For Blake Bobbitt, 187 laps of last Sunday's Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway were pretty much the same as the rest of the 142,000 fans on hand -- fast and exciting. Then, on the lap 188, Carl Edwards' No. 99 flew into the catch fence in front of her, ripping apart and spewing a chunk of metal into her face and shattering her jaw.Talk about a bad experience at your first NASCAR race.
The 17-year-old Bobbitt was released from a Birmingham, Ala., hospital Wednesday according to the Associated Press, but not before having her jaw wired shut for up to six weeks, said a Florence, Ala., newspaper.
Bobbitt's father Terry was interviewed in the article and talked about seeing the wreck start to happen and trying to first warn then protect his daughter.
Terry Bobbitt said he pointed toward Edwards' car to alert his daughter as the vehicle flipped across the track.That's definitely some pretty scary stuff, and from the sound of it both Blake and her father were lucky nothing more serious happened. That's not to say, of course, that a broken jaw is just a bump or a bruise -- especially for a high school senior preparing to graduate in the next few weeks.
"I pointed down the track and, all in that same motion, I grabbed her and took her down to the ground," [Bobbitt] said. "I covered her, and the only thing I didn't get covered was the side of her face that got hit. Nothing hit me. I couldn't believe anything even hit her."
Blake Bobbitt was knocked unconscious, Emma Bobbitt said. "They immediately got her on the backboard and took her to the medical house there and flew her out."
She said her daughter doesn't remember the wreck.
"She just remembers standing up to see the last lap," Emma Bobbitt said. "Everybody's talked about it so much since then that she's starting to put the pieces together."
The article said that Bobbitt went through a long reconstructive surgery on her lower jaw on Monday and that Edwards called her to apologize for the incident, and even added that he himself has broken his jaw before and understands the associated problems.
Fortunately, Bobbitt is expected to fully recover from her injuries despite more scheduled surgeries. However, its probably going to be a hard sell for her to ever attend a NASCAR race again -- which is a part NASCAR needs to recognize.
Having fans get hurt is just simply not a "part of the game" as many folks have argued in the past few days. People won't come to race tracks anymore, let alone buy up the cheap seats that are the lowest and closest to the action if they think there's a realistic possibility of injury.
Do accidents happen? Sure they do. But to think that there's nothing else anyone can do to keep potential lifelong fans like Blake Bobbitt from getting hurt is close-minded at best and ignorant at worst.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Human-Nights:
Accident due to happen, from this corporate wasteful spending. The injure fans should bring legal action against team owner, driver, coporate sponsorand clowns of NASCAR. Go for 100 million...NASCAR sucks and this corporate spending is a waste of money to investors.
ACCIDENT is the key word!!! I am sure the driver and nascar will take full responsibility for this unfortunate ACCIDENT.People make it sound like it was planned, its sad it happened that way, but it is not the first and I can guarantee you it will not be the last time a fan gets hurt! Whoever says Nascar sucks and they are overpayed and all of that crap are full of it! GO 48
Read the back of the tickets. There is a disclaimer of liabilty on all sporting events with a risk of getting hurt, baseball, racing, arena football etc.
Just because you dont like NASCAR dosent mean it sucks.......I enjoy going to races and it is fun.........This young lady getting hurt is what sucks but watching this race and seeing how Carl Edwards car hit that fence we are lucky that his car didnt go thru the fence.......Thank GOD that the fence held and I am sure the NASCAR Powers that be will take care of her.........On a side note I feel NASCAR needs to do something to stop these kind of accidents at DEGA and DAYTONA
I really don't see how "corporate wasteful spending" has anything to do with why Carl Edwards car hit the fence, or injured a fan! Was there a part of this article that claimed the AFLAC duck was to blame? And the "Bring a lawsuit against everyone" attitude is what is wrong with people today! Yes, I believe she should be compensated! Hell... I believe everyone in that section should be compensated! I know if I were sitting around there, and was lucky enough to be uninjured... I'd definitely need to change my shorts!
I'm a NASCAR fan that doesn't like to see accidents! Some of my favorite driver's have lost their lives doing what they love! (And I'm not just talking about NASCAR!) I was in attendance when Greg Moore lost his life at California Speedway, I remember fans cheering in the stands, but upon seeing the replay, I knew the outcome would not be good! It made me sick! But, and my point is, California Speedway made changes to the track, and nothing like that has happened since! (That is going on 10 years!)
My hats go off to NASCAR! Because unlike in the past, the catch fence held! But, fans got hurt! And I do believe NASCAR will review and make changes! I'm glad Carl Edwards made the comments he did because it brought the seriousness of this issue to the forefront! I really don't know what changes need to be made, I'll leave that to the experts! Just like how I leave fast driving to the 43 in the field on race day!
