured in '03.
They mention it in the video, but it was actually reconfigured in 97 just after this race to a regular oval. In 03 they added more and progressive banking.
You would be correct the rectangle Homestead was meant to resemble a miniature Indy and it was specifically built for the IRL cars at first. The track wanted to attract the NASCAR Cup series and that is actually what prompted them to reconfigure the track into a true flat oval in 97. I was actually at the truck race there in 98 on the flat oval version and then they added banking in 03.
When you see that many safety vehicles on the track for a one car crash you know it's bad news. especially when you see the roof coming off the car and, as they say on the broadcast, it's 15 munutes after the crash. That means they're using the "Jaws of Life" and the drivers is unconscious.
Idk, I was 15 when earnhardt crashed and I thought the stop was so sudden that he could have been hurt badly. DW went right from celebrating his brother's win to being somber and hoping dale was ok.
@@EclecticBuddha Earnhardt really died because all the safety restraints failed him. He would've been hurt but he was absolutely destroyed instead. Schrader must be scarred from what he saw that day when he looked into the car. I saw the crash report from the police department. The pictures show just tons of blood in the cockpit even behind the seat and on the steering wheel where he face planted. If he wasn't dead instantly, than he was definitely tough... but chances are he was dead on impact. Broken ribs, broken leg, punctured lungs, fractured base of the skull, face crushed, arm broken.... it had to be a horrific scene to actually see him. Most just say he had blood coming from his ears and nose.... but the amount in the pictures more so says he was bleeding all over heavily.
@@silfocus84 The safety restraints didn't fail him. Earnhardt chose to wear his belts loose and in a manner that they were not properly designed for. That combined with his open faced helmet is what killed him.
@@Gage_Brumley Actually fun fact it’s been proven that dales seatbelts had no factor in the crash whatsoever it had to do with the sudden stop nothing to do with the safety belts
I ran that truck on a chassis dyno before that race. Our shop mainly worked on road race cars. I had never seen on of the race trucks up close before i remember sticking my head inside the driver window while i was strapping the truck down and thinking how tight everything was with the cage and seat and everything. We were building world challenge Corvettes and i had a few friends that were nascar fabricators and i was building my own A sedan Mustang and wanted to see how they were building the cages for the trucks. I remember thinking wow im not sure i would race one of these trucks. When heard about the incident it was chilling, but have never seen it untill it randomly popped up in my feed. Rest in peace brother🙏
John hit about as flush with the wall as you possibly could. Watched it live and when I saw how flat the left side was on his truck and him not moving around, I knew it was bad.
Of course, you have to remember that things like the SAFER barrier hadn't even been invented yet. Can't blame anybody for not using something that didn't exist.
@@Arthurzeiro even with the hans that bank angle lack of soft wall or crush panels in the truck im not sure he would have survived but maybe his head would not have hit the wall
Didn't look like that hard a hit but without the hans and seats the boys race with today and without the safer barrier. It's scary that made it fatal. RIP brother.
John was Joe Nemechek's brother, John Hunter is Joe's son, named after John. Can remember when Joe was in a Cup car years ago, one nickname he had was Joe Need-a-check. Also Front Row Joe, qualified up front quite a bit. RIP John.
Part of the problem here is that due to the partial ovalizing of the track while leaving the walls where they were, the walls were a long way from the racing line. This issue with this is that a spinning car tends to go in a straight line, while the wall continues curve. The farther the car goes before encountering the wall, the more severe the angle of the impact is going to be. To illustrate, imagine the wall being six inches from the racing line. Losing the car would only result it rubbing the wall, with little impact. Conversely (and unfortunately the way it was at this facility), if the wall is way out there, you're going to smack it a ton. RIP John.
I agree. It makes me wonder why we still have those awful quad-oval designs where guys are running 180+ and cutting down far away from the wall. When there is a corner where there is literally no possible way a car could ever run in a lane up against the wall, they need to move the wall down to where the cars will hit at a less severe angle.
Thanks to Indycar who first helped design and implemented the safer barrier and the head and restraints. At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. They worked with the University of Nebraska on the safet barrier design. Former Indycar driver Bill Simpson was big in the head and neck restraint design. NASCAR lagged way behind and now tries to take some credit they dont deserve.
I know this came first, but this reminds me of how Allan Simonsen perished at Le Mans in 2013. Same deal, a heavy impact with a solid wall on the driver's side. We need to stop putting drivers on one side of a car. They're much safer in the middle.
Back when a driver side hit was a really bad deal. Those hits back then were all too often lethal. Same with right front first hits. Safety has come a long way.
.. . not far enough . . poor man just my humble opinion... ..every corner should be at the same angle.. this sounds like a messed up track construction... no racetrack should be built that stupidly ... why the man died .. stupid track .if it can't be built any better than that .. myopic designers ..🕵️💫💫💨 . it should be .. needs to be... shut down .. permanently ... 🤔🤔🤨. May Mr. Nemechek Rest In Peace. 🙏🕯️🌹🌹🕊️ ✝️☯️☯️☯️☯️☯️☯️☯️🛐
@@jmason2838 this was in 97. Why would they shut this place down after 20 plus years. They also did reconfigure the track. But this is ccompetion. It can't all be the exact same.
