Chevy Notes After Talladega “Big Ones”
Written by John Davison · October 2, 2005
Several Chevrolet drivers involved in the two major crashes at Talladega Superspeedway’s UAW-Ford 500 aired their views on the incidents and on restrictor plate racing. Michael Waltrip, uninjured after a spectacular flip, was later joined by Scott Riggs in clocking a little flight time during the race. Neither driver was injured
Michael Waltrip - No. 15 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet WHAT HAPPENED OUT THERE? “The No. 48 drilled the polesitter-that’s what I was just told by the polesitter. He was not happy about it. I, on the other hand, did everything I could to get through it. I went the right direction and Rusty and I just happened to come together, knocked me into somebody else and I flipped over. I didn’t get hurt. I got a good luck charm today-it’s a pearl necklace, so I’m wearing that, bracelet. You can’t do anything about it. Choose not to worry about it. You just go race and do your deal. If you wreck, you wreck. If you don’t, you don’t. Thousands and thousands of people love to watch this stuff and I love doing it. Just chalk this up to one of them deals.”
WHAT IS IT LIKE TO FLIP OVER OUT THERE? “The world’s right, no, it’s wrong, it’s right, it’s wrong again. You know, you’re just hanging on and hoping you don’t hit anything hard. The flipping part when I was doing that, was alright. When I started sliding I thought, okay, don’t let anybody hit me. What hurt is those sudden stops. NASCAR does such a great job with the safety of these race cars and then also the SAFER barriers. That takes away a lot of worrying when you have these things on your side. Then you just pray a lot.”
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. - No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet WHAT HAPPENED OUT THERE? “I’m fine. The car is tore up pretty bad. I don’t know if we’ll be able to get back out. But the No. 48 (Jimmie Johnson) had to slow down for something. He just stopped and I couldn’t get slowed down and I run into the back of him. Apparently he got into the guy in front of him and then turned Elliott (Sadler) around. I don’t know how they got checked up or what they checked up for. I didn’t really see that. I just went down in the corner and everybody stopped. We are all right. I hit Jimmie and he got into the No. 38 (Sadler) a little bit and turned him sideways. I just hope everybody is okay.”
Mike Bliss - No. 0 Best Buy Chevrolet Note: Involved in accident Lap 57 WHAT HAPPENED? “It felt like we cut a tire. Right rear felt like, right in the middle of turn 1 and 2, and I just took off.”
Jeff Burton - No. 31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet Note: Involved in accident Lap 66 - “We weren’t the only one to make a mistake today. There’s a lot of stuff there, but we all make mistakes. It’s way too aggressive for this part of the race. This caution and the first caution, just everybody just being too aggressive. I’ll tell you something, if it doesn’t calm down, it’s going to get worse.”
Jeff Gordon - No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet Note: Involved in accident Lap 66 - “Just a lot of craziness. It’s Talladega and you expect that, but, it just seems like every time we come back here and the cars are driving like this, it just gets more and more out of control with the bump drafting on the corners and tri oval. You’re going to have a lot of wrecks when it comes to that. You know, a lot of blocking that goes on in a race like this. If you block a guy too late or too aggressively, you’re going to see a big wreck.”
REGARDING THE WRECKS - “I don’t know what you can do about it. It’s in our hands, the drivers’ hands, to control. I think the bump-drafting is ridiculous. And I hope we can learn a lesson from things like this, but it doesn’t seem like we do.”
IS THERE A SOLUTION TO THIS? “Like I said, I think it’s in the drivers’ hands. We’re the only ones who can really prevent our front bumper from driving into the back bumper of the car in front of us. It’s one thing to do it on the straightaway. It’s a whole other thing to do it through a corner or through the tri-oval. And it’s really getting way out of control on the straightaways. There was one time when my front bumper was pinned to a guy in front of me and the guy behind me just was pushing me. And I really wasn’t even driving the car anymore. And that’s a pretty scary feeling at 190-some miles an hour.”
Jimmie Johnson - No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet Note: Involved in accident Lap 66 RE: THE DAMAGE OF THE CAR - “The car is hurt pretty bad. I’m not sure (what happened). Just some guys got together in front of me and before I knew it the hole was clogged and boom, boom, boom. Before you know it, you’re in a wreck. It’s restrictor plate racing.”
WHAT HAPPENED ON THE FIRST CRASH OF THE DAY ON LAP 18? “It was pretty easy. I was getting a huge push from behind. I’ve got my hand up waving off the No. 8 (Earnhardt Jr.) and I was on the brakes, trying not to get into the back of the No. 38 (Sadler). And I don’t think I got into him but I think I got close enough to him where it loosened him up getting into the turn. But there is only so much you can do when you’re getting a push. I’m on the brake trying to get the car slowed down and waving the guy off behind me. I’m not trying to blame the No. 8. There is energy built up behind all these cars and one guy up there on the brakes isn’t going to slow it down and the No. 38 got turned around. I feel horrible for it. If I got into him, I’ll take responsibility. It’s not a big deal to me. I can accept that. But when you’re getting pushed, there is not a lot you can do. But it’s a little tough when you’ve got somebody tucked under your butt pushing you as hard as that. I was on the brakes and I just hate that it took out so many cars.”
THIS HAS BEEN A TOUGH PLACE FOR YOU - “It certainly has. It’s real easy to sit on your couch and point fingers and say so-and-so did something wrong. But until you’re out there in these cars at these speeds and seeing all the near misses and what is really going on, it’s not worth forming an opinion. I don’t know what happened there but all anybody can say is that this is Talladega.”
Scott Riggs - No. 10 Valvoline Chevrolet Note: Involved in accident Lap 66 - “I don’t know what happened. It seemed like somebody got into the No. 41 car and Casey turned around and I thought I was about three car lengths by him and all of a sudden got hung — clipped in the right rear by somebody or some thing and turned me into the wall. After that we were upside down. I was still bracing myself even though I was upside down and I felt somebody hit me again and we tumbled again. I just hate it because that was probably the best car we had. A lot of guys wouldn’t work with us right now. I was just trying to be careful and be in the right place at the right time and let those guys beat each other up and maybe me and maybe miss the big wreck and be there at the end. It was working our way until we got caught up in it. This was probably our best shot at a win or have a great finish. I thought we had a pretty strong car. I didn’t see anybody who had a car any stronger than mine, that’s for sure. If I’d had a little help there, I could have done it. I hate it for all the guys. But tell everybody back home I’m okay.”
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