Nascar has made a car that cut through the wind well on its own to begin with. Add to that a restrictor plate that reduces total HP and what do you expect? You end up with 40 cars all crammed together going round and round until the last three laps when every one that thinks they can tries to make a move. You have all the cars in a space of 500 feet. Not sure there is any other result possible to tell you the truth. It is not like the people that run Nascar do not know what they have. We hasve had it for a couple full years now and they are no changes to the cars or they plates. It is obvious this is what they want.
The only interesting part of the race is the last 2 laps at these two tracks. Thank God it is only at two tracks and not ALL of them.
mbl
What I don't understand is why people are that close to the track to begin with. This whole issue should be a moot point. I guess in this age of lack of responsiblity, the spectator bears no responsiblity for being within feet of tons of speeding projectiles flying around the track. How about moving the fans back from the edge of mayhem.
impossible to sue people. when you go to a sports event the tickets clearly state you enter at your own risk. numerous people have been hurt and killed at events to no avail. i doubt they will even offer to pay her medical bills which in fact should be free if our country wasn't run by money hungry politicians.
OOPS, correctin. Nascar made a car the does NOT cut through the wind.
You know accidents do happen. I was at Bristol this spring and have seats 54 rows up and a wreck happened in turn 1 and a sprocked or something flew by me and hit a guy 3 rows from me. I thought it was a bird till people started panicing. It actually hit his arm and drove a hole in the seat. I took pics. Nevertheless the guy was not there for the sprint race but noone heard anything about that...why is that?
10 years ago the windshild came off and flew into the crowd , 1 women was cut buy th window. i was working the same section then , and nascar come and got the windshild, and mandated they lock it down with more hooks, and straps. since then i have not seen a winshild come off a car. they are lucky the engine didnt come with that little debre. i worked for daytona when tony stewart was upsidedown on top of bobby labonte, and did not have a scratch on him ,and that took out 14 cars .that is just raceing at the biggest tracks .take the plate off and you will see someone die from the car flying ,it don't matter if there is a fence with 1 inch cables or not.
When will NASCAR wake up and get into the 21st century? They need to use electronics on these cars. The restrictor plate is as antiquated as having to hand crank an engine. There are ways to limit speeds without restricting acceleration. Personally I don't think speed should be limited. But for the sake of nascar we will. So if the cars had electronic fuel injection, electronics like ALL STOCK CARS have. They could limit the speed electronically while allowing the teams to figure out ways to accelerate better. This would help separate the cars. If cars could get up to speed quick you could electronically have the brakes apply anything above that speed. This would eliminate the desire to bump draft which would eliminate a huge number of these wrecks. Let teams run any gear ratio, some will want quick acceleration while others may want to insure engine life. The electronics will limit speed. Let teams modify the cars so they handle better, use wider tires. With the advancements made with computers all of this can be done without a large expense. A basic computer no longer cost $10,000. As I said"NASCAR, please come into the 21st century."
I hope all that were hurt get well quickly. Ask them what they think about the seats. My opinion, show people what could happen. If they want to sit there have them sign a waver. Some people like me are willing to take the risk. The possibility of getting injured is very low. People seldom get hurt like this. Don't take everything away from the fans. NHRA is already losing fans due to shortening the drag strip. Don't follow their lead.
to roadthunder2: I think wrestling is a stupid sport as well a football & hockey! but i don't run around putting them down. you don't like it don't watch it!!! Fans have been kill at hockey games. accadents happen we should be thanking nascar for having a fence in place that kept the car from going into the stands!!! just think about the force of a 3500# car hitting that fence at about 180 somthing mph!
There is one simple answer and point to all of this, that being injuries that occur at sporting events.....something is learned from them and measures are taken to prevent them from happening in the future.
I live near Columbus, OH. A couple of years ago a young girl was killed by a flying puck at one of our Blue Jackets Hockey games at Nationwide Arena. Our town adores our beloved Blue Jackets and everyone was in shock at the accident and felt horrible for this young girl and her family. The arena and the team took care of the family as NASCAR will take care of this young girl and her family. After this young lady's untimely death, more safety measures were made at hockey stadiums around the US to ensure this doesn't happen again.
A couple of months ago, a four year old boy was killed by Monster Truck debris being thrown into the audience after a crash. Same scenario, the stadium and the organization that runs the Monster Truck Series stepped in, took care of the funeral arrangements for this young boy and gave the family an undisclosed amount of money. More safety measures are being added for these venues as well.
Excuse the crassness, but shit happens! It's freak and rare, but it happens. No one can wander through life worrying all the time about when something "freak" may drop out of the sky and hurt or kill them. We are all more likely to die of a sudden heart attack or die in our automobiles we drive in every day then we are to die from some freak sporting event accident.
Give NASCAR some credit. I am sure they are taking care of this girl and her family and I am sure they are looking into every possible avenue to ensure safety at Dega in the future as well as continue to keep an action packed race on the schedule.
Kim