If memory serves, this was one of the accidents that really spurred the development and implementation of the S.A.F.E.R. barriers, in much the same way Earnhardt's crash was a motivating factor for the widespread introduction of the HANS device (and changes to seatbelt design requirements). It's unfortunate to learn these lessons from tragedy, but it's also a credit to motor racing in how innovative and responsive the safety engineering really is.
What is bad is they did not mandate than HANS even after Dale died, just the Hutchins or HANS device. The HANS got mandated as one commenter posted around the Blaise Alexander crash I believe.
The HANS device was already widespread. Dale Earnhardt and a few select others, refused to wear it. No one was going to tell Dale Earnhardt what to do. Dale Earnhardt's death was self inflicted stupidity.
Very true. I was there at a local short track in New Hampshire (Lee USA speedway) in 1993 when a supermodified had a stuck throttle and crashed in turn one. It got really quiet and eerie when the security people started taking measurements. Found out an hour later he'd died.
He didn’t die at the track, he passed away 5 days later. The tarp on the flatbed stops everything from flying out of the vehicle and littering the track.
@@MrLongboarder87 if you watch crash cleanups from the past they only use the tarp if the driver is severely injured and possibly not going to survive. They don't cover it up in a crash where the driver is obviously going to live. In this case (according to a report later released) they covered the car up because it was clear John had suffered devastating, life threatening injuries. I remember seeing the news report that he passed away. Everyone was praying he would live but....
@@saragrant9749 i saw tony jankowiack get killed in a modified race at stafford motor speedway in 1990.i even have a picture of the accident as it happened but when the picture was taken we didnt think the crash was that bad.sad day for all that were there.
During that entire scene, the announcers didn't even mention how this looked potentially serious. Just TOTALLY oblivious, rambling on about unimportant things. It was so obvious after a few minutes and how frantic the emergency crews became that this was extremely serious and these guys didn't pick up on a single cue. Even after they loaded his lifeless body up into the ambo and took off, they still didn't express any real concern or even a notion that this was worrying. As if he just hopped out and waved to the crowd and climbed into the rig himself. "Just waiting to hear about his condition."
@@jadonherr6469they're literally watching the tv broadcast usually. I've heard them on videos describe what's happening on the tv coverage in front of them, or whenever they go to replays etc
The wreck really wasnt that bad. A safer barrier wouldnt have saved him either sadly. The whiplash of the crashed caused his head to hit the wall. He died later when it was determined his brain damage wasnt treatable. Rest in peace.
Over a short span there was a number of deaths, after each one additional safety precautions were made to the trucks/cars and the track. I was at Homestead for Nemechek, Texas for Tony Roper, N.H for Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin, Memphis for Rick Carelli surviving his more or less career ending crash after being life flighted, and Daytona for Geoff Bodine surviving the horrific truck race crash. After each we added additional driver safety equipment, nets to the left and right of the seats, and stronger seat headrest with thicker padding. At the same time Jim Downing was developing the HANS Device and soft walls were stating to be installed in the turns at selected tracks. After Dale Senior safety became even a higher priority and at the present the impact from crashes has produced way fewer major injuries.
When I seen this at 12 years old, I just didn’t think it would be that bad but then I began to see all the safety vehicles around him and then Ambulance 🚑 people I knew it probably would not get better even though I hoped and prayed for the best. RIP JOHN NEMECHEK!!! So tragic
I was 8 when this happened in 1997 not yet 9 that year when this happened, was not watching as this was not Bush or Cup racing at the time with the Trucks just going to a track that Bush also raced at, so it was a miss on TV.
Actually the safer barrier likely wouldn’t have saved him by itself. It’s said that Johns Helmet hit the wall. In that case a Safer barrier could still be lethal. A combination of newer chassis, containment seats, HANS device and the safer barrier, absolutely. He would of walked away
These f*cking announcers are oblivious to the extra ordinary time it is taking to get him out or the fact they are hastily tearing that car apart to get him out.
Announcers had assumed probably like anybody that this was not a fatal crash. Not much different from Earnhardt a few years later. First responders though saw it very differently sadly.
Man that must have horrific for you after his death was announced... Literary watched the guy die, did his truck just snap loose or something to cause the wreck?
I was a professional Jockey and when you see a fellow rider lose there life..man it's hard..these types of sports are very dangerous..I put my life at risk every race..
The 90’s in MASCAR was one of the greatest and saddest decades in NASCAR racing. I always cheered on the Ford teams but losing Dale Sr was a great loss to NASCAR.
@@Odin3v Nice try, squirt. Gen X'r here if you must know. And can you tell us when NASCAR was at its peak? Hint, it wasn't because of diaper wearing millenials lol.
@@Odin3v one of the most important events that happened in NASCAR during the 90’s is when Chevrolet had to switch from the 350 platform to the SB2 race purpose engine to keep up with the Fords.
