Kenny Irwin was dead less than a week before the vultures
\nbegan to circle.<\/p>\n
Irwin, a former NASCAR Craftsman Truck and Winston Cup Series
\nRookie of the Year, was killed in a horrific July 7 practice crash at New
\nHampshire International Speedway, just yards from the spot where 19-year old
\nAdam Petty lost his life eight weeks earlier. In the aftermath of the crash, a
\nnumber of possible scenarios were suggested; stuck throttle, flat tire,
\nmechanical failure, or driver error. Some also suggested there might even be a
\nproblem with the track itself; a bump or irregularity in the asphalt that causes
\ndrivers to lose control.<\/p>\n
One of the people espousing the "faulty race track"
\ntheory was Lauren J. Fix.<\/p>\n
Fix, of Clarence, NY, owns a driving school at Watkins Glen
\nInternational Speedway, and is the author of "Driving Ambitions: The
\nComplete Guide to Amateur Auto Racing." The SCCA and vintage racer\u2019s
\nresume includes a stint designing aftermarket automotive braking systems for her
\nfamily owned company, and appearances on the Oprah Winfrey show, the CBS Early
\nShow, CNN and others.<\/p>\n
In the days following Irwin\u2019s death, Fix told the
\nAssociated Press that the fatal crash \u2013 and, by association, that of Adam
\nPetty \u2013 was due to a flaw in New Hampshire International Speedway\u2019s third
\nturn. In her words, "there appears to be something wrong with that corner
\nof the track."<\/p>\n
Contacted later that same day, Fix restated her belief that
\nthe Loudon, NH oval was to blame.<\/p>\n
"It\u2019s a flat track, and (as) Rusty Wallace said, when
\nthere are accidents at the same track in the same corner \u2013 especially two in
\ntwo months \u2013 it needs to be investigated. What we need to do is come up with a
\nsolution, either from a driver\u2019s standpoint or a track standpoint."<\/p>\n
Fix said she believes NASCAR drivers should wear head
\nrestraint systems similar to those found in Formula One racing.<\/p>\n
"It\u2019s a support that goes around the back of your
\nhead, so in case of a rear-end collision, you don\u2019t get whiplash," she
\nsaid. "But it also has tethers on your helmet, attached to the support so
\nyour head doesn\u2019t go forward, which is evidently probably what happened to
\nAdam Petty and also Kenny Irwin."<\/p>\n
Asked to specify her concerns with the NHIS track, Fix
\ncompared it to Watkins Glen, which utilizes large, expandable foam blocks to
\nlessen the impact of crashes.<\/p>\n
"There\u2019s foam there, and there\u2019s gravel pits,"
\nshe said. "Granted, you don\u2019t have room for a gravel pit (at New
\nHampshire), but the foam has saved thousands of lives, believe me. I\u2019ve seen
\nit at our driving schools when people hit the foam, and I\u2019d rather have foam
\nall over the track than\u2026a piece of the wall. What\u2019s important is that the
\ntrack be safe."<\/p>\n
My complaint is that there are a lot of accidents (at New
\nHampshire)," added Fix. "There was also a truck accident there that
\nweekend, and thank God the guy (Dennis Setzer) wasn\u2019t killed. They need to
\nhave barriers that are movable. If you can\u2019t do that, you have a flat track
\nthat is very close to the wall. And whether the drivers want to admit it or not,
\nit can be a very dangerous track if you don\u2019t know what you are doing."<\/p>\n
Further, Fix claimed to have evidence that Irwin was in
\ncontrol and attempting to slow his car prior to impact.<\/p>\n
"I was on the (inter)net, and AOL has a sports page that
\nlisted the fact that they saw brake lights prior to the impact," she said.
\nInformed that NASCAR Winston Cup cars do not have brake lights, the
\nself-described "automotive and auto racing expert" replied,
\n"Well, that\u2019s what someone said. I\u2019m just reading what they said. I don\u2019t
\nhave brake lights on my car, either."<\/p>\n
"I\u2019m telling you what I\u2019m reading as we speak,"
\nshe said. "That\u2019s what somebody wrote, so somebody is inaccurate in
\n(their) statement. I said there\u2019s obviously something wrong with that corner.
