(By Greg Engle)
Posted: Friday,October 30th, 2009
(By Greg Engle, CupScene.com Editor, NASCAR Examiner)
Somewhere in the big white palace in Daytona Beach in the middle of last year, someone had a ‘eureka ‘ moment. It might have been when they were discussing the schedule changes for 2009, or maybe later, but no doubt someone looked at the date for this years Talladega race, maybe even looked again and went. “Wow, Talladega and Halloween, what a perfect combination.”
Indeed whether through conscious effort or a stroke of marketing luck, a race at NASCAR’s biggest track is happening on the scariest weekend of the year, Halloween.
TALLADEGA, AL - APRIL 26: Carl Edwards, driver of the #99 Claritin Ford, runs to the finish line after suffering damage at the conclusion of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Aaron
It’s fitting because more then one driver is no doubt a bit frightened at the thought of spending several hours white knuckle racing as part of a four wide chess match where even the whisper of one wrong move can send a car flying through the air and end a race in a heap of junk in the infield.
Or in the case of Carl Edwards in a pile of twisted metal just short of the finish line. In the spring race here, Edwards was part of one of the scariest wrecks in recent memory when he attempted to block eventual winner Brad Keselowski as the lead pack was rocketing towards the finish line. Edwards Ford Fusion was launched in the air and barrel rolled along the fence before flipping over and landing upright only yards from the finish line.
After a few moments Edwards climbed from the mangled machine and jogged across the finish line.
“It was just a little bit scary because I saw the ground and then I couldn’t tell exactly which part of the car I hit the wall with,” Edward said. “ I was real worried I hit the roll cage and I had to wait a minute to make sure that there wasn’t something stuck in me somewhere or something. That’s a little nerve-wracking to hit the wall with something other than the side of the racecar.
That’s the first time I’ve flipped in a racecar. That’s it, so we got that out of the way.”
Now as the series heads back to Talladega and this Sunday’s Amp Energy 500, that scary wreck is no doubt still fresh in many people’s minds. Kind of like a horror movie you hope you never see again. MORE–>>
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