Dang why can’t NASCAR cafes come back even if it’s not as popular anymore? Would be cool. Can they also reconfigure Atlanta Motor Speedway back to its old layout?Also RIP John you will always be remembered. 😭😢😭😢
@@brianbruce4261 not the case atleast not specifically stated. The rendering was just a concept not actual plans. The have Marcus on the djd and talked about it
Commentators can’t scare the viewers and they can’t reassure viewers when they don’t know the facts. Sometimes the best thing to do is distract the viewers with the speedy dry.
Hilarious...." lots of fluid leaking " " oh look at the fluid from the front of that truck ".....well kids if it's Rad Fluid who cares,,,,, if it's oil who cares one way or another unless it bursts into flames " WHO CARES ".....
Wow over 30 second and no safety crew! Even the T.V. producers knew wit was bad and turned the camara away. Then they were cutting the roof off the truck and still running laps around them under caution, really bad management. Now I see why this track is no longer around. R.IP. John
@@gerardweis43 I thought this was the Disney race track. But I was wrong, the gentleman that died there was a driving instructor in a high end rental( lamborghini I think).
When the safety net doesn't come down by the drivers own hand, particularly after a drivers side hit.... thats never a good sign, and its known within moments.
It's my understanding that when this idea of trucks for nascar came about there wasn't a whole lot of how different trucks are the cars and I remember saying this to my dad. Drivers for trucks needed to be in more.Then what they were when they first started. Basically, I'm saying the driver's seat needed to be moved more to the right of the car, not saying they need to be driving in dead center. Just a little more to the right, so they could have thicker. Roll cages, then a regular NASCAR.. When john hit the wall I guarantee you because of where the seat is his head hit the cement barrier and that's what killed him
3:55 The flat corners of New Hampshire with the top end speeds of Charlotte? It's a miracle this was the only death during this configuration's lifetime...
Is it just me or did the announcer? Not really give a crap about the driver? I get that they thought it might not be serious at first, But they seemed to do anything they could to not talk about it. When it became apparent that it was a serious wreck, they still didn't really talk about the driver much. I don't know if it was just, they didn't think it was bad or if they had a mandate to not talk about it, But I was really surprised that the announcers weren't really concerned about the driver too much.
part of the problem was that when the trucks drove through the turns the had to drive very low to the inside making the truck far away from the outside wall . if a truck or car breaks loose it has more time to straighten out and hit the wall more directly. if the racing grove was higher up the cars would have a tendency glance off the wall more then a direct hit like dale did at daytona
He actually survived the crash, but at hospital they found his brain injuries inoperable. Sad. But they said his head hit the wall - how could it with the net there?
Crashes this hard destroy the structure of the vehicle and netting. The lack of HANS device made the drivers head susceptible to whiplash. Jerry Nadeau had a similar accident even with a HANS.
This series wasn’t meant for high speed tracks. This series was supposed to elevate the short tracks through out the country as how it started. I still feel they should be doing the same today. No reason for them at Daytona or tracks like that
Most of the head protection incorporated into the seat is on the right side. When he hit that was on the left side his head would have snapped towards the wall!
That was a hard hit.we think it wasn't based on today.no giant head rests then,or Hans device.so I would think the driver side hit just broke his neck instantly
This wreck and the Earnhadt at Daytona both looked so "normal".... they werent multicar, they werent full speed head on, they didnt flip or get airborne.
@cleetusmcfarland could this actually be the dale truck. “Sorry about the subject of the video, but it could be it? You said skinner was the driver right?”
Whenever you see the car tarped off it's a bad day
Yep sadly same when the ambulance leaves slowly
I’ll never forget the 2020 Daytona 500 when they tarred off Ryan Newman’s car. I refreshed Twitter for an hour waiting for news. I couldn’t believe he survived
Old Homestead was incredibly dangerous. Sharp wall angles with no banking to slow you down.
When they began demolition and reconstruction of Homestead, they did a ceremonial demolition of turn 4, where Johns fatal accident happened. RIP John Nemechek. 🙏
@@deanladue3151 He crashed in turn 1.
@@thedirtybubble9613 he hit the turn 2 wall tho.
@@danielblaise156 old homestead had more of a short track sized pocono layout. It was turn 1 where he wrecked
@@lundyfan30 *short track indy vibes, they made a mini ims originally with lack of banking.
That cement wall is a killer. Safer barriers save lives.
True, it's a combination of the HANS device and safer barriers working together.
Qqqqq.
@@jdtractorman7445 I think the soft walls do a lot more for the driver than the hans. hans is good, its fine and should be used. But i think the soft wall is much more valuable.
@@jesuschristislord6790 No, HANS do more because the neck finally has some restraint and support to hold the forces.
HANS have prevented more deaths than the soft wall along all the motorsports series.
yes indeed, thanks to Indycar and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Also for the head and neck restraints.
Imagine how many racers today are alive because of the HANS device.
