Big wrecks are part of NASCAR’s appeal, as is evident from their inclusion in the sport’s advertisements. But if the governing body hadn’t made so much progress regarding safety over the last decade or so, these crashes would put NASCAR in the public eye for a very different reason.
And nobody has a better appreciation for that than Aric Almirola.
Almirola recently admitted that, while he and Richard Petty Motorsports take safety very seriously, he used to think NASCAR’s annual safety meetings were pointless, according to Motorsport.com. After May 13, however, when he fractured his T5 vertebrae in a fiery crash at Kansas Speedway, he looks at those gatherings in a whole new light.
“Those people aren’t wasting hot air up there, so it’s important to listen to them and we make sure that we do everything we possibly can to make our race cars safe,” Almirola said, “and I think NASCAR has done an amazing job at making our race cars tremendously safer over the years.”
During the 33-year-old’s accident, his No. 43 made such heavy contact that it was lifted roughly six feet in the air. It was the ensuing descent back to Earth that caused the RPM driver to sustain a compression fracture. Not too long ago, the result could have been much worse, something he acknowledges.
While Almirola was sitting on the sidelines, many people turned to Dale Earnhardt Jr. to find out what the road to recovery is like for drivers, as Earnhardt himself missed most of the 2016 season with a concussion. Earnhardt, like Almirola, similarly understands his newfound respect for NASCAR’s safety efforts, Almirola told Motorsport.
Thumbnail photo via Matthew O’Haren/USA TODAY Sports Images
