Wow What a Crash

[Crappie Reaper]

http://cgi.fark.com/cgi/fark/youtube.pl?IDLink=3516383

[Bluegilll]

Amazing ! And he walks away. WOW

[Miller]

That is scary, I can't believe that they can hit the wall doing almost 200mph and walk away.

[slab_slayin_fool]

crazy crash for sure

[Maverick]

several of the other drivers said it was the hardest hit they had ever seen. It will be interesting to see the G force readings from that.

[DHanis_Dude]

Looks similar to my ol ladys driving

[wrwest]

That was a wild ride.

[stinkies daddy]

[COLOR="Red"]DayumCOLOR]

[backtocrappie]

My wife does that with her minivan all the time.

[FalconSmitty]

Ready to roll?
By Jerry Bonkowski, Yahoo! SportsMcDowell's mangled car is hauled away. (Getty) FORT WORTH, Texas – Thank God Michael McDowell is still with us.



But whether he should be racing on the Sprint Cup level is a whole other story.

McDowell's wreck during Friday's qualifying at Texas Motor Speedway wasn't only spectacular in how it happened, but equally that he walked away under his own power with just a few bumps and bruises.

Tony Stewart called it "the hardest hit I've ever seen anyone take."

Added Darrell Waltrip, "On a mile and a half race track, I've never seen a wreck that bad. Unbelievable."

That McDowell walked way from the crash is a testament to NASCAR's safety standards, including the SAFER barrier, head-and-neck restraint devices and of course, the new Cup car formerly known as the Car of Tomorrow.

If not for those life-saving additions to the sport, there's no doubt in my mind that the 23-year-old McDowell would have joined the list of drivers most recently killed on NASCAR tracks: Tony Roper (who died right here at Texas Motor Speedway), Adam Petty, Kenny Irwin (all in 2000) and Dale Earnhardt (2001).

But as affable and friendly of a guy that McDowell seems to be, I have to wonder if maybe he isn't in over his head on the Cup level. At the very least, I wonder if NASCAR should have allowed him to race here at Texas Motor Speedway, a high-speed, difficult track to handle.

And neither of these opinions have anything to do with Friday's crash.

Just a few hours before the crash in which he flipped nine times, McDowell even questioned his abilities.

"It's probably the fastest place I've ever been to," he said. "It takes a little bit of getting used to."

So, is McDowell really qualified to be racing in NASCAR's premier series and at such high speeds?

Sure, you could make the argument that it could have been Stewart out there who wrecked. Or perhaps a better example might be one of the ex-open wheel migrs like Juan Pablo Montoya, Patrick Carpentier, Dario Franchitti or Sam Hornish Jr. They came to the Cup series with virtually the same amount of stock car experience that McDowell brought with him: next to none.

But Montoya, Carpentier, Franchitti and Hornish all are experienced race car drivers in other series. McDowell's history is steeped first in 10 years of go-kart racing, followed by two years in the Star Mazda Series road course circuit (where he won seven races en route to the championship in 2004).

In 2005, he competed in two races on the CART series before being released from his team. At the same time, he began a two-year apprenticeship in the Grand Am Series before moving to ARCA last season.

Sure, he was spectacular in ARCA, winning four races and Rookie of the Year honors, finishing a close second in the championship to Frank Kimmel. But still he had very little NASCAR-level stock car experience when Michael Waltrip tabbed him as Dale Jarrett's de facto replacement. (David Reutimann replaced Jarrett in the No. 44 Toyota, while McDowell slid into Reutimann's seat in the No. 00.)

When McDowell made his Sprint Cup debut last week at Martinsville – where he incurred the wrath of several drivers, including the normally diplomatic Jeff Burton – his stock car racing resume could be printed on a business card and with plenty of white space still left over. It consisted of four races in the Nationwide/Busch Series, with finishes of 27th, 20th, 14th and 32nd, and one 30th-place finish in the Craftsman Truck Series.

That's it.

I'm not kicking a guy while he's down, but Friday's crash begs the question of his readiness to race in NASCAR's big leagues.

Even experienced drivers with crazy resumes, like Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Stewart – all champions – continue to talk about how difficult the new car is to drive. Combined, they have over 30 years of stock car experience. So how can McDowell be expected to know the nuances of stock car racing, let alone the unpredictability of the new car?

NASCAR has no set standard when it comes to determining who it will and won't approve to race at the Cup level. There's no mandated apprenticeship in the Nationwide or Craftsman Trucks series. The reason is each driver's background is unique, prompting the sanctioning body to review each person on a case-by-case basis.

"We have a resume committee that meets on a weekly basis and they literally review, over the course of a year, hundreds of drivers," NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said.

"You have to look at what the difference circumstances are. When Jacques Villeneuve came into the sport, the resume committee felt confident he was ready to take on and be able to compete at the tracks. He's a past champion in several series around the world.

"Should we have put him through the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series or the NASCAR Nationwide Series? We don't think so. We thought, based upon his skills, that he was qualified. When Juan Pablo Montoya came to NASCAR, we believe the resume committee got together and made a decision that yes, he was qualified to be on the track. We think, perhaps, over-structure could lead to less-reliable results than taking each driver on an individual basis and reviewing them as they race first at short tracks, miles, mile and a halfs and so forth.

"In McDowell's case, he was observed, was approved for smaller and larger tracks, so we're confident Michael McDowell is ready to compete at each of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series tracks today."

Ironically, three hours before the crash I asked McDowell whether he felt prepared to race at this level. Some of his responses were quite telling, but none more so than his response to my question about whether he needs more seat time, particularly in the Nationwide circuit.

"Do I belong (in the Cup Series)?" McDowell said. "No, I don't belong, but I'm going to work hard to get to the point where I do."

So what makes him think he should be racing with the best drivers in the business?

"The seat that was available at Michael Waltrip Racing was for the Sprint Cup Series," McDowell said. "I didn't walk in there and say, 'Hey, I'm a Sprint Cup driver. I deserve it. I want to be in it.'

"It wasn't like that. We tested a bunch. We ran a few Nationwide races. For sure, it will be a tough year and I'm going to have to learn. It's tough to learn at this level."

No matter what his accomplishments on other levels, when it comes to racing in the Sprint Cup Series, you don't come into it to learn. You get that education in other series.

"We are not going to make a decision that is going to put in jeopardy that driver or the drivers around him, or the crew members or the fans," Poston said.

Ultimately the responsibility does rest on NASCAR's shoulders, not McDowell's. The seat was there, and he took it. Only NASCAR could have stopped him from doing so.


Veteran motorsports writer Jerry Bonkowski is Yahoo! Sports' NASCAR columnist. Send Jerry a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.