Don't forget about the safer barriers. Both have saved many lives
You’re welcome - #3
@@limeracing8 bruh
@@drpeppers59 it's true. His death sparked the safety movement.
@@jt248 I know, just the way it was put
It's crazy to think that if the safer barrier was around he'd probably be alive that thing has helped a lot
Yeah, fortunately racing has gotten a hell of a lot safer the last 20 years.
You're right that the safer barrier has helped alot, but not sure if it would've helped in John's case. His head actually hit the wall. Better seats and HANS would've definitely saved the man though.
It’s ironic that they were going to remove that wall and make Homestead an oval. Sad day for his brother Joe.
@@fullsalvo2483 Hans only helps keeping the head from snapping forward. Does nothing with side to side movement. Ask Jason Leffler
@@forrestrobbins8074 doesn't HANS fasten to the headrest of the seat? That would limit left and right movement of the head. My point was that safer barrier wouldn't have helped in this case. Safer barrier is a great thing though. I dont want anyone to misinterpret what I'm saying
The big hint that this was no " ordinary " crash was when the safety crews had to remove the roof of the truck to extricate the driver. In other words , he was in too bad of shape to help himself get out of the vehicle.
It's pretty much SOP if they suspect a neck or back injury. They did it a couple of years ago with Almirola's accident at Kansas.
Along side of that, his window net never came down. im surprised that the announcers didn’t point that out
@@zero_one4056 they probably dont want to worry people watching
@@ninjawarrriorr3062 they did that with tony roper tho. And theyll cut the roof off if theres any damage that keeps them from climbing out (ryan newman at talladega 2009)
@@almostfm Dead giveaway that Dale likely died when they had to cut the roof off his car, but I did not know that meant he had died.
At that point, I always thought that Homestead Speedway was more like a miniature Indianapolis Motor Speedway with the flat banking in the turns. Nemechek hit that wall full blast, meaning because of the flat banking and squared off turns the truck didn't scrub off any speed before impact like it might've with a steeper banking. This crash might've been one of the reasons the track was reconfigured in '03.
They mention it in the video, but it was actually reconfigured in 97 just after this race to a regular oval. In 03 they added more and progressive banking.
You would be correct the rectangle Homestead was meant to resemble a miniature Indy and it was specifically built for the IRL cars at first. The track wanted to attract the NASCAR Cup series and that is actually what prompted them to reconfigure the track into a true flat oval in 97. I was actually at the truck race there in 98 on the flat oval version and then they added banking in 03.
Real drivers dont need high banks. They slow down before a turn
@@thedirtybubble9613CART, not IRL.
Never want to see safety crews start scrambling like that.
When you see that many safety vehicles on the track for a one car crash you know it's bad news. especially when you see the roof coming off the car and, as they say on the broadcast, it's 15 munutes after the crash. That means they're using the "Jaws of Life" and the drivers is unconscious.
@@RRaquello when another driver involved goes to check and immediately starts waving for help after a look in the driver's side window
@@gilligan369 Schrader knew Dale was dead, why he jumped back like he had seen a ghost.
It’s crazy how calm they were! Death was not a factor in their minds
Well given how tame the crash was it’s like when Earnhardt died it just looked like a routine crash and it wasn’t u til later they learned about it
Idk, I was 15 when earnhardt crashed and I thought the stop was so sudden that he could have been hurt badly. DW went right from celebrating his brother's win to being somber and hoping dale was ok.
@@EclecticBuddha Earnhardt really died because all the safety restraints failed him. He would've been hurt but he was absolutely destroyed instead. Schrader must be scarred from what he saw that day when he looked into the car. I saw the crash report from the police department. The pictures show just tons of blood in the cockpit even behind the seat and on the steering wheel where he face planted. If he wasn't dead instantly, than he was definitely tough... but chances are he was dead on impact. Broken ribs, broken leg, punctured lungs, fractured base of the skull, face crushed, arm broken.... it had to be a horrific scene to actually see him. Most just say he had blood coming from his ears and nose.... but the amount in the pictures more so says he was bleeding all over heavily.
@@silfocus84 The safety restraints didn't fail him. Earnhardt chose to wear his belts loose and in a manner that they were not properly designed for. That combined with his open faced helmet is what killed him.
@@Gage_Brumley Actually fun fact it’s been proven that dales seatbelts had no factor in the crash whatsoever it had to do with the sudden stop nothing to do with the safety belts
I ran that truck on a chassis dyno before that race. Our shop mainly worked on road race cars. I had never seen on of the race trucks up close before i remember sticking my head inside the driver window while i was strapping the truck down and thinking how tight everything was with the cage and seat and everything. We were building world challenge Corvettes and i had a few friends that were nascar fabricators and i was building my own A sedan Mustang and wanted to see how they were building the cages for the trucks. I remember thinking wow im not sure i would race one of these trucks. When heard about the incident it was chilling, but have never seen it untill it randomly popped up in my feed. Rest in peace brother🙏
Never a good sign when any vehicle is on a flatbed with the passenger compartment covered. Safety advances have come so far in racing since this
John hit about as flush with the wall as you possibly could. Watched it live and when I saw how flat the left side was on his truck and him not moving around, I knew it was bad.
