ARCA Driver killed at Charlotte

[MountaineerTom]

From Jayski's

 

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ARCA competitor Eric Martin was killed in a violent crash at Lowe's Motor Speedway on Wednesday in a practice session leading up to Thursday night's EasyCare 150. Martin, driving the #2 Hixson Construction Chevy, spun coming off Turn 4 and backed the car into the wall. While stopped, driver Deborah Renshaw's #75 Ford slammed into the driver's-side door area. Emergency workers covered Martin's car with a tarp minutes after the accident. Renshaw, 25, of Bowling Green, Ky., was being taken to a hospital nearby after being treated at the infield care center. Her injuries were not believed to be life-threatening. Martin, a rookie in the ARCA series, was from Hixson, TN, in the Chattanooga area. His best finish in the series was 21st at Kansas Speedway and he was 20th in the season standings. He is survived by his wife, Tammy, and two children. ARCA competitor Blaise Alexander was killed in a race wreck at the track a year ago this week.(ThatsRacin.com). NOTE: no word on if either driver was wearing a head and neck restriant.(10-9-2002)

[antig24]

[Elwood]

 

[gmcjoe]

I saw the pics of that wreck on Yahoo!, ####...

 

[MarkD]

[General Lee 01]

If you've seen the pics it's really eerie (SP?).

 

SHis car came to rest in relatively the same location as Blaise Alexander's car last year.  

[Kansas Kid]

They showed a video of the crash on RPM2 tonight on Wednesday evening.  If any of you have seen it, you would probably agree with me in saying that this wreck NEVER should have happened.  After the guy intially spun out, his car was sitting up against the front stretch wall.  You could see him moving around inside the car, and he radioed to his crew that he was OK.  About 10 seconds after the start of the video, the second car come off turn 4 at full speed and just runs right into the driver side door.  The second car didn't even slow down!  It is my understanding that when the wreck started, the second car was just coming off of turn 2.  Why if several other cars had slowed down and missed the wrecked car as it was sitting there, did one driver continue to run full speed half way around the track and hit this guy?

 

It is bad enough when a person dies in a race car for any reason, but the way this wreck took place makes it even worse.        

[MountaineerTom]

It is my understanding that when the wreck started, the second car was just coming off of turn 2.  Why if several other cars had slowed down and missed the wrecked car as it was sitting there, did one driver continue to run full speed half way around the track and hit this guy?

One of the NASCAR shows I watched this weekend talked about the accident.  They said that when Martin wrecked, Renshaw was somewhere between turn 2 and halfway down the backstretch.  They yellow didn't come out right away, and by the time it did, Renshaw was somewhere in turns 3-4 and was in the oil that was all over the track and then lost control and couldn't stop.  

 

Sounds like the caution should have come out sooner.  I havn't seen any video of it, so I can't really comment on what happened, just what the guys were saying on that show I watched.  They did mention using some kind of system that is used in another series where they have a light in all of the cars themselve, and when NASCAR throws the caution, the light in every car comes on, flashes, or something.  Sounds like a good idea I guess.  I'd guess racing back to the caution (or possible caution) had something to do with it.  That coudl be easily fixed by using the same method that some of the other series use.  When the caution comes out, the resart line up reverts back to the running order from the lap before the caution.  (Does ARCA already do that?  I can't remember.    ??? )  I think that would be good for some of the series that have drivers without a lot of experience.

[General Lee 01]

There's a video of it here: http://espn.go.com/rpm/2002/1009/1443506.html#

 

 

I will warn you, it may be hard to stomach.  

 

 

Here's what I want to know. Was he taking off his Seat Belts and stuff when she hit him? (sorry, the video quality at my end is not perfect, I could not tell in the video)

 

My .02, Whether ARCA threw the caution or not, Renshaw's spotter (If she had one) should've told her there was a wreck in Turn 4.

[MountaineerTom]

Holy crap!!  That's terrible.  I couldn't tell if he was taking his belts and stuff off or not, but I would think all the drivers know not to do that until after all the cars get by, unless there was a fire or something that would make them want to get out imediately.  

 

One thing though, teams were not required to have spotters high on the grandstands like during the race.  The article says Renshaw's spotter was in the infield on top of the hauler.  He might not have seen where Martin's car was.  

 

I seen this morning that it has led to a new rule that teams are now going to be required to have spotters up high during practice, just like in tha race.  Cup, Busch, Trucks, and ARCA.

 

That was a terrible accident and like Kyle said, it shouldn't have happened.