The truth is out about two of the most horrifying accidents in Elliott Sadler’s career. In a recent episode of the “Dale Jr Download” alongside his brother Hermie, Elliott opened up about his terrifying crashes at Michigan in 2000 and Pocono in 2010. The below clip from the trailer sent fans into a frenzy as Sadler revealed that NASCAR had kept footage of a crash from the public eye (0:42 mark), but which one of these two is it?
The first crash Sadler discussed in the podcast was his Pocono crash in 2010. For reference, the TV broadcast of the crash is included below, including Sadler gingerly climbing out of the car in visible discomfort. While the primary camera focus is on Kurt Busch’s crash, ESPN seemingly missed the Sadler crash happening behind. This crash was one of many that caused Pocono to make safety enhancements on the two back straightaways before the 2012 season.
Aside from a very shaky fan video, no more footage of this crash has been released. Is NASCAR withholding it from the public? Sadler elaborated on what caused the crash, how hard the hit was, and whether or not NASCAR is keeping anything from the public.
There’s a wreck on the backstretch. I slow down. My actual teammate (Likely A.J. Allmendinger) runs into me and hits me and pushes me across the grass, and I’m just sliding. I’m thinking ‘Okay, I’m just going to nose off this wall over here. It’s not going to hurt’, so I’m just bracing up a little bit. And, all of a sudden, when it hit, it hurt, and I’m like, ‘What the…God!’. I was not expecting that. I had no idea the fence made a ‘V’ with the earth behind it keeping it to where it wouldn’t give any. That hurt. I was bruised all over, black eyes…There is nothing about that wreck that was guarded or censored or anything from NASCAR.
Elliott Sader
So, according to Sadler, NASCAR was not withholding anything from the public. It was simply a hard hit that left him very bruised but, ultimately, with no broken bones. He did not miss any races and came back two weeks later at Michigan to record his best finish of the season.
If NASCAR has nothing to hide from the Pocono crash, what happened in Michigan in 2000?
The 2000 crash at Michigan was arguably more scary. During a practice session for the June race, Sadler blew a tire going into turn one, causing the car to spin and go airborne, nose pointing to the ground before flipping multiple times. The only footage shown on CBS is of an in-car camera and the last half or so of the crash.
Sadler offered more detail on the podcast about meeting with NASCAR following the crash. In it, he confirmed that NASCAR censored footage of the crash.
I’m going down the fronstraightaway, and all I heard was a boom. We blew the right rear tire, and when we blew the right rear tire, the quarter panel went striaght out, so it made it like a wing of an airplane. When I [spun] it [the car] went straight up…The next morning is race morning. NASCAR calls me to the trailer. We go in there, and they have a video of my wreck. They show it to me, and they say, ‘That’ll be the last time you ever see that video because you’re higher than the catch fence, and we don’t want to just show that to everybody. Everybody don’t need to see that‘…I was nose down, and I was higher than the catch fence.
Elliott Sadler
Sadler also added that he was “A whole car length” above the catch fence.
It’s easy to see why NASCAR withheld that footage. If a car gets above the catch fence, it poses a catastrophic threat to spectators, and, at that juncture, there was not enough time to redo the catch fence before the race. On top of that, these types of crashes are exceedingly rare, especially cars that fly as high as Sadler’s did. For better or for worse, NASCAR decided to keep it out of the public eye, and the race ran off without a hitch.
Since then, NASCAR tracks have implemented much bigger and stronger catch fences, which keep the risk of cars flying into the grandstands to a minimum. Even then, catch fences are still imperfect, as fans have been injured by flying debris after cars flew into the catch fence. In 2017, NASCAR settled with a fan who sued them after being injured during Kyle Larson’s crash at the end of the 2013 Xfinity Series race at Daytona.
It’s also worth noting that NASCAR was under a microscope regarding driver safety in 2000. Adam Petty lost his life roughly one month earlier in a practice crash in New Hampshire.
Little did anyone know that Kenny Irwin Jr., Tony Roper, Dale Earnhardt, and Blaise Alexander would also lose their lives in stock car crashes between Sadler’s crash and October of 2001. This rash of fatalities preceded significant advancements in safety, such as the HANS device and the SAFER barrier.
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