That was actually a hell of a hit at full-speed
The truck transferred alot of energy to the wall, proofed by the relatively shot slide along the wall.
Those driver's side impacts don't seem as bad as other wrecks visually, but they are some of the most dangerous ones. Very hard hit
@@gregoryhughes yeah agreed, I was trying to figure out how this was fatal because it doesn’t look like it, thanks for the comment it’s very helpful!
About 160 mph.
That was a bad hit
Man they were really obsessed with the fluids coming from his truck.
Yes! They cared more about the fluids on the track than the driver
Rest in peace john , i met joe and you are missed.
Seems insane now. No soft wall with blistering speeds
Of course, you have to remember that things like the SAFER barrier hadn't even been invented yet. Can't blame anybody for not using something that didn't exist.
@@almostfm The HANS device in its first generation had been around for a while at the time.
Some tire bales at least
It is insane now
@@Arthurzeiro even with the hans that bank angle lack of soft wall or crush panels in the truck im not sure he would have survived but maybe his head would not have hit the wall
Didn't look like that hard a hit but without the hans and seats the boys race with today and without the safer barrier. It's scary that made it fatal.
RIP brother.
Dale s crash in 01 at Daytona didn t look that bad either.
@@bustyrandit just about to say that.
When it’s your time it’s your time.
@@bustyrandit after seeing him flip in 99 or 98 like 6 times thought this is nothing much at all dead on impact
According to various news outlets, his helmet made contact with the wall.
John's memory lives on, his namesake "John Hunter " continues his legacy in Truck Racing today.
So John hunter Nemechek is his re place meant
@@Beh300 his son !!! & The Late JOE NEMECHECK'S Grandson!!! ("If I'm not mistaken")
@@steemerxaxon1643 John Hunter is Joe's son. He is named after Joe's brother John.
@@jtyndall8 your bang on Jamie,it’s joes son, so it’s johns uncle John
John was Joe Nemechek's brother, John Hunter is Joe's son, named after John. Can remember when Joe was in a Cup car years ago, one nickname he had was Joe Need-a-check. Also Front Row Joe, qualified up front quite a bit. RIP John.
Ya I was there in turn one infield when we left Sunday it was sad to see the #8 hauler was the only hauler left
Where did you get all of these broadcasts from? I've been looking for some of these for quite some time that you have uploaded.
Part of the problem here is that due to the partial ovalizing of the track while leaving the walls where they were, the walls were a long way from the racing line. This issue with this is that a spinning car tends to go in a straight line, while the wall continues curve. The farther the car goes before encountering the wall, the more severe the angle of the impact is going to be. To illustrate, imagine the wall being six inches from the racing line. Losing the car would only result it rubbing the wall, with little impact. Conversely (and unfortunately the way it was at this facility), if the wall is way out there, you're going to smack it a ton. RIP John.
I agree. It makes me wonder why we still have those awful quad-oval designs where guys are running 180+ and cutting down far away from the wall. When there is a corner where there is literally no possible way a car could ever run in a lane up against the wall, they need to move the wall down to where the cars will hit at a less severe angle.
I remember Nemechek.
He was a hell of a fine driver.
Rest in Peace.
Rip John. He will be missed
Rip John, We’ll all be there with you soon
I am a realist too. Welcome to reality everyone
I know we will indeed someday. *(Nods in agreement)*
End times are soon
winner Kenny Irwin jr
So sad. a company had agreed to fully sponsor his truck team beginning at the next race. It was meant to be a surprise for him at the end of the race.
Thank God for all the safety improvements nascar has made since then. I can’t imagine how many lives have been saved.
Thanks to Indycar who first helped design and implemented the safer barrier and the head and restraints. At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. They worked with the University of Nebraska on the safet barrier design. Former Indycar driver Bill Simpson was big in the head and neck restraint design. NASCAR lagged way behind and now tries to take some credit they dont deserve.
I know this came first, but this reminds me of how Allan Simonsen perished at Le Mans in 2013. Same deal, a heavy impact with a solid wall on the driver's side. We need to stop putting drivers on one side of a car. They're much safer in the middle.
Back when a driver side hit was a really bad deal. Those hits back then were all too often lethal. Same with right front first hits. Safety has come a long way.
Most definitely, Sara.
.. . not far enough . . poor man just my humble opinion... ..every corner should be at the same angle.. this sounds like a messed up track construction... no racetrack should be built that stupidly ... why the man died .. stupid track .if it can't be built any better than that .. myopic designers ..🕵️💫💫💨 . it should be .. needs to be... shut down .. permanently ... 🤔🤔🤨. May Mr. Nemechek Rest In Peace. 🙏🕯️🌹🌹🕊️
✝️☯️☯️☯️☯️☯️☯️☯️🛐
@@jmason2838 shut up.
@@jmason2838 this was in 97. Why would they shut this place down after 20 plus years. They also did reconfigure the track. But this is ccompetion. It can't all be the exact same.
