Tragedies That Changed NASCAR Forever

The National Association for Stock Car Racing, or NASCAR for short, started on February 21, 1948, and has since transcended into a multi-billion dollar industry and a global phenomenon. William "Bill" France Sr. was heavily involved in racing cars and promotion races in Daytona Beach, Florida, when he realized the rules of races varied from one event to the next and that not all promoters were honest. To regulate the races, France formed NASCAR and served as its first president.

From the very first stock race on June 19, 1949, at the Charlotte Speedway in North Carolina to it becoming one of the most popular sports in the world, NASCAR has a long history of growth. Nowadays, the average top speed for a NASCAR race car is about 200 miles per hour. The competitors behind the wheel of these speed machines are highly skilled and surrounded by strict safety regulations regarding every action taken on or near the track. Over the decades, the safety protocols taken in NASCAR have grown and adjusted to meet the needs of an ever-progressing industry. However, in NASCAR, accidents are never entirely unavoidable, and there's a list of notable tragedies that occurred throughout the years which have changed the sport forever.

Adam Petty was a 19-year-old rookie on the rise in NASCAR when he crashed while practicing at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in May 2000. The throttle in his car became stuck while Petty was driving at speeds of around 130 miles per hour. Being unable to control the speed of his vehicle caused him to crash into a wall. Petty died of massive head trauma.

Petty's death was one of two incidents that led NASCAR to develop an additional safety feature for its race cars. A potentially life-saving red button was installed on each of the steering wheels. The purpose of the button is to shut down the car entirely in the event of the throttle not working, like in the case of Petty. NASCAR legend Kyle Petty, Adam's father, said in a statement published by BBC, "The kill switch in the car is like the main breaker block in a house. When you pull the main switch, every light goes off. When you hit the kill switch, all the power of the car just goes away."

NASCAR legend Rusty Wallace had an impressive career on the track, with 55 victories under his belt and a 2013 induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. His contributions to racing don't end there, either. In 1993 he was involved in two incidents that led to safety measures that have potentially saved the lives of many. The first incident was at the Daytona 500 when a slight run-in with another race car sent Wallace's Pontiac airborne and flipping through the air before slamming back down. Wallace was uninjured, though his car was finished.

The second incident was only a few months later, at the Winston 500, when he again had a run-in with another race car that sent his car airborne. No one was injured in this incident, either. However, when a car takes flight, it raises a lot of eyebrows in terms of safety for those on the ground. These accidents and other times cars went airborne led NASCAR to hire a team of experts to prevent future incidents. The solution was a set of flaps attached to the roof of the cars that would raise when cars ran the risk of lifting into the air. Eventually, NASCAR mandated roof and hood flaps on all cars driving on tracks over a mile long. Though drivers weren't entirely on board with any changes to their cars at first, many have benefitted from the success and added safety of the roof flaps.

The 1987 Winston 500 at what is now the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama was a race that forever changed NASCAR, thanks to driver Bobby Allison. On lap 22, Allison was driving at about 200 miles per hour when he lost an engine and blew a rear tire. His car was launched and went airborne, hitting the fencing that protects spectators from harm. The car took down around one hundred feet of fencing, and although no one was injured, the crash led to tighter safety regulations.

After the 1987 race, NASCAR realized that the extreme speeds of the cars meant that those watching the race needed more than just some fencing to protect them from harm. NASCAR made the use of carburetor restrictor plats mandatory on high-speed tracks like Talladega. These plates restrict the air and fuel going into the engine, decreasing its output and cutting horsepower. The restrictors are specially selected in a way to prevent cheating and sealed on the car with a NASCAR anti-tampering seal to ensure both safety and fairness throughout the race.

On July 7, 2000, 30-year-old Kenny Irwin Jr. became the second death in a two-month time period at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He was driving a practice run when he entered turn three and slammed head-on into the wall at 150 miles per hour. After hitting the wall, Irwin's car flipped onto its roof. He was pronounced dead at the hospital from his injuries sustained in the crash.

Irwin's death came just two months after the death of 19-year-old Adam Petty on the same turn of the same track. The death of both drivers was speculated to be due to stuck throttles, leaving the drivers unable to control the speed of their cars. NASCAR took steps to ensure the safety of the drivers in these situations and implemented a kill switch on the steering wheels of their cars. The purpose of the switch is to shut off the engine entirely should the throttle become stuck. The switch is placed within reach of the driver's thumb for easy access.

Ernie Irvan was practicing at Michigan International Speedway in 1994 when he got in a crash that nearly ended his life. The accident left Irvan in critical condition, and he fought for life with a skull fracture, swelling of the brain, and bruising on his lungs, among other injuries. Many speculated the cause of the crash to be tire-related as it came during the season in NASCAR known as the "tire wars."

The tire wars came when tire company Hoosier challenged Goodyear as NASCAR's number one tire. The competition meant that new types of tires were used for every track and every race. The goal was to make the fastest tires. Irvan's tragic crash was just one of the reasons the chaos of the tire wars came to an end. Hoosier Tires didn't gain much traction regarding getting any big racing names to sign with them, and they ultimately ended up losing money and conceding at the end of the season.  Allowing Goodyear to remain NASCAR's number-one tire brand. Irvan survived despite being given a 10% chance of surviving his injuries and went on to win a Cup race at the Michigan International Speedway.

On May 24, 1964, Edward Glenn Roberts, often known as "Fireball Roberts," was competing in the World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the longest race of the season, when tragedy struck. On lap seven, Roberts ran into wreckage from a recent wreck and ended up crashing his own car. He slid backward into a retaining wall before his car flipped and burst into flames and clouds of black smoke with Roberts still inside. 

Roberts suffered severe second and third-degree burns and was airlifted to a hospital, where he received treatment for a month. Just as it seemed he was on a path to recovery, he fell ill with pneumonia and sepsis and died on July 2, 1964. His death led NASCAR to develop and mandate fire-retardant uniforms for drivers, along with safer fuel cells in cars to prevent any future deaths. In 1998 Roberts was named one of NASCAR'S 50 Greatest Drivers, and in 2014 he was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame for his contributions to the sport.