#12-Ryan Newman qualified 13th for Sunday’s Sirius at The Glen in a backup Dodge after crashing his primary car in practice Friday morning. Newman, who wound up with his car turned sideways sitting on the driver’s side after it slammed thick foam barriers guarding a tire barrier off Turn 9 of the Watkins Glen course, was uninjured in the crash. Still, he was critical of the way the track’s emergency team handled the crash. “I hit a rock with my helmet getting out of my car because the safety crew was about 10 minutes late getting there,” he said. “It was pretty ridiculous. When they got there they didn’t know what they were doing”( ThatsRacin.com )(8-9-2003) UPDATE: Ryan Newman rolled his car onto its driver side at Turn 9. While rolling a car is never pleasant, waiting for the safety crew to arrive at the car to help the driver out of the car borders on the intolerable, at least according to Newman. I got loose in Turn 9 and had a couple of wiggles and never recovered, explained Newman. I hit a rock with my helmet getting out of my car because the safety crew was about 10 minutes late getting there. They were definitely late, Newman continued. It was pretty ridiculous. When they got there they didn’t know what they were doing. It seemed like they were pretty uneducated about what to do.” Watkins Glen International safety matters are handled by the volunteer organization Race Services Incorporated. According to the RSI website the crew is an organization of volunteers committed to promoting the cause of road racing enthusiasts, and promoting Watkins Glen International as a leader in road racing. The only requirement for a first responder job is that the volunteer must be a certified member of a New York or Pennsylvania fire department. One case showing the volunteer groups lack of familiarity with NASCAR specific issues, which occurred in 2001, had rescue volunteers pouring water onto a TV box [#31-Robby Gordon] which contained a significant amount of lithium in the battery pack that powered the unit. This combination of water and lithium cells caused the cells to explode.( Ford Racing ), maybe time to rethink a full-time traveling rescue crew?(8-10-2003) AND Winston Cup director John Darby responded to Newman’s concerns. “Our safety concerns we never sleep on,” Darby said. “Any incident on the racetrack, including the one yesterday, if it took 30 seconds to respond, then immediately after that incident the team that’s responsible is trying to figure out how to do it in 20 seconds. It’s something we never sit still on,” Darby said. “If we didn’t do it 100 percent right, we’ll find out why and the next time we’ll make sure we do.” Darby said he personally was not aware how much time it took from the impact of Newman’s car into the barrier and the arrival of the safety vehicles. The vehicles responded from a station that was at the exit of the Inner Loop, the track section right in front of where Newman crashed that’s little more than 200 yards away. Darby said the track’s safety vehicles never move until they are dispatched by the NASCAR control tower. “We know that if we pull an emergency vehicle out in front of a race car that’s traveling 180 miles an hour, we’re going to have a bigger problem than we started with,” Darby said. “There’s a lot of things that play into moving equipment, and when and how it’s moved.” Newman said that, particularly in practice mode, NASCAR needs to do a better job.(more at NASCAR.com )(8-10-2003)