@@jmason2838 at Darlington every corner is different and no one ever died there that I know of
If memory serves, this was one of the accidents that really spurred the development and implementation of the S.A.F.E.R. barriers, in much the same way Earnhardt's crash was a motivating factor for the widespread introduction of the HANS device (and changes to seatbelt design requirements).
It's unfortunate to learn these lessons from tragedy, but it's also a credit to motor racing in how innovative and responsive the safety engineering really is.
What is bad is they did not mandate than HANS even after Dale died, just the Hutchins or HANS device. The HANS got mandated as one commenter posted around the Blaise Alexander crash I believe.
The HANS device was already widespread. Dale Earnhardt and a few select others, refused to wear it. No one was going to tell Dale Earnhardt what to do. Dale Earnhardt's death was self inflicted stupidity.
@CanadaMatt, seat belts were NOT a factor in Dale Sr's death. Open face helmet and no head restraint device caused his death.
@@sergeantmasson3669seat belts were 100% a factor in his death and you are an idiot if you think otherwise.
5:58 there's not many things worse than seeing a car hauled away with a tarp covering its roof after a nasty accident. Usually means... fatal.
Very true. I was there at a local short track in New Hampshire (Lee USA speedway) in 1993 when a supermodified had a stuck throttle and crashed in turn one. It got really quiet and eerie when the security people started taking measurements. Found out an hour later he'd died.
He didn’t die at the track, he passed away 5 days later. The tarp on the flatbed stops everything from flying out of the vehicle and littering the track.
@@MrLongboarder87 if you watch crash cleanups from the past they only use the tarp if the driver is severely injured and possibly not going to survive. They don't cover it up in a crash where the driver is obviously going to live. In this case (according to a report later released) they covered the car up because it was clear John had suffered devastating, life threatening injuries. I remember seeing the news report that he passed away. Everyone was praying he would live but....
@@saragrant9749 i saw tony jankowiack get killed in a modified race at stafford motor speedway in 1990.i even have a picture of the accident as it happened but when the picture was taken we didnt think the crash was that bad.sad day for all that were there.
@@saragrant9749 wow I was 9 years old and remember watching that! havent been to Lee in a couple years but run at Hudson and star mostly
Its sadly been 25 years since we lost John
Notice how the Ambulance is in No Rush. He was Dead before they got him out of the truck.
The incident was on March 17th. He died on the 21st at the hospital.
Crazy...you see some horrific wrecks and they walk away. Then you see this. That driver side hit is never good.
@GEO Mason I realize that. Applies today, applies 25 years ago.
During that entire scene, the announcers didn't even mention how this looked potentially serious. Just TOTALLY oblivious, rambling on about unimportant things. It was so obvious after a few minutes and how frantic the emergency crews became that this was extremely serious and these guys didn't pick up on a single cue. Even after they loaded his lifeless body up into the ambo and took off, they still didn't express any real concern or even a notion that this was worrying. As if he just hopped out and waved to the crowd and climbed into the rig himself. "Just waiting to hear about his condition."
They had to have known what was going on. I think they just weren’t trying to panic their audience.
They weren't good annocers.
This is MRN. They don't see the replays.
They were pathetic!
@@jadonherr6469they're literally watching the tv broadcast usually. I've heard them on videos describe what's happening on the tv coverage in front of them, or whenever they go to replays etc
The wreck really wasnt that bad. A safer barrier wouldnt have saved him either sadly. The whiplash of the crashed caused his head to hit the wall. He died later when it was determined his brain damage wasnt treatable. Rest in peace.
My favorite style with the then Craftsman Truck Series.....
Now they have the soft, round nosed trucks. I still like the truck series though
I love the 90’s dodge trucks they ran. They looked great.
Loved the 90s Chevys.
I actually liked the next set of cars that looked like the early Toyota Tundra Cars with the 2000's designs.
Notice how the truck doesn't have a lot of damage. That means the driver took the brunt of the crash and was dead pretty quickly sadly.
Over a short span there was a number of deaths, after each one additional safety precautions were made to the trucks/cars and the track. I was at Homestead for Nemechek, Texas for Tony Roper, N.H for Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin, Memphis for Rick Carelli surviving his more or less career ending crash after being life flighted, and Daytona for Geoff Bodine surviving the horrific truck race crash. After each we added additional driver safety equipment, nets to the left and right of the seats, and stronger seat headrest with thicker padding. At the same time Jim Downing was developing the HANS Device and soft walls were stating to be installed in the turns at selected tracks. After Dale Senior safety became even a higher priority and at the present the impact from crashes has produced way fewer major injuries.
RIP John Nemechek
When I seen this at 12 years old, I just didn’t think it would be that bad but then I began to see all the safety vehicles around him and then Ambulance 🚑 people I knew it probably would not get better even though I hoped and prayed for the best. RIP JOHN NEMECHEK!!! So tragic
I was 8 when this happened in 1997 not yet 9 that year when this happened, was not watching as this was not Bush or Cup racing at the time with the Trucks just going to a track that Bush also raced at, so it was a miss on TV.