\nTwo people died in that corner, so do you think there\u2019s something wrong with
\nthe asphalt or not?"<\/p>\n
Asked if driver error might have been a factor, Fix replied,
\n"Sure\u2026that\u2019s possible." She also conceded that mechanical failure
\ncould have been to blame, rather than an inherent flaw in the race track itself.
\nShe continued to insist however, that the track was to blame for Irwin\u2019s
\ndeath.<\/p>\n
"The track is known among racers as being a flat race
\ntrack\u2026and I can\u2019t believe anyone in their right mind would think there\u2019s
\nnot something wrong when there were two deaths in that corner. There\u2019s a lot
\nof impact in that corner. It could be that the asphalt has settled. It could be
\nthe way the track was laid out originally. Asphalt settles over a period of
\nyears, and it\u2019s possible something has changed during the last winter."<\/p>\n
Asked if she had any evidence to support those claims, Fix
\nsaid, "As far as the asphalt settling, no, but\u2026that\u2019s what everyone is
\nsaying. Nobody wants to quote anything, because everyone is afraid of Bill
\nFrance. If you were listening to the news over the weekend, every driver had an
\n(initial) statement. All those statements disappeared quickly, because the
\ndrivers were told `Listen, we have nothing conclusive, so don\u2019t say anything.\u2019"<\/p>\n
Pressed to back up her claims with fact, Fix suddenly
\nattempted to distance herself from the Associated Press story, saying, "I\u2019m
\njust making a possibility. I\u2019m not saying this is a fact." Then, despite
\nrepeated previous assertions that something is wrong with the NHIS track, Fix
\naccused the Associated Press of misrepresenting her comments.<\/p>\n
In her words, "I was misquoted."<\/p>\n
Amazingly, just hours after claiming to have been misquoted
\nby the AP, Fix was once again courting the national media, this time with calls
\nto suspend all racing at NHIS, pending a final determination on what caused the
\nPetty and Irwin\u2019s deaths.<\/p>\n
Clearly, Lauren Fix has an agenda of her own. Sadly, "Oprah\u2019s
\nAutomotive Expert" appears to be attempting to burnish her own resume\u2019 by
\nexploiting the tragic deaths of two young men. By her own admission, her
\naccusations are based on rumor, innuendo, and the anonymous on-line musings of
\npeople who, like her, clearly know nothing about the sport of stock car racing.<\/p>\n
If there is indeed a problem with New Hampshire International
\nSpeedway, no one is more anxious than the Bahre family to have it diagnosed and
\nrepaired. And if there is a problem with hung throttle linkages, NASCAR
\nInternational should do anything and everything in its power to pinpoint the
\nproblem and ensure that it never happens again.<\/p>\n
At this moment, what\u2019s needed is a conscientious, thorough,
\nand complete investigation of the circumstances surrounding the deaths of Adam
\nPetty and Kenny Irwin, Jr. What is absolutely not<\/u> needed is Lauren Fix\u2019s
\nself serving brand of ill-informed, knee-jerk, sound bite sensationalism.<\/p>\n
Answers are important, but correct <\/i>answers are vital.<\/p>\n
According to her slick promotional web site \u2013 "You See
\nThe Driver\u2026You Have Heard The Expert\u2026Now Surf The Website" — Fix is
\nscheduled to appear on the Oprah Winfrey Show later this month to discuss summer
\nhighway safety. Topics to be discussed include "what to pack in your trunk,
\nproper highway passing skills and proper driving etiquette."<\/p>\n
Hopefully, "America\u2019s Premier Automotive Expert"
\nwill do a little homework this time, before the cameras roll.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kenny Irwin was dead less than a week before the vultures began to circle. Irwin, a former NASCAR Craftsman Truck and Winston Cup Series Rookie of the Year, was killed in a horrific July 7 practice crash at New Hampshire International Speedway, just yards from the spot where 19-year old Adam Petty lost his life […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-original-archive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}