Softwall Testing – Petree ‘loans’ car: #33/55 Cup team owner Andy Petree wanted to help NASCAR’s safety crusade for soft walls, so he donated one of his stock cars for crash research. After the crash test was completed at the Midwest Roadside Safety facility at the University of Nebraska and the car examined from top to bottom by engineers, NASCAR sent the Chevrolet back to its owner. “I’ve never seen a car like that destroyed in my whole life,” said Petree, who has the mangled machine sitting at his Flat Rock, N.C., shop. “I’ll tell you what, if that was a soft wall I’d hate to see it with a hard one.” The good news is that the crash that destroyed Petree’s car was exaggerated beyond a worst-case scenario, and this potentially lifesaving barrier could be in use this year.(more at the Daytona Beach News Journal)(4-18-2002)
