#NASCAR THE GAME CRASHES DRIVERS#

But many safety improvements have been added. The restraint system (seat and belts), which have been refined repeatedly since Dale Earnhardt’s death 20 years ago, remain the same from the “old” car. He said engineers used a “clean sheet of paper” approach, meaning they weren’t beholden to anything in the existing car: “What do we want the car to do in each different crash scenario? How strong does it need to be?” In an exclusive interview with SportTechie, Patalak broke down the sport’s focus on safety in developing the new car. “Sometimes that may be lost on the fans, or even the industry, as we get so wrapped up in the day-to-day competitive aspect.” “What we do every week is dangerous,” says John Patalak, NASCAR’s senior director of safety engineering. It is a throwback to when stock cars were actually stock-and it is simultaneously the result of more technological and safety innovations than any other model in the sport’s history. NASCAR calls it the most revolutionary vehicle in the history of the sport.

Across the sport, the car is seen as a big swing, an attempt to please old-school fans and attract new ones.

#NASCAR THE GAME CRASHES DRIVERS#

The sport went through hundreds of iterations in search of the elusive combination of looks cool, races well, and keeps drivers safe. Subscribe to Our Morning Newsletterĭavid Wilson, the president of Toyota Racing Development, called the new car “an unprecedented collaboration” between NASCAR, team owners, drivers and manufacturers. But the most important one will be: Is it safe? When the car hits the track at next year’s Daytona 500, there will be questions about all of those things.

NASCAR officials began the redesign in 2019 with multiple goals in mind: They wanted the car to more closely resemble its real-world counterparts they wanted it to be cheaper to make the sport more accessible to new teams and manufacturers and they wanted it to be racy. In models and simulations, it has run backward into the wall, crashed forward into the wall, had its hood crushed, and been broadsided. NASCAR’s Next Gen car, which was unveiled yesterday after more than two years in development, hasn’t even raced yet but already it has survived an untold number of crashes.

Nascar the game crashes