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The chairman of Speedway Motorsports says NASCAR should mandate a standard catch-fence system for all sanctioned tracks following the recent crash at Talladega Superspeedway.
He already has begun construction on a new system at New Hampshire Motor Speedway that will be in place when the Sprint Cup series goes there next month.
“Let’s fix it because the sport is at risk,” Bruton Smith said on Monday at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. “Cables [that provide strength to the fence] are just like fishing lines. You have a certain test lines. Cables can be like a quarter inch and have a 90,000 PSI [pounds per square inch].
“I prefer to use welded wire,” he said. “We should never, ever use any of this wire you see around here you build fences out of. You need a welded wire which is 10 times stronger than a chain length fence.
“There’s no rule on how many cables you put. You could put cables say every six inches or every 12 inches. Cable is not necessarily the answer to what we’re answer. You’ve got to do your homework and make sure you have the tensile strength in those cables.” ESPN
Speedway Motorsports Inc. will spend US$400,000 to put up fences made of welding wire.
Smith said he had started the process of replacing the fence before Edwards’ accident at Talladega two races ago. Edwards’ car was sent airborne into the frontstretch fence, which bowed upon contact.
Talladega’s fencing is a mix of chain link and steel cable. The Alabama track is owned by International Speedway Corp., the sister company to NASCAR.
“A chain-link fence, you might think it’s strong, but it’s not,” Smith said. “I had already made a decision to (change New Hampshire). We were a little ahead of the curve on that. It was not adequate. It looked bad, it was bad, and I thought, very unsafe.” The Canadian Press
SMI, which bought the Sparta, Ky., speedway in 2008, told NASCAR it would be willing to give up a Sprint Cup date at one of its other racetracks in order to get one for the Kentucky Speedway, according to the story. Bizjournals.com
