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Infuriated Barrage of complaints aimed at NASCAR after crash
By Stephen Thomas, CNNSI.com TALLADEGA, Ala. -- If you've never seen a nest of angry bees, then you have no idea how angry people in the Winston Cup garage were after Sunday's EA Sports 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. And if you have seen a nest of angry bees, well, then, you might begin to get a feel for how angry people were. When Bobby Labonte and Bobby Hamilton got together on the final lap of Sunday's race, the resulting free-for-all ultimately damaged 18 cars. It was precisely what drivers had struggled so hard to try to avoid, but it was also exactly what they had been saying would happen. In fact, since NASCAR first put the new rules package into effect at this race last year, drivers have been pleading for change and predicting doom. That no one was seriously injured in either the 19-car accident at Daytona earlier this year or in Sunday's 18-car wreck race was beside the point.
"We've killed enough drivers," said an irate Michael McSwain, crew chief for Ricky Rudd, whose car was mangled in the accident. "You ever watched any old movies about Rome, where they throw gladiators in there and let the lions eat 'em? What's the difference? How many people have we got to lose?" McSwain was standing next to Rudd's destroyed car as he answered questions. He wasn't far from the NASCAR hauler, which was a destination spot for at least half a dozen very angry drivers and crew chiefs, each of whom chose to vent their frustrations in private. Dale Jarrett stood stone-faced near the entrance to the trailer, arms folded, saying nothing. Representatives from high-profile Cup teams, obviously still reeling from what they had just been witness to, said that they would not race again under this rules package. "You can't get away from anybody with these rules, they're super dangerous," said Rusty Wallace, one of the 18 drivers involved in the crash. "We've told them somebody was going to get hurt. I hope to hell they start using their heads, 'cause somebody is not making the right decisions up there." Much of what team owner Robert Yates had to say can't be quoted, but suffice to say he has had just about all he can stand of this current package. "This is not about using your head," he said. "This is just barbaric. Hopefully, they've seen enough." "We were fortunate that none of the guys got hurt," said Jimmy Makar, crew chief for Labonte, "but what about the law of averages? You can't keep coming back to the same tracks and doing this and not have people hurt. Someone is going to have to do something." Really, these angry feelings are nothing new, and none of what the drivers or team members said diverged much from what they've said before. However, maybe this time, their complaints have been heard. "The overriding question is, 'What are we gong to do to prevent accidents like this and racing like this, in the future,'" said Jim Hunter, NASCAR's vice president of corporate communications. "Thus far, we have been unable to come up with a solution, but we are going to figure this out and we will figure it out before Daytona next year. "I don't have any details, but I can assure you, we will figure this out so that we're not faced with this type of racing in Daytona."
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