Key safety feature in Daytona crash first unveiled at IMS
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The first thing Ryan Newman’s car hit on the track at Daytona Monday night was the SAFER barrier in front of the wall.
It may have saved his life and the technology was first installed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
IMS has been at the forefront of new safety technology, and other tracks have followed suit.
Still, watching the wreck Monday night was not easy for anyone connected to this place, including IMS President Doug Boles.
“I was in my living room, screaming out loud,” said Boles, who said he was cheering Newman both because he’s an Indiana native and an IMS winner.
Newman crossed the Daytona 500 finish line with his car sliding upside down.
But it could have been worse.
The SAFER barrier he slammed into, a reinforced steel and foam wall designed to absorb the energy from a crash, helped.
“The most significant innovation in the last 50 years at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and any other racetrack because it really lessened the impact of drivers when they crash,” Boles said.
When you visit the IMS Museum, among all the cars and history, a corner is dedicated to the SAFER barrier, first installed at the track in 2002.
“First track to invest in it, first track to put in on our wall, first track to test it,” Boles said.
WISH-TV racing analyst Tyce Carlson was in Daytona on Sunday for the race but had to fly back after it was postponed and wasn’t there in person for the Monday crash.
He was watching live when it happened.
“That is why I retired,” Carlson said.
Carlson is seven years older than Newman but has raced against him and knows him personally.
“He is a brilliant guy,” he said. “He probably knows more than the engineers on his race team when it comes to some things.”
His belief on the SAFER barrier is “it made a huge difference.”
That’s not all.
IMS was also at the forefront when it came to extending the safety fencing around the track, including angling it back over the pavement.
As with just about anything when it comes to safety, Boles said lessons learned from Newman’s crash will be shared across tracks and across sanctioning bodies to help everyone in the future: “That’s the good news out of this, just the way that NASCAR, IndyCar, other racing bodies, places like Daytona, Indianapolis, will share information so that we can make our facilities and our series more safe.”