You probably showed more concern than the announcers did
Staring at that window net intently Hoping for something that never comes.
Sadly, this was the exact thing that killed Adam Petty, Dale Sr., among others. Those cement walls were deadly...
Brutal crash... Sad results.
Exactly the same crash as Scott Braytons at Indy the year before
SAFER barriers had yet to be installed. Nemechek would have survived this crash had there been SAFER barriers.
And mandatory HANS devices
Actually the safer barrier likely wouldn’t have saved him by itself. It’s said that Johns Helmet hit the wall. In that case a Safer barrier could still be lethal. A combination of newer chassis, containment seats, HANS device and the safer barrier, absolutely. He would of walked away
These f*cking announcers are oblivious to the extra ordinary time it is taking to get him out or the fact they are hastily tearing that car apart to get him out.
Announcers had assumed probably like anybody that this was not a fatal crash. Not much different from Earnhardt a few years later. First responders though saw it very differently sadly.
Crazy how tonedeaf the broadcast is, somethings obviously very wrong but they seem more concerned about getting the restart
They were just used to injuries back then. It was accepted. Crazy right?
It's racing. There's a lot of crashes. It wasn't a fatal wreck until days later.
I saw this happen in person, was actually looking right at his truck as he wrecked.
Man that must have horrific for you after his death was announced... Literary watched the guy die, did his truck just snap loose or something to cause the wreck?
@@prismfireproductions3772 rear end snapped and 180'd door first into the wall. They found that his head had hit the wall.
@@ralphnunez5156 oh my God...
@@ralphnunez5156 Too scary Ralph, way too scary
@@ralphnunez5156 sad how many had to die before they implemented even the safer barriers.
I was a professional Jockey and when you see a fellow rider lose there life..man it's hard..these types of sports are very dangerous..I put my life at risk every race..
Crazy how they didnt even think of death
RIP John Nemechek
If they had the hurst O cutters or even the hurst paladin they could have got him out in no time.
The 90’s in MASCAR was one of the greatest and saddest decades in NASCAR racing. I always cheered on the Ford teams but losing Dale Sr was a great loss to NASCAR.
Well said. 👍. My favorite times> 80's and 90's Nascar but also the hardest times.
90s was kind of a joke. Alot of follow the leader bs. SR death proved that boomers are a trash generation.
@@Odin3v Nice try, squirt. Gen X'r here if you must know. And can you tell us when NASCAR was at its peak? Hint, it wasn't because of diaper wearing millenials lol.
@@Odin3v one of the most important events that happened in NASCAR during the 90’s is when Chevrolet had to switch from the 350 platform to the SB2 race purpose engine to keep up with the Fords.
@@StainlessTIG2 AAAAAA FREAKIN MEN!!!
I was there when that happen me n my mom... every1 was so sad n emotional
No hands devise ! NO safer soft barriers at that time😢 sorry for Jonh
Dang why can’t NASCAR cafes come back even if it’s not as popular anymore? Would be cool. Can they also reconfigure Atlanta Motor Speedway back to its old layout?Also RIP John you will always be remembered. 😭😢😭😢
SMI is actually planning on reconfiguring Atlanta back to its old layout so they can add a casino
@@brianbruce4261 not the case atleast not specifically stated. The rendering was just a concept not actual plans. The have Marcus on the djd and talked about it
@@brianbruce4261
Hope that will actually happen eventually cause I read about that .
@@Roadhouse1997
I know but I still wish that they could reconfigure the track.
@@benwalter4842Well, they did reconfigure it. Just not in the way you expected.
Commentators seem more bothered about the speedy dry
😂
Commentators can’t scare the viewers and they can’t reassure viewers when they don’t know the facts. Sometimes the best thing to do is distract the viewers with the speedy dry.
Pocket speedy dry
I guess they didn’t think he would die, either.
Did he die of the same injuries that Jerry Nadue (I know it’s spelled wrong, fight me) had in that 2003 Richmond crash?
Its funny how one of the last clips the camara took it focused on the "Die hard" truck
It doesn’t even look that hard like dale sr, the HANS is a life saver
No John head move out car and his head hit wall so if he use Hans no change
At this speed, hitting that wall is like hitting concrete.
It was literally concrete, no?
They should have added the banking to the track in the first place. The sharp turns and no banking to slow you down from the wall was insane.
Hilarious...." lots of fluid leaking " " oh look at the fluid from the front of that truck ".....well kids if it's Rad Fluid who cares,,,,, if it's oil who cares one way or another unless it bursts into flames " WHO CARES ".....
That’s the most in tact vehicle I’ve ever seen in Motorsports that warranted a fatality
Wow over 30 second and no safety crew! Even the T.V. producers knew wit was bad and turned the camara away. Then they were cutting the roof off the truck and still running laps around them under caution, really bad management. Now I see why this track is no longer around. R.IP. John
Homestead is still on the NASCAR circuit.The track configuration has been changed since 1997.
@@gerardweis43 I thought this was the Disney race track. But I was wrong, the gentleman that died there was a driving instructor in a high end rental( lamborghini I think).
@@MattLundquistVW this was the old mini indy layout very dangerous turns
When the safety net doesn't come down by the drivers own hand, particularly after a drivers side hit.... thats never a good sign, and its known within moments.
Young mike bagley...almost unrecognizable. RIP John Nemechek
It's my understanding that when this idea of trucks for nascar came about there wasn't a whole lot of how different trucks are the cars and I remember saying this to my dad. Drivers for trucks needed to be in more.Then what they were when they first started. Basically, I'm saying the driver's seat needed to be moved more to the right of the car, not saying they need to be driving in dead center. Just a little more to the right, so they could have thicker. Roll cages, then a regular NASCAR.. When john hit the wall I guarantee you because of where the seat is his head hit the cement barrier and that's what killed him
Terrible crash. Haven't read into it, but the way it hit, looks like his helmet may have even contacted the wall. Scary stuff.
We used to watch John and Joe race mini stocks at Auburndale speedway in Fla. They were young. RIP.
3:55 The flat corners of New Hampshire with the top end speeds of Charlotte? It's a miracle this was the only death during this configuration's lifetime...
It's unfortunate that NASCARs cashcow had to die before NASCAR thought safety was important enough to do something. So many senseless deaths
Is it just me or did the announcer? Not really give a crap about the driver? I get that they thought it might not be serious at first, But they seemed to do anything they could to not talk about it. When it became apparent that it was a serious wreck, they still didn't really talk about the driver much. I don't know if it was just, they didn't think it was bad or if they had a mandate to not talk about it, But I was really surprised that the announcers weren't really concerned about the driver too much.
part of the problem was that when the trucks drove through the turns the had to drive very low to the inside making the truck far away from the outside wall . if a truck or car breaks loose it has more time to straighten out and hit the wall more directly. if the racing grove was higher up the cars would have a tendency glance off the wall more then a direct hit like dale did at daytona
A rising star gone too soon, it’s also kind of ironic that another driver who was killed three years later Kenny Irwin won this race.,
Pancaking on the driver side is never good,jerry nadeau had a,smilar career ender at richmond
Man. Those turns are a bitch to make, it’s a straight up 90 degree turn with no width
It was a mini Indianapolis before the track got redone
He actually survived the crash, but at hospital they found his brain injuries inoperable. Sad. But they said his head hit the wall - how could it with the net there?
Crashes this hard destroy the structure of the vehicle and netting. The lack of HANS device made the drivers head susceptible to whiplash. Jerry Nadeau had a similar accident even with a HANS.
This series wasn’t meant for high speed tracks. This series was supposed to elevate the short tracks through out the country as how it started. I still feel they should be doing the same today. No reason for them at Daytona or tracks like that
Look, I know I’ve looked up wrecks where drivers have unfortunately died. That doesn’t mean I need it to pop up on my feed
MRN loves their redundancies…
“outside RETAINING wall.”
“turn NUMBER 1”
A sad day.
Imagine how many days alive because of safer barriers and walls
his head hit the wall. the hans device would of saved john and kept his head and neck in place.
The commentators seemed obsessed with all the fluid coming out of the truck. Clearly had no idea how bad it was.
R.I.P JOHN NEMECHEK 0:38
R.I.P JOHN NEMECHEK 0:38
Stfu
R.I.P. JOHN NEMECHEK 0:38
He didn’t die instantly, though. Thankfully
The commentators downplayed the situation
They didn't sound like they cared.
@@moose030406 so sad to see that in such a tragic situation hope he’s at peace now and prayers to his family
Most of the head protection incorporated into the seat is on the right side. When he hit that was on the left side his head would have snapped towards the wall!
Folks it might not look that bad but that was very brutal hit
You never said he had died,wtf, wasted time watching this, rip john
Just a few laps after this Jay Sauter had the same exact impact in the same turn and he had minor injuries
I read John hit his head on the wall through the window, which is what ultimately led to his death
That was a hard hit.we think it wasn't based on today.no giant head rests then,or Hans device.so I would think the driver side hit just broke his neck instantly
his head hit the wall
what
Health and safety is boring it’s ruined motorsport
“Ohhh my gersh, how’d that happen!!? Over to you, Colby”
“I’d say whacking a cement wall at 150 miles an hour had something to do with it, Dilford”.
Concrete walls with no “safer barrier” and no HANS device. Current NASCAR safety, unfortunately at the cost of numerous drivers’ lives.
Commentators sound like they don’t give a shit.
This definitely should not have been fatal. NASCAR wouldn’t learn for another 5+ years and over 5 fatalities later to incorporate better safety.
Knew he was dead when they covered the car
This wreck and the Earnhadt at Daytona both looked so "normal".... they werent multicar, they werent full speed head on, they didnt flip or get airborne.
@cleetusmcfarland could this actually be the dale truck. “Sorry about the subject of the video, but it could be it? You said skinner was